Conservatives sue over state law that limits public employers' anti-union talk
Saying their free speech rights are being trampled, seven local leaders from cities in Southern California are challenging a state law that prohibits them from expressing anti-union sentiment to public workers.
In a lawsuit filed last month in federal district court, the officials from Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties are challenging a 2018 law that says public employers “shall not deter or discourage” workers from joining unions. The law, they said, is a ploy by California legislators to undercut what’s considered an anti-union ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Jeffrey Barke, a former Los Alamitos Unified School Board trustee and the lead plaintiff, said the law prevents him and other elected officials from effectively communicating with public workers about unions and the positions that unions take on various issues, including employee pensions, immigration policy and public safety.
“It’s really, in effect, a gag order on elected officials,” Barke said of the law. “It inhibits my ability to be an effective elected official.”
Read more: https://www.ocregister.com/2020/03/06/conservatives-sue-over-state-law-that-limits-public-employers-anti-union-talk/