Professors Seek Freedom from ‘Anti-Semitic’ Union’s Representation

Avraham Goldstein and five other City University of New York (CUNY) professors were outraged when their union issued a resolution they viewed as “anti-Israel” and “anti-Semitic.”

Though Goldstein and these professors are no longer union members, New York law forces them to still accept the union’s representation. State law also allows union officials to treat nonmembers as second-class employees. The professors’ lawsuit seeks to vindicate their First Amendment rights and free them from the “exclusive representation” of a union they believe hates them.

Professor Flees Soviet Anti-Semitism

Professor Avraham Goldstein is an observant Orthodox Jew and a mathematics professor at CUNY. Before moving to New York, Avraham and his family suffered extreme anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish abuse in the Soviet Union.  Eventually, Avraham and his family emigrated to Israel, where he remains a citizen.

CUNY Union Issues ‘Anti-Semitic’ Statement

In 2021, the PSC issued a resolution that encouraged support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. The resolution referred to Israel as an “apartheid” state. Obviously, Avraham and other professors viewed the statement as anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. They resigned their union membership in protest. However, the PSC did not immediately acknowledge several of our clients’ resignations and continued taking union dues from their paychecks.

Janus  Freed Nonmembers from Union Payments, not Representation

The Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Janus v. AFSCME held that nonmember public employees could not be forced to pay fees to a union. The ruling explicitly stated that doing so would violate their First Amendment rights.

But the Janus decision did not address the reality Avraham and his five co-plaintiffs now faced: As nonmembers, they nonetheless must accept the “exclusive representation” of a union they believe is anti-Semitic. They cannot choose other representation or represent themselves with their employer.

New York Law Worsens Professors’ Plight

Shortly before the Janus decision, New York passed an amendment to its Taylor Law—the law governing public-sector collective bargaining in the state—to reduce the duties public-sector unions owed to nonmembers. Before this law, unions had a duty to fairly represent both members and nonmembers. Now, unions like the PSC were free to treat nonmembers as second-class employees. They could legally offer them inferior services compared to members.

Lawsuit Seeks End to the PSC’s ‘Exclusive Representation’ of the Professors

In 2022, the Fairness Center, along with the National Right to Work Foundation, filed a lawsuit on Avraham and his co-plaintiffs’ behalf. Their goal was to free them from the PSC’s representation. Due to the lawsuit, the PSC quickly stopped taking the professors’ union dues. The professors were refunded the dues that they alleged were improperly taken from them. This ensured that the professors no longer funded a union they considered to be hateful.

Crucially, the lawsuit argues that “exclusive representation” violates the professors’ First Amendment rights of freedom of speech and association by forcing them to accept representation from a union that they believe hates them.

In 2023, the professors appealed to the Second Circuit. There, they challenged the state’s power to force them to be represented and spoken for by the PSC, despite its rhetoric they disagree with and view as anti-Semitic. In the spring of 2024, following the lower courts, the Second Circuit upheld the decision to uphold the state’s power. The professors are seeking an appeal to the United States Supreme Court.

“New York law shouldn’t provide cover for unions at the cost of individual freedom. Nor should it countenance forcing Jews to associate with a union that doesn’t want them around.” –Avraham Goldstein

This case was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. It is currently appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States.

Documents

• Complaint – January 12, 2022
• News Release – January 13, 2022
• Appellant’s Brief to Second Circuit – June 2, 2023
• Appellant’s Reply Brief – August 25, 2023
• Second Circuit Court of Appeals Decision – March 18, 2024
• News Release – March 18, 2024
• Petition for En-Banc Rehearing – April 1, 2024
• U.S. Supreme Court Petition for Writ of Certiorari – July 19, 2024
• News Release – July 22, 2024
• Brief in Opposition for PSC – December 6, 2024

October 6, 2024: “A group of Jewish professors is suing their openly Marxist teachers union, arguing that forced representation by a union actively engaged in anti-Semitism violates their First Amendment rights.”

September 24, 2024: “Neither my EEOC complaint, nor my lawsuits against CUNY and its union, the latter of which is now being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, is mentioned a single time in the Hochul-commissioned report — and that’s just the start of its glaring omissions.”

August 14, 2024: “But Shapiro is the kind of leader who ‘lean[s]’ on his ‘faith’ and doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer – especially when he knows he’s in the right. How do I know? When he was just six, he launched a years-long campaign that helped my family escape Soviet antisemitism.”

March 22, 2024: “Six City University of New York professors will appeal to the Supreme Court a recent decision mandating that they must be represented by the Professional Staff Congress. The professors, who had resigned from the PSC after alleging that the union was inciting anti-Semitic sentiment, claim that their compulsory inclusion in the PSC violates their First Amendment protections concerning freedom of association.”

March 19,2024: “Jewish professors at the City University of New York will continue to be represented by a union that they say advocates for Jew-hatred, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City ruled on Monday.”

March 18, 2024: “These professors are being forced to associate with a union that they believe hates them. It’s hard to imagine a clearer illustration of the harm caused by exclusive representation.”

January 22, 2024: “The Fairness Center, a nonprofit public interest law firm representing the professors, says that with amendments to the Taylor Law, ‘unions like the PSC are free to treat nonmembers, like these professors, as second-class employees, offering them inferior services compared to members.’”

July 21, 2023: “Unless the courts intervene, PSC officials will remain free to alienate Jews, knowing their only escape from the union is to quit their jobs. Not only that, but public employees across the country who object to their unions’ divisive actions or political stances would similarly remain trapped in unwanted representation.”

June 7, 2023: “[T]he professors are appealing a US District Court’s dismissal of their lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a New York State Law—the ‘Taylor Law’— that grants PSC the right to continue representing the professors in collective bargaining even though they are no longer members of it.”

December 14, 2022: “[T]he same people who referred to Israel as an ‘apartheid’ state are negotiating the salary and working conditions of Jewish professors at CUNY. Absurd? I thought so, too, and several professors joined me in suing the union, CUNY, and the state of New York to escape the union for good.”

September 19, 2022: “The charge that palpable antisemitism is an emerging fact of life in the Big Apple – locus of the world’s highest concentration of Jews outside of Israel – might strike many as hyperbole or even paranoia. But as a recent Tablet article convincingly declares, ‘It’s Open Season on Jews in New York City.’”

January 20, 2022:“[U]nion officials—who speak for me under state law—issued a resolution I, and many of my colleagues, view as anti-Semitic. Now I have a choice: Disrupt my life and damage my career again or rely on the constitutional protections that set America apart from most other countries on earth. I’m done running.”