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.

The month of May marks the annual 'window period' for employees to obtain a reduction in mandatory dues payments from the Communication Workers of America (CWA) union.

The Foundation has had success challenging these window period schemes designed to trap workers into the union's forced dues-paying ranks, but if you're a CWA-covered employee in a non-Right to Work state who wants to opt-out of dues spent on activities unrelated to collective bargaining it is still recommended that you file your objection this month. (If you are under a Right to Work law you cannot be compelled to pay any dues whatsoever.)

For information on the forced-dues objection process, read this letter by Foundation Legal Director Ray LaJeunesse (pdf). The document includes a sample objection letter for CWA employees to send in to the agency fee administrator.