Auto Parts Manufacturing Workers Seek to Disassemble Unpopular Union Boss Bargaining Powers

Labor board investigation throws wrench into case, finds union contract with company illegal

Long Island, NY (November 1, 2011) – A Levittown automobile parts manufacturing worker is asking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to halt an unpopular local union from forcing its representation on him and his colleagues.

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, Charlie Shannon filed unfair labor practice charges for himself and his coworkers against the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine, and Furniture Workers-Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA) Local 463 union.

IUE-CWA Local 463 union officials no longer enjoy majority support from the employees after a majority of them signed a petition to remove the unwanted union from their workplace. However, union officials unlawfully continue to negotiate a new monopoly bargaining agreement with the employer, Sterling Instruments, Inc.

After investigating the matter, the NLRB regional office in Brooklyn found that IUE-CWA Local 463 union officials were illegally demanding forced union dues payments from the workers because the contract's forced-dues clause with the company was not valid.

Read the entire release here.

Verizon Employee Files Federal Charge Against CWA Union Officials for Ignoring Her Rights

Workers refused to abandon job during highly-publicized strike but Verizon continues to illegally seize union dues from her paycheck

Newport News, VA (October 3, 2011) – In the wake of the recent Communications Workers of America (CWA) union-boss instigated strike that grabbed national headlines, a Newport News, Virginia Verizon (NYSE: VZ) worker has filed federal charges against the union and company for violating her rights.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, Williamsburg resident Monika Cassell filed unfair labor practice charges against the CWA union, its Local 2205, and Verizon for ignoring her right to refrain from paying union dues.

Upset by the CWA union officials' order to strike, and desiring to continue working to provide for their families, Cassell and other Verizon employees resigned from the union and revoked their dues deduction authorizations – a document used by union officials to automatically collect dues from employees' paychecks – while the union did not have a contract at their workplaces.

Under Virginia's popular Right to Work law, no worker can be required to join or pay any money to a union; and under federal labor law, employees can revoke their dues deduction authorizations once a contract terminates.

Read the entire release here.

Days into the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union boss-ordered strike against Verizon, disturbing reports of union militancy -- and their effects on workers and customers alike -- are becoming widespread. The Associated Press have reported over 70 instances of sabotage in just the first few days of the strike.

In the video below (warning: explicit language), a striking union militant uses his young daughter as a prop, demanding she block a Verizon truck from moving while he curses out the Verizon employees in the truck.

Here's a rundown of some of the other disturbing reports:

• One non-striking Verizon worker in New York was shot with a BB gun by union militants.
• The Boston Herald interviews a 64-year old mother of five about union strikers who picketed outside of her house while Verizon technicians repaired her broken phone line
• Senior citizens at an independent living facility in Maryland whose phone lines were knocked out in a recent storm have been forced to share phones, if they've been able to reach families members at all, reports the Baltimore Sun

The National Right to Work Foundation issued special legal notices informing CWA and IBEW union members of their rights to resign from union membership and return to work (see the notices here and here).  Foundation attorneys have provided free legal aid to victims of union violence.

State Employee Commission Rubber Stamps Union Boss Retaliation Against Employee Who Won Case against Union

Case highlights need to roll back union boss powers in the Garden State

Trenton, NJ (May 10, 2011) – Despite his previous legal successes, a New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) employee is learning firsthand how difficult it is to obtain justice in the face of union retaliation.

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, DEP employee Gary Lipsius filed charges against the DEP for reversing a promotion and pay raise allegedly in retaliation for his previous filing of a successful lawsuit against Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1034 union bosses and the agency.

Lipsius successfully challenged the illegal deduction of compulsory dues from the paychecks of thousands of nonunion New Jersey employees in a 2004 class-action lawsuit against the CWA union. With free legal aid from the Foundation, Lipsius and two of his colleagues charged the CWA union with collecting compulsory dues for non-chargeable activities, such as politics, without properly disclosing the union’s expenditures. The suit forced CWA union officials to cease and desist their illegal actions.

Lipsius’ unfair labor practice charges against the DEP – which prompted the New Jersey Public Employment Relations Commission (PERC) to investigate and conduct a trial – sought back pay and a reinstatement of his raise and promotion.

Read the entire release here.

For decades, Delta Air Lines flight attendants have repeatedly rebuked Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) union organizers' efforts to take monopoly bargaining control over their workplaces.

Despite a recent intense union organizing campaign, AFA union officials have lost yet another union organizing election, but true to form, AFA union bosses refuse to leave this independent-minded group of employees alone due to their blind lust for more forced union dues dollars.

So yesterday, more than thirty flight attendants from across the country met outside the AFA union headquarters on their day off to send them a message: "Leave us alone!"

From one participating flight attendant:

Flight attendants [from] more than seven bases spent three hours in the wind and bitter cold. The bundled-up group marched in front of the Communications Workers of America building, the posh home of AFA... Each flight attendant carried homemade signs with messages, ranging from “Respect Our Choice,” to “No Means No” and “No Union, No Dues, No Problem.”

Hats (and beanies) off to this courageous group of independent-minded employees as they take a stand for their workplace rights.

Read more about how fed-up Delta flight attendants are taking the fight to AFA union bosses in the July/August 2010 edition (pdf) of National Right to Work's newsletter, Foundation Action.

The March/April 2010 issue of Foundation Action is now available for download as a PDF. This is the Foundation's official bimonthly publication that provides an excellent overview of hard-hitting legal actions being taken by Foundation attorneys every day to combat forced unionism. This issue's top story chronicles the Foundation's efforts to help Michigan's home-based child-care providers fight back against Governor Jennifer Granholm's corrupt government union political payback scheme.

Also in this issue: 

• Federal Lawsuit Challenges Michigan Scheme to Impose Union on Child-Care Providers
• Union Boss Privacy Victims Case Taken to Supreme Court
• Make a Difference in the Fight Against Compulsory Unionism
• Foundation Unearths Ethical Lapses in Obama Administration
• CWA Bosses Attempt to Rig Employee Vote to Throw Union Out

In addition to to reading Foundation Action online, you can sign up to receive a free subscription by mail here.

Employee Hits AT&T/Union Officials with Federal Labor Charges Attacking Scheme to Unionize Workers

Fearing lack of support, communications union bosses are attempting to rig election employees initiated to throw out unwanted union

Seattle, WA (February 24, 2010) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, a Redmond-based AT&T Mobility employee filed federal charges after union organizers illegally colluded with company officials to sweep AT&T workers across the state into union ranks in exchange for contract concessions.

Per a so-called “neutrality agreement” between the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union hierarchy and AT&T, workers in a 140-employee bargaining unit (which consists of various locations across the state of Washington) had CWA union monopoly bargaining foisted upon them after a card-check forced unionism campaign. In exchange, union officials agreed with AT&T to subject the employees to a previously negotiated contract which results in lost benefits and perks for the workers.

As part of the agreement, the workers would be swept into the CWA union’s regional monopoly bargaining unit which consists of thousands of employees – making it virtually impossible for them to later organize to remove the union officials’ monopoly bargaining privileges.

Greg Hartmann of Auburn is challenging the pre-recognition negotiations because he and his colleagues were not even aware of the terms either of the neutrality agreement or the employees’ new contract until after the card-check campaign.

Click here to read the full release.

Workers Prevail in Battle for Secret Ballot Vote After Corrupt Card Check Unionization Scheme

Communications union bosses collude with AT&T to lock local group into union ranks without majority support

Seattle, WA (February 11, 2010) – A group of AT&T Mobility employees have won a legal victory countering union officials’ domination of their workplace using a coercive card check unionization campaign that occurred after union organizers colluded with AT&T officials to sweep the workers into union ranks in exchange for contract concessions.

Per a so-called “neutrality agreement” between the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union hierarchy and AT&T, workers in a 140-employee bargaining unit (which consists of various locations across the state of Washington) were “card checked” into the CWA union’s regional monopoly bargaining unit which consists of thousands of employees.

In exchange for AT&T foisting CWA monopoly bargaining on workers through a card check organizing drive, union officials agreed to subject employees to a contract which results in lost benefits for the workers, including promotion opportunities. Moreover, the employees’ inclusion in the larger regional unit would make it virtually impossible for them to later organize to remove the union officials’ monopoly bargaining privileges.

However, using precedent won by Right to Work Foundation attorneys in the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) landmark 2007 decision in Dana Corporation, Joseph Simpson of Redmond and his colleagues filed a decertification petition demanding a secret ballot election to remove the unwanted union from their workplace.

Click here to read the full release.

AT&T Employee Files Federal Charges Against Communications Union for Illegal Threats

CWA union bosses told worker they would “take him to court” for refusing to go on strike

St. Louis, Missouri (April 13, 2009) – A St. Louis-based AT&T worker has filed federal unfair labor practice charges against a national union for illegal threats in the run-up to an impending national strike.

With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, David McBride of Granite City, Illinois filed charges alleging that Communication Workers of America (CWA) union officials threatened him with legal action if he refused to go on strike and failed to provide him with a federally-mandated audit of union expenditures.

CWA union officials appear to be on the verge of ordering 20,000 employees to abandon their jobs as part of a nationwide strike against AT&T Mobility. However, numerous employees across the United States have contacted the National Right to Work Foundation for legal advice after being falsely informed by CWA officials that they are obligated to participate in the union’s upcoming work stoppage or face severe penalties.

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Click here to read the whole thing. The St. Louis Business Journal's coverage of the charges is available online here. 

Foundation attorneys have filed an unprecedented lawsuit in North Carolina state court on behalf of 16 AT&T employees against local union bosses who illegally released their confidential personal information (including their social security numbers) as retaliation for exercising their right to refrain from union membership. Two of the workers explain their battle in the latest Right to Work video report...

For more background information on the case, the Foundation's press release is available online here. The Burlington Times-News' coverage of the lawsuit is available online here.

Be sure to subscribe to the Foundation's YouTube Channel for more Right to Work video reports.