Nessel tells Civil Service to reconsider plan to add hurdle to state worker union dues

LANSING — Michigan Civil Service commissioners are preparing to add a significant burden to state worker unions beyond what is required by state and federal law, Attorney General Dana Nessel said.

Commissioners have proposed a rule change that would require state workers to agree annually to paying union dues. Currently, workers certify once and can opt out at any time.

"Apart from violating a general sense of parity regarding the respective rights at issue, i.e. 'both the right to speak freely and the right to refrain from speaking at all,' it is difficult to understand how this proposed rule is not, as Governor Whitmer recently noted, 'a direct assault on our hardworking state employees' and their rights in this regard," Nessel wrote to commissioners Thursday.

More:State workers would need to opt in annually to pay union dues under Civil Service proposal

Michigan's controversial right-to-work law and the U.S. Supreme Court's Janus v. AFSCME decision give employees the ability to not pay dues or fees to unions that represent them in the workplace.

But requiring Michigan state workers to agree to payment annually would unfairly tip the scale against unions, Nessel argued. 

"In reality, many employees are likely to be surprised that their affirmative and voluntary decision to authorize union dues or fee deductions, either presently or years in the past, will automatically lapse because the proposed rule presumes that employees wish to disassociate from their union," she wrote.

The National Right to Work Foundation supports the proposal, which it described in a press release as a "system requiring the state to obtain consent from workers before taking dues from them every year."

The foundation pushed commissioners to take a step further by stressing to state workers it is their "constitutional right" to not pay dues.

Civil Service commissioners will discuss and possibly vote on the proposed amendment at their meeting at 10 a.m. Monday at Capitol Commons Center, 400 S. Pine St. in Lansing. The meeting also will be livestreamed at michigan.gov/mdcs

Contact Carol Thompson at ckthompson@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @thompsoncarolk.