CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia AFL-CIO and other union groups have notified the state they plan to file a lawsuit in 30 days over the state law that makes West Virginia a “Right to Work” state.
“While we believe we have strong grounds for a constitutional challenge of the law, based in part on the recent circuit court decision on the Right to Work law in Wisconsin, we also have found several significant flaws in West Virginia’s Senate Bill 1 as it was written, amended and adopted,” West Virginia AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue said in a news release issued Sunday. “Based on our reading of Senate Bill 1, the so-called Right to Work provisions included in the legislation do not apply to ANY private-sector employees that have collective bargaining agreements in the state of West Virginia.”
The West Virginia Workplace Freedom Act became law after the Republican-controlled legislature voted to override Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s veto.
The law says, “a person may not be required as a condition or continuation of employment to 1) become or remain a member of a labor organization, 2) pay any dues, fees, assessments or similar charges, however denominated of any kind or amount to any labor organization, 3) to pay any charity or third party in lieu of those payments any amount that is equivalent to dues, assessments or other charges required of members of a labor organization.”
The unions also claim there are a number of errors in the law that “are clear indications of sloppy and hasty legislating,” according to Perdue.