The College Fix

Dartmouth student files charges against United Electrical Workers for religious discrimination and forced union dues – a ‘practically universal’ issue according to worker freedom group

A Christian Dartmouth University student has filed a federal complaint against his union for spending dues pushing anti-Israel views.

Mathematics doctoral student Benjamin Logsdon objects to his money funding the Graduate Organized Laborers of Dartmouth, due to his “sincerely held religious beliefs,” according to his two complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

He wants not only to remove his dues from the union but objects to the “monopoly representation” of the union, according to a legal group representing him.

“Logsdon’s charges state that he is opposed not only to being forced to pay union dues, but also to GOLD-UE union officials’ monopoly representation powers that affect him as part of the graduate student body,” a news release from the National Right to Work Foundation states. The worker freedom group is representing Logsdon and provided further comments to The College Fix.

Forced union dues are a “practically universal” issue, Vice President Patrick Semmens told The Fix via a media statement. “[T]he dominant union privilege in the United States is the ability to impose monopoly ‘representation’ on all people in a unionized work unit, even those who aren’t members, voted against the union, or otherwise oppose it.”

The group is representing other graduate students opposed to forced unionization at MIT and elsewhere.

“This issue is practically universal, especially considering the fact that the dominant union privilege in the United States is the ability to impose monopoly ‘representation’ on all people in a unionized work unit, even those who aren’t members, voted against the union, or otherwise oppose it,” he said.

“On college campuses across the country, the problem is magnified because campus unions tend to be more politically extreme and use their bargaining power to impose this ideology both inside and outside the classroom, harming academic freedom,” Semmens said.

MORE: Democrat professors outnumber Republicans 7 to 1 at UFlorida

Logsdon is still awaiting a response from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission where he filed the charges against both his local and the national United Electrical Workers union. The EEOC will determine Logsdon’s next steps.

According to Semmens, the EEOC “can either take up the case itself and prosecute the union in federal court, or it can issue Logsdon a ‘right to sue’ letter which will enable him to sue the union in federal court.”

The EEOC’s website says that “it takes them around 10 months to investigate a charge,” according to Semmens.

Semmens is hopeful that the National Right to Work Foundation will secure a favorable outcome before further action needs to be taken.

“In a recent similar case at MIT, [graduate student union] officials were forced to provide religious accommodations to several Jewish students who opposed joining or paying dues to the union based on its anti-Israel advocacy,” he said. “[Union] officials initially had attempted to brush aside the graduate students’ requests, but backed down almost immediately after Foundation attorneys became involved.”

Dartmouth’s union did not respond to two emails sent in the past weeks asking for comments on Logsdon’s charges. The Fix also emailed the media contact for the United Electrical Workers, the parent union for GOLD-UE, and received no response. The Fix then called the GOLD-UE media contact but again received no response.

The Fix asked both unions for a response to the complaints filed and a response as to why the union takes a stance on the conflict in the Middle East.

MORE: Jewish academics ask SCOTUS to stop forced representation by anti-Israel union

IMAGE: Africa Studio/Shutterstock

Like The College Fix on Facebook / Follow us on Twitter