Thompson v. MEA

Facts of the Case | Timeline of the Case

Mrs. Jade Thompson is a public high school Spanish teacher in Marietta, Ohio.

She “cannot imagine a more rewarding job.”

Prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Janus decision in 2018, Mrs. Thompson was forced to pay approximately $14,000 to her school’s union even though she objected to the policies and speech that it advocated on her behalf. Some of that same money was even used on a political agenda, which included a 2010 political campaign waged against her very own husband who was running for office that year.

“Imagine my dismay when I received political propaganda against my husband’s candidacy that was paid for and mailed by an organization related to my own union.” ~ Jade Thompson

Mrs. Thompson has since resigned her union membership, and—as a result—has been subjected to bullying and ridicule from her colleagues and school administrators.

“I should not be forced to accept how my union speaks ‘for’ me. My union, the Marietta Education Association, never asked me whether it was OK to spend my earnings to oppose my husband’s campaign for office. It never asked whether I approved of the positions it was negotiating ‘on my behalf.’” ~ Jade Thompson

Read Jade’s Piece in The Columbus Dispatch

Even after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 Janus decision, Mrs. Thompson has been forced to accept the MEA as her “exclusive representative” despite that she is no longer a member of that union and despite its controversial partisan agenda to which she vehemently objects, political attacks on her now late husband, and retaliatory tactics designed to intimidate her into silence.

“I am not opposed to collective bargaining. But everyone should have the freedom to decide whether to join a union or be represented by it, particularly if that union does not, cannot, or will not represent that person’s values. The MEA does not seek and never has sought to be my voice, and isn’t that the very essence of ‘representation?’” ~ Jade Thompson

Mrs. Thompson is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Ohio’s laws on forced exclusive representation.

“I am proud to fight for my, and all schoolteachers’, constitutionally-protected freedom of speech and freedom of association, and to tell my union the same thing I tell my Spanish classes when they become unruly — ¡No más!” ~ Jade Thompson