Business groups sue to stop Worker Freedom Act

Associated Oregon Industries (AOI) and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit Dec. 22 to stop the Worker Freedom Act from becoming law. Senate Bill 519 — the Worker Freedom Act — was labor’s top priority bill at the Oregon Legislature last session. The new law prevents employers from punishing workers who opt-out of mandatory meetings on topics such as politics, religion, and union organizing.

Oregon is the first state to pass such a law. It was to take affect Jan. 1.

The lawsuit specifies Laborers Local 296 and Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian as defendants. AOI and the U.S. Chamber claim SB 519 violates federal law and the First Amendment.

The lawsuit appears to revolve around Local 296’s union organizing campaign at cooked meat producer BrucePac. In June, BrucePac fired at least 17 union supporters, just weeks into the campaign among 350 workers at the company’s Woodburn and Silverton plants. Local 296 protested the firings in legal charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board, and the agency found merit to some of them. That case will go before a federal administrative law judge Jan. 12.

The lawsuit describes the BrucePac campaign, without specifically naming the company.

Tom Chamberlain, president of the Oregon AFL-CIO, says the lawsuit is without merit. “(SB 519) addresses separate issues from the laws they refer to, and specifically protects both an employer’s right to free speech and a worker’s right to be free from unwanted communication.”

Chamberlain said some employers “seem to be threatened by the idea that they will no longer be able to fire or punish workers who don’t want to sit down and listen to their opinions on non-work-related topics.”

Chamberlain said Oregonians have felt threatened by their bosses telling them how to vote or what to believe “for too many years. SB 519 is necessary, it’s overwhelmingly supported by Oregonians, and it’s legal.” The U.S. Chamber lawsuit against the Worker Freedom Act specifies Local 296 and Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian as defendants, and describes the BrucePac campaign, without specifically naming the company.