Month: January 2020

Dear UUP Chapter Presidents and Executive Board Members,

I’ve learned that in response to the devastating earthquakes that have struck Puerto Rico over the last week, AFT has created a donation page to provide relief aid for the citizens of Puerto Rico victimized by these natural disasters: https://www.aft.org/puerto-rico-earthquake-relief

There is also a dire need for infant formula due to contaminated water sources and lack of refrigeration. So there is a separate link for donations to provide safe infant formula for Puerto Rico: https://www.mattoslactation.com/blog/natural-disaster-infantfeeding-pr

Please share these links with your UUP Chapter Leadership and members. Together, UUP can help make a difference in the recovery efforts for Puerto Rico!

In Solidarity,
Rich Veenstra

Richard Veenstra, Ph.D.
UUP Upstate Medical Chapter President
Region 2 Political Coordinator
315-422-5028
rveenstra@uupmail.org

PlanetFitness

Dear Colleagues, 

Great news! I am pleased to inform you that the federal district court has issued a decision dismissing the case in Seidemann, et al. v. Professional Staff Congress, et al. in its entirety.   

This case was a post-Janus class-action lawsuit against UUP, PSC, NYSUT, AFT and other unions.  The plaintiffs were agency fee payers whose agency fee withholding stopped immediately following the Supreme Court’s decision in Janus.   In this suit, the plaintiffs brought a variety of claims against the unions, chief among them a claim seeking repayment of all agency fees paid by the plaintiffs and other class members prior to the Janus decision.   The district court dismissed the case in its entirely.  In doing so it held that UUP and the other unions could not be required to repay agency fees collected prior to the decision in Janus as the unions were entitled to rely in good faith on Supreme Court decisions prior to Janus which found agency fees constitutional. 

We are fully anticipating that the plaintiffs will appeal the district court’s decision in our case.  However, the court’s decision was consistent with a growing number of similar federal court decisions across the country, including a number of federal appeals court decisions, affirming the “good faith” defense against agency fee repayment claims.  

For those of you who are interested in reading it, the decision is attached below.   

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At a time when I am sure all of us are eager for good news, it’s nice to get a little bit at the start of the year.  

In Solidarity,

Fred