YOUR OPTIONS UNDER UNION SECURITY AGREEMENTS IN THE STATE OF WASHINGTON
As approved by voters in 1992 as Initiative 134
The original intent of this law was to allow union members to choose whether or not any of their dues should go for political activity. Workers may retain full membership status and privileges while paying reduced fees. In fact, unions are authorized to assess additional fees for political activity only with written permission from the union member, renewable every 12 months.
Consequently, if given the chance, union members have overwhelmingly chosen not to allow their dues to be used for politics. In l997, over 96% of schoolteachers in Seattle, for example, chose in writing not to allow any of their dues money to go to the WEA PAC. Yet the WEA was fined $430,000 for assessing and spending membership dues money for politics unlawfully from its "Community Outreach Program" account.
The WEA was sued again by its membership in May 1999 in Thurston County Court. They had set out to prove that union officials have made a concerted effort to avoid Political Action Committee requirements under I-134 by integrating politics throughout its general operations. On May 18, 2000, the state Supreme Court seemed to effectively gut the intent of the popular Initiative by "declining to stop the state's largest teachers union from spending general membership dues on political campaigns without annual written permission from each member" (Seattle Times, May 19, 2000).
But in a subsequent action in Thurston County Superior Court, on July 31, 2001, the WEA was ordered to pay another fine of $400,000 for illegally spending nonmembers' fees on political campaigns.