Seay

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER GRANTING MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND DISMISSAL

These consolidated cases are before the court on motions for summary judgment and dismissal filed by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, AFL-CIO, and District Lodges 1578 and 720 (collectively, the “union defendants” or the “IAM”).

The named plaintiffs, non-union employees of McDonnell Douglas Corporation or its predecessor, Douglas Aircraft Company, have been required, under union security provisions of collective bargaining agreements applicable to their bargaining unit since July 23, 1962, to pay to the IAM a monthly agency fee equal in amount to the monthly dues paid to the IAM by its members. Under such union security provisions, the failure to pay agency fees or union dues would subject an employee to discharge by the company.

Plaintiffs assert that the agency fees paid by them have been used, in part, by the IAM to support political candidates and to “propagate political and economic doctrines, concepts, ideologies, and legislative programs” which plaintiffs eschew. They charge that by using such agency fees for purposes other than those reasonably necessary and…