Teacher Who Says She Joined Union By Mistake Loses Appeal

WAUKEGAN, IL — A federal appeals court found the public school teacher who said she joined a union under the false assumption that it was required did not have her First Amendment rights violated and is not entitled to damages.

Ariadna Ramon Baro, a Barcelona native, started a new job teaching English as a second language at Waukegan Community School District 60 in August 2019, according to court records.

At an orientation meeting, a representative of the Lake County Federal of Teachers Local 504, the local teacher's union, provided a form to sign up for the union and explained the cost of dues.

According to Ramon Baro's complaint, she was not told that joining the union was optional, so she signed it thinking that it was required.

But a few days later she learned that membership in the local American Federation of Teachers affiliate was not a requirement of the job.

And when she tired to resign her membership and stop having union dues deducted from her paycheck, Ramon Baro alleged, union officials refused and told her she would need to remain a member until August 2020. (The membership form says members may only submit revocation forms from Aug. 1 to Aug. 31.)

Ramon Baro filed the first version of her federal lawsuit in April 2020. Less than two weeks later she got a letter from the president of Local 504 telling her dues would stop being withheld.

It also included a check for $829.30 — all of the withheld union dues and an additional $500 "for your efforts in pursuing this matter."

She rejected the check and proceeded with her lawsuit, which sought unspecified additional damages.

But in March 2022, a trial court sided with the union and dismissed the case.

"[Ramon Baro's] voluntary choice to join her school’s local union — even if ill-informed — means that [she] is bound by the terms of the union membership agreement and thus cannot show that the deduction of dues from her paycheck violated the First Amendment," said U.S. District Judge John Kness.

Represented by the Liberty Justice Center, Ramon Baro appealed to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The libertarian legal nonprofit that also represented plaintiff Mark Janus in the landmark 2018 Supreme Court case Janus v. AFSCME.

The appeal relied on language in the Janus decision declaring that there must be "clear and compelling evidence" that members have agreed to join a union, even beyond signing a membership agreement and agreeing to pay dues.

On Friday, a three-judge appellate panel ruled unanimously against the teacher. It found that normal contract law applies, that the language of the contract was clear — it specifically notes that it is "signed freely and voluntarily" — and that it was irrelevant whether she believed it was mandatory.

"In sum, the First Amendment protects our right to speak," wrote Circuit Judge Amy St. Eve. "It does not create an independent right to void obligations when we are unhappy with what we have said."