(The Center Square) – The Liberty Justice Center filed three lawsuits on behalf of government employees against their public sector unions.
The lawsuits come six years after the Janus v. AFSCME landmark case, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that public-sector employees don’t have to pay union dues to have a job.
However, government workers are still having their rights violated by public-sector unions, according to the Liberty Justice Center.
The Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit for Andre Sneed, who works as a laborer for the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways, against Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA), Local 1092. The lawsuit alleges LiUNA still requires Sneed to pay union dues even after he resigned his union membership, violating his First Amendment rights.
LiUNA argues Sneed signed an authorization that is “irrevocable for the duration of time that [he] remains in a bargaining unit represented by the Union,” meaning that the union argues even though Sneed is no longer a member, he has to pay union dues throughout his employment.
This contradicts the Janus v. AFSCME decision, the Liberty Justice Center argues.
The Liberty Justice Center filed this case (Sneed v. Laborers’ International Union of North America) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on Tuesday, March 11.
Additionally, Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit for Martine Uniatowski. She is a part-time employee for Bay Village City School District in Ohio, who is suing the Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE) Local 579 for violating her rights.
“During a meeting between HR and Ms. Uniatowski, union representatives who were present supposedly to protect Ms. Uniatorwski’s interests instead strong-armed her into signing a union membership agreement,” the release said. “Although Ms. Uniatowski didn’t have her reading glasses and couldn’t read what she was signing, the union representative pressured her to sign the membership agreement, and she relied on his representation of what it said in doing so.”
Once Uniatowski saw how much she had to pay in union dues, she resigned and tried to stop the union due deductions. However, her request was denied three times in the year after signing her union membership agreement, LJC maintains.
Though Uniatowksi no longer belongs to the union, she has paid union dues for over a year.
“The deduction of dues from her paychecks violates Ms. Uniatowksi’s First Amendment rights as protected by Janus since she has no provided affirmative consent to take dues,” the release said.
The Liberty Justice Center filed this case (Uniatowski v. OAPSE Local 579) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio on Tuesday, March 11.
Liberty Justice Center filed a third case for three Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus operators, Nicole Williams, Christopher Williams, and Miguel Perez, all Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 241 members.
The union’s bylaws say it must conduct an annual financial audit and draft semi-annual audit reports. Union members must receive these reports at meetings. However, the union failed to provide such audits and audit reports to these three despite making multiple requests, according to LJC.
“The Liberty Justice Center filed the lawsuit to compel the union to release the audits and audit reports to plaintiffs, who, as dues-paying union members, have a right to review the financial records of the union,” the release said. “This follows on the heels of Weiss v. Chicago Teachers Union, a case filed by LJC in October 2024 that demands the CTU produce its missing audits.”
The Liberty Justice Center filed the case (Chicago Transit Authority v. Amalgamated Transit Union) in the Circuit Court for Cook County of Illinois, Chancery Division, on March 11, 2025.
“Public-sector unions continue to place barriers for government employees who wish to stop being union members and stop paying union dues in ways that violate the Supreme Court’s Janus decision.” Jeffrey Schwab, senior counsel at the Liberty Justice Center, said in the release. “And although those unions are supposed to only collect dues from members, these unions often refuse to be held accountable by their own members for how they spend those dues.”
