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Your Legal Rights: |
A sample union resignation letter is provided below.
[LETTER TO UNION:
SEND BY CERTIFIED MAIL,
RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED]
[your address]
[date][name and address of union]
[To the appropriate union officer (See your union constitution. For the Teamsters, for example, the letter must be addressed to the Secretary-Treasurer)]:
I hereby resign as a member of [name of union]. My resignation is effective immediately. I will continue to meet my lawful obligation of paying a representation fee to the union under its "union shop" or "agency shop" agreement with [name of employer].
Furthermore, I object to the collection and expenditure by the union of a fee for any purpose other than my pro rata share of the union's costs of collective bargaining, contract administration, and grievance adjustment, as is my right under Communications Workers v. Beck, 487 U.S. 735 (1988). Pursuant to Teachers Local 1 v. Hudson, 475 U.S. 292 (1986), and Abrams v. Communications Workers, 59 F.3d 1373 (D.C. Cir. 1995), I request that you provide me with my procedural rights, including: reduction of my fees to an amount that includes only lawfully chargeable costs; notice of the calculation of that amount, verified by an independent certified public accountant; and notice of the procedure that you have adopted to hold my fees in an interest-bearing escrow account and give me an opportunity to challenge your calculation and have it reviewed by an impartial decisionmaker.
[If you pay dues by payroll deduction, include this paragraph: Accordingly, I also hereby notify you that I wish to authorize only the deduction of representation fees from my wages. If I am required to sign a new deduction authorization form to make that change, please provide me with the necessary form.]
Please reply promptly to my request. Any further collection or expenditure of dues or fees from me made without the procedural safeguards required by law will violate my rights under the National Labor Relations Act and/or U.S. Constitution.
Sincerely yours, [name]
If you include the paragraph on the change in your payroll deduction authorization, you should also send a copy of this letter to the payroll department of your employer.
[Please note: This information about your legal rights is intended to provide accurate and authoritative information at the time it was written for general educational purposes only and is not intended as the providing of legal advice or services. Facts and legal principles applicable to specific situations may vary. Any person with a legal problem should consult competent counsel and should not rely on the information contained in this website for making any legal decision.]
If you would like to learn more about your rights as a private sector employee, click on the appropriate question below:
- If I work in a Right to Work state, how can I resign my union membership and cut off any further dues collections from my salary?
- Can I be required to be a union member or pay dues to a union?
- How can I resign my union membership?
- How do I cut off the use of my dues for politics and other nonbargaining activities?
- What if I have religious objections to joining or financially supporting a union?
- What if I am a victim of union violence?
- What if I want to work during a strike?
- If I believe my rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses, can I file my own unfair labor practice charges against the union or the employer at the National Labor Relations Board?
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