Question

Case: Financial Core Membership rights under back decision

What are the Union's legal obligations?

Did the Union commit an Unfair Labor Practice in this case? If so, what should be the appropriate remedy?

Answer 1

Financial Core (fi-core for short) is a right granted by the Supreme Court and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rulings that allow workers (not just actors) to NOT join the union, and still work union jobs. Basically, you become a “dues paying non-member” in the eyes of your union and you are allowed to work both union and non-union jobs. You cannot be forced to join a union, but you must pay your fair share.

This all came about as states industrialized and made their own laws about whether they were to be a “union shop” state or a “right-to-work” state. “Union shop” states passed laws like the Taft-Hartley law, which require workers to join a labor union in order to continue work under a union contract. “Right to Work” states allowed unions to exist, but they cannot be required to pay anything to the union as a condition of employment and membership is completely voluntary. Today there are 22 “Right to Work” states, including entertainment heavy Florida, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah, and Texas. California and New York are both “union” states.

A problem arose within the “union shop” states in the late 1950s. Unions had quickly become a very strong political force in this country, and they overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party (even today the current president of the AFL-CIO, of which SAG is an affiliate, is a proud member of Democratic Socialists of America, and the AFL-CIO has endorsed John Kerry for president in 2004 to the tune of about $44M). What about the members who did not want their “forced” dues money to be spent on political causes they did not believe in? They had to join the union in order to work. But that membership was essentially stepping on their constitutional freedom to vote. Enter Financial Core...a concept defined by a 1963 Supreme Court ruling called NLRB v. GENERAL MOTORS. This ruling says,

“The burdens of membership upon which employment may be conditioned are expressly limited to the payment of initiation fees and monthly dues. It is permissible to condition employment upon membership, but membership, insofaras it has significance to employment rights, may in turn be conditioned only upon payment of fees and dues. “Membership” as a condition of employment is whittle down to its financial core.”

In other words, the union can make you pay for the costs of union business, but they cannot force you to pay for political or ideological activities.

Finally, on February 17, 2001, President George W. Bush signed an executive order that unions are obliged to inform all prospective members of their “financial core rights” or “Beck rights” before they join the union.

Yes. SAG’s “Rule One” states that once you become a union member, you are banned from doing non-union work ever again. As a fi-core worker, you are NOT bound by Rule One, since you are not a union member. Fi-Core members may work both union and non-union. Fi-core members can also work during a strike, since unions have no power to discipline non-members