Understanding unions’ trump card: Resignation windows

Since June 25, 2018, all public employees nationwide have the right to no longer financially support a government union in order to keep their job (Janus v. AFSCME). But exercising that right is not easy.

Many union membership and dues authorization forms include specific resignation windows (“opt-out” windows) that determine when public employees can leave their union. If the resignation window is missed, the public employee is locked into another year of membership and dues payments.

I have received a number of emails from state workers, teachers, and other public employees who submitted their resignation letters just to be told that their opt-out dates had passed and they would have to wait and try again next year. Or, that their membership resignation would be accepted but they would still have to pay dues until their opt-out window rolled around again. You can join the union at any time, but you can’t leave at any time. (Hotel California vibes, anyone?)

I’m currently working with a public employee who mistakenly signed up for union membership — it was tucked into her big stack of onboarding paperwork — last fall when she started a new job. After seeing dues deductions from her paychecks, she reached out to the union to resign and revoke her dues authorization only to be told that she would have to wait a year. Reluctantly, she waited the year and was closing in on the date when she signed her union paperwork, but then the union informed her she had missed the opt-out dates again and would have to wait another year.

That’s because the fine print on the bottom of her dues authorization form says that a member’s dues revocation window requires some calculating and is not simply the anniversary of when the form was signed. The Janus decision broke down a major barrier, but other barriers clearly remain.

“It’s the unions’ trump card to keep their hands on workers’ paychecks,” says Keith Williams with the Center for Independent Employees.

In Minnesota, government payroll deductions of both union dues and political money for unions are automatic from member paychecks. This puts cities, counties, and state agencies between a rock and a hard place, as they are forced to collect the dollars on behalf of unions. The legislature would do well to consider passing paycheck protection, which, when it exists in full, prohibits government agencies from collecting both union dues and political contributions on behalf of unions.

If you are a public employee in Minnesota considering opting out of the union or wanting to explore your options, timing is everything. While American Experiment believes that exercising your First Amendment rights shouldn’t be limited to a narrow window once a year, that barrier is still being sorted out through the court system.

In the meantime, our Employee Freedom project is here to help you navigate the dues revocation process and not miss important deadlines. (Reach out with questions here.)

Below are a few opt-out details for some of Minnesota’s largest government unions. If your union claims you signed a membership/dues authorization form that includes opt-out restrictions, make sure to ask for a copy of the signed documentation.

  • AFSCME Minnesota Council 5: A 16-day annual opt-out window, calculated by subtracting 45 days before the anniversary date of your membership/dues authorization form for the window’s start date and 30 days before the anniversary date for the window’s closing date. (For example, if you signed your dues authorization form Nov. 1, your annual opt-out window would have been from Sept. 17-Oct. 2.)
  • AFSCME Minnesota Council 65: A 16-day annual opt-out window, calculated by subtracting 45 days before the anniversary date of your membership/dues authorization form for the window’s start date and 30 days before the anniversary date for the window’s closing date.
  • Education Minnesota: A 30-day annual opt-out window, Sept. 1-Sept. 30.
  • Minnesota Association of Professional Employees: A 16-day annual opt-out window, calculated by subtracting 45 days before the anniversary date of your membership/dues authorization form for the window’s start date and 30 days before the anniversary date for the window’s closing date.
  • Minnesota School Employees Association: An 11-day annual opt-out window, calculated by subtracting 40 days before the anniversary date of your membership/dues authorization form for the window’s start date and 30 days before the anniversary date for the window’s closing date.
  • SEIU Local 284: A 30-day annual opt-out window, calculated in two different segments by subtracting 15 days before the anniversary date of your membership/dues authorization form for the first window and 15 days after the anniversary date for the second window. (For example, if you signed your dues authorization form Nov. 1, you could opt out either 15 days before, Oct. 17-Oct. 31, or 15 days after, Nov. 2-Nov. 16.)