Ryan Cram; v. SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION LOCAL 503, OREGON PUBLIC EMPLOYEES UNION, a…

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
RYAN CRAM; et al.,
Plaintiffs-Appellants,
and
BARBARA GRABBEL; et al.,
Plaintiffs,
v.
SERVICE EMPLOYEES
INTERNATIONAL UNION LOCAL 503,
OREGON PUBLIC EMPLOYEES UNION,
a labor organization and KATY COBA, in
her official capacity as Director of the
Oregon Department of Administrative
Services,
Defendants-Appellees.
No. 22-35321
D.C. No. 6:20-cv-00544-MK
U.S. District Court for Oregon,
Eugene
MEMORANDUM*
Appeal from the U.S. District Court
for the District of Oregon
Mustafa Kasubhai, Magistrate Judge, Presiding
Submitted October 19, 2023
San Francisco, California
Before: W. FLETCHER, NGUYEN, and R. NELSON, Circuit Judges.
* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
FILED
OCT 23 2023
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

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Plaintiffs are Oregon State employees who voluntarily joined the Service
Employees International Union Local 503 (“Union”), the exclusive bargaining
representative for their unit. Plaintiffs signed membership agreements that
authorized the deduction of “all Union dues and other fees or assessments.”
Plaintiffs later resigned their union membership, and the Union notified them that
their deductions would continue until the window period for revoking authorization.1
Plaintiffs raise First Amendment claims against the Union and Katy Coba, Director
of the Oregon Department of Administrative Services, under Section 1983. The
district court granted summary judgment for defendants. We have jurisdiction under
28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.
1. Plaintiffs assert that they were not given an informed choice about
whether to pay the $2.75 per month “Issues Fund” fee, which amounts to a political
charge, and that the deduction procedure was impermissibly controlled by the Union.
See Knox v. Serv. Emps. Int’l Union, Loc. 1000, 567 U.S. 298, 316 (2012). Plaintiffs
argue that they were not members of the Union when they originally executed their
membership agreements and that, after they resigned their union membership, they
became nonmembers. But the “procedural safeguards” that protect nonmembers
from the risk of compelled political speech do not apply here since Plaintiffs were
1 Plaintiff Ryan Cram is the only exception. His payroll deductions terminated
shortly after his resignation of membership.

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voluntary union members. See Knox, 567 U.S. at 316; Belgau v. Inslee, 975 F.3d
940, 951–52 (9th Cir. 2020) (rejecting the argument that the language in Janus v.
Am. Fed’n of State, Cnty., & Mun. Emps., Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448, 2486 (2018)
about “waiver” applies to union members at the time they enter into their
membership agreement).
2. Plaintiffs similarly assert that under Janus, defendants
unconstitutionally deduced political charges from their wages as nonmembers
because there is not “clear and compelling evidence” that they waived their First
Amendment rights. But this Court has held that Janus does not reach those “who
affirmatively signed up to be union members.” Belgau, 965 F.3d at 944.
3. The Union also did not engage in state action. See Lugar v. Edmondson
Oil Co., 457 U.S. 922 (1982). Any harm from the union deductions is caused by the
membership agreements which Plaintiffs freely signed. On similar facts, we
declined to find state action under Lugar in Belgau, 975 F.3d at 946–47.
Nor is the Union a state actor under the “joint action” or “governmental
nexus” tests that guide our analysis under Lugar’s second prong. See Tsao v. Desert
Palace, Inc., 698 F.3d 1128, 1140 (9th Cir. 2012). The state’s transmission of an
assessment to a union after an employee authorizes such deductions does not give
rise to a section 1983 claim against the union under the “joint action” test. See
Belgau, 975 F.3d at 947–49. Similarly, “ministerial processing of payroll deductions

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pursuant to [e]mployees’ authorizations” does not create a nexus between the state
and the Union. Id. at 947–48 & n.2.
AFFIRMED.

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