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Under Federal law employees cannot be required to join a union or maintain membership in a union in order to retain their jobs Under certain conditions the law permits a union and an employer to enter into a union security agreement 1.1.1 requiring employees to pay uniform periodic dues and initiation fees. However, employees who are not union members can object to the use of their payments for certain purposes and can only be required to pay their share of union costs relating to collective bargaining contract administration and grievance adjustment.
If you do not want to pay that portion of dues or fees used to support activities not related to collective bargaining, contract administration, or grievance adjustment, you are entitled to an appropriate reduction in your payment If you believe that you have been required to pay dues or fees used in part to support activities not related to collective bargaining contract administration or grievance adjustment you may be 1.1.1 entitled to a refund and to an appropriate reduction in future payments.
The final Beck rule requires that federal contractors post notification of their employees’ Beck rights “in conspicuous places in and about [their] plants and offices, including all places where notices to employees are customarily posted.†Basically, the notice is to inform employees that they cannot be required to join a union and that, even when a union-security agreement requires employees to pay dues and fees to a union, employees who are not union members can only be required to pay their share of union costs relating to certain activities. Further, the notice generally describes the remedies for violations of these rights as well as contact information for employees who wish to make further inquiries regarding their rights.
The Beck rule is generally applicable to all federal contractors. However, the rule does exempt certain classifications of contracts, including those resulting from solicitations issued before April 18, 2001. Additionally, the final rule exempts nonunion contractors and contractors with fewer than 15 employees. The nonunion exemption applies to contractor establishments or construction worksites “where no union has been formally recognized by the prime contractor,†even if subcontractors on the same worksite are represented by a union. Further, the rule is not applicable to contractor establishments or worksites in states that forbid enforcement of union security agreements (right-to-work states). Additionally, the rule exempts contracts in an amount less than the $100,000 simplified acquisition threshold.
