Case $33$ The Grievance$-$Processing Fee for Nonmembers in a Right$-$to$-$Work State $159$

Case $33$

The Grievance$-$Processing Fee for Nonmembers in a Right$-$to$-$Work State

Company

Davis Company, Memphis, Tennessee

Union

Local No$.282,$ International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine, and Furniture Workers

BACKGROUND

The union represented the production and maintenance employees at the company's plant located in Memphis, Tennessee. Tennessee is a so$-$called right$-$to$-$work state. Under Tennessee state law, union shop contracts cannot be negotiated; this type of state law is authorized by Section $14($b$)$ of the LMRA. ${?}^1$

The parties negotiated a collective bargaining agreement, effective September $12,1986,$ through September $11,1989,$ which contained a grievance and arbitration procedure. However, this collective bargaining agreement did not contain either a union security or agency shop clause.

On or about September $10,1987,$ the union sent or hand$-$delivered a memorandum to all the bargaining unit employees who were not members of the union. This memorandum included the following statement:

ATTENTION ALL NONMEMBERS

Effective immediately, all nonmembers will be charged a fee for handling grievances, an equal amount to the cost of representation, or the dues left to be paid under the contract, whichever is less.

Subsequently, on November $20,1987,$ the union posted the following notice on the employee bulletin board:

ATTENTION ALL NONMEMBERS

Effective immediately, all nonmembers will be charged a fee for handling grievances, an equal amount to the cost of representation, or the dues left to be paid under the contract, whichever is less.

'Section $14($b$),$ the so$-$called right$-$to$-$work provision, reads as follows: "Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed as authorizing the execution or application of agreements requiring membership in a labor organization as a condition of employment in any State or Territory in which such execution or application is prohibited by State or Territorial Law."