Boeing Employees Hit Machinist Union with Charge for Discriminating against Workers in Right to Work States

Union bosses abuse process to force Boeing to locate production in state without a Right to Work law

Washington, DC (December 28, 2011) – Three Charleston-area Boeing company (NYSE: BA) employees filed a federal retaliation charge against the Washington State union behind the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) high-profile case against Boeing for building a new facility in South Carolina.

The Charleston-area Boeing employees filed the unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB Wednesday with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation.

The charge comes in the wake of the recent announcement of a backroom deal cut between IAM, its Local 751 union, and Boeing officials which led to the end of the NLRB's case. The Charleston Boeing employees, who were granted intervenor status in the case by the NLRB in Washington, D.C., were denied participation in the hearing concluding the case.

The charge spells out how IAM union bosses abused the NLRB's adjudicative process to bully Boeing into locating production of the company's 737 Max and future airplane production in Washington State, which does not have a Right to Work law. The IAM union bosses' accusations against Boeing had a chilling effect on Boeing and other companies, deterring them from locating work in South Carolina and other Right to Work states where workers can not be forced to join or pay fees to a union as a job condition.

Read the entire release here.

WVU Hospital Employee Files Federal Charge after Union Ignores Her Rights

West Virginia’s workers desperately need Right to Work protections

Morgantown, WV (November 23, 2011) – With aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, a West Virginia University Hospital employee has filed a second federal charge against a local union for refusing to honor her resignation from formal union membership, forcing her to pay full union dues against her will, and failing to provide the legally-required disclosure of how her forced dues are being spent.

Kimberly Wright initially resigned formal union membership from the Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 814 in December 2010. Wright exercised her rights under the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court precedent in Communication Workers v. Beck, which allows workers to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership.

For months following, LIUNA Local 814 union officials continued to extract full union dues from her paycheck, forcing her to file a charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal assistance from Foundation attorneys. The Board then settled the case with union lawyers.

Despite the settlement, LIUNA Local 814 union officials continue to collect full union dues from her paycheck.

Read the entire release here.

Tyson Foods Worker Slaps Union with Federal Charges for Threats and Intimidation

Wisconsin needs full Right to Work law to protect workers from forced unionism abuses

Jefferson, Wisconsin (August 25, 2011) – A meat processing worker has filed federal charges against a local union and Tyson Foods, Inc. officials after union officials illegally threatened to retaliate against him for exercising his rights.

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, Tyson employee Gregory Langron of Janesville filed the charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last week.

United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 538 union officials enjoy monopoly bargaining privileges over Tyson Foods employees in the Jefferson plant. Langron recently exercised his right under National Right to Work Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent in Communication Workers v. Beck to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership.

However, because Wisconsin does not have a Right to Work law, most workers who refrain from formal union membership can still be forced to pay a part of union dues as a condition of employment, but cannot be compelled to pay the portion used for the union's political, lobbying, and member-only activities.

UFCW Local 538 union officials recently threatened to prosecute Langron with internal union kangaroo court proceedings for allegedly initiating a petition to remove the union hierarchy from the workplace. Union officials also illegally told Langron that they would not represent him despite the fact that he is forced to pay union dues and accept UFCW union boss "representation" because Wisconsin lacks a Right to Work law for private sector workers.

Read the entire release here.

National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix recently appeared on "The Willis Report" on the Fox News Channel to talk about the economic benefits of Right to Work laws, the costs of government-sector forced unionism, and the Foundation's legal aid to workers in South Carolina whose jobs are in jeopardy due to the Obama Labor Board's outrageous complaint against Boeing.

Teamster Union Bosses Hit with Federal Charges for Having Coca-Cola Worker Illegally Fired

Incident shows Pennsylvania’s workers desperately need Right to Work protections

Houston, PA (July 5, 2011) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a former Coca-Cola employee has filed federal charges against a local Teamster union and the company for discrimination and illegally firing him from his job.

Keith Smiesko of Saxonburg filed the federal charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office in Pittsburgh on Thursday.

Earlier this year, Teamster Local 585 union officials ordered Smiesko – who had refrained from full union membership and dues payments – to immediately pay full union dues for the previous three years along with additional union initiation fees without ever notifying him that he was being charged for their so-called "representation." Union officials illegally threatened Smiesko with job termination if he did not pay.

Smiesko refused, exercising his rights under the Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent in Communication Workers v. Beck, which allows workers to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership. Teamster Local 585 union officials then demanded that Coca-Cola fire Smiesko and Coca-Cola complied with the union bosses' command.

Read the entire release here.

South Carolina Boeing Employees Move to Intervene in Obama Labor Board’s Assault on Right to Work Laws

National Right to Work Foundation attorneys helping workers and former Machinist union president challenge attempt to send jobs to Washington

Washington, DC (June 2, 2011) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a group of Charleston-area Boeing Company employees are asking to intervene in the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) unprecedented case targeting Boeing (NYSE: BA) for locating production in South Carolina in part due to its popular Right to Work law. That law ensures that union dues and membership are strictly voluntary.

The NLRB's complaint, if successful, would eliminate over 1,000 existing jobs in South Carolina, not to mention several thousand more jobs that would be created once the Boeing plant reaches full production capacity. Further, the case could set a dangerous precedent that allows union bosses to dictate where job providers locate their facilities.

In 2009, Boeing, after experiencing repeated International Association of Machinists (IAM) union boss-instigated strikes in the forced unionism state of Washington, decided to locate a new production line for the 787 Dreamliner to South Carolina, partly because South Carolina is a Right to Work state. IAM union bosses in state of Washington cried foul and filed unfair labor practice charges against Boeing.

The NLRB's Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon sided with IAM union bosses and decided to prosecute Boeing in late April. Ironically, workers in Boeing's South Carolina plant booted IAM union bosses from their plant to attract the Dreamliner production, as the workers did not want union bosses interfering with their job prospects.

Boeing employees Dennis Murray, who led the effort to remove the union from the Charleston plant; Cynthia Ramaker, the former president with the local union which was removed from the plant; and Meredith Going filed their motion to intervene in the case with the NLRB regional office in Seattle, where the NLRB's case is pending.

Read the entire release here.

To read the employees' motion to intervene and their personal declarations supporting the motion, click here (pdf).

As Indiana's state legislators discuss the merits of passing Right to Work protections for Hoosier workers, a group of scholars released a study last week confirming (pdf) workers and their families in Right to Work states benefit from workplace freedom in a very tangible way. From a press release announcing their findings:

Improving the per-capita income of Indiana workers and creating more job opportunities for Hoosiers would be among the major benefits of Indiana becoming the 23rd state to pass a right-to-work (RTW) law, according to research released today by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce. In addition, statewide voter polling results show Hoosiers favoring adoption of RTW by a 3-to-1 margin.

Dr. Richard Vedder, an Ohio University economist, and his colleagues report in the study (Right-to-Work and Indiana's Economic Future) that if Indiana had adopted RTW in 1977, per-capita income would have been $2,925 higher -- or $11,700 higher for a family of four - by 2008. Looking forward (projecting the same growth rate in the next 10 years after adjusting for inflation), passage of a RTW law in 2011 would raise per capita income by $968 -- or $3,872 for a family of four -- by 2021.

The scholars conclude that a Right to Work law would benefit workers with greater job growth and real personal income. These results mirror the thorough research conducted by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR), which has found that families benefit from Right to Work laws with more job availability and higher expendable income. No wonder workers and their families are seeking greater workplace freedom, leaving forced unionism states in droves.

Union Bosses, School District Face Federal Suit for Illegal Forced Union Dues Scheme

School employees challenge unconstitutional union dues confiscation

Cincinnati, OH (January 21, 2011) – A group of Cincinnati Public Schools employees today filed a federal lawsuit against a local union and the city school district for illegally confiscating union dues from their paychecks in violation of their constitutional rights.

National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, providing the employees with free legal aid, filed the suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

The school district carpentry shop employees, who have exercised their right to refrain from formal union membership with the Greater Cincinnati Building & Construction Trades Council union (GCBCTC) and its affiliates, ask the federal court to protect their Right to Work Foundation-won rights upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson.

Read the entire release here.

Citizen Activist Wins Battle to Inform Keystone State Teachers of Their Constitutional Rights

Teacher union bosses aimed to keep Pennsylvania’s teachers in the dark

Harrisburg, PA (September 30, 2010) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, citizen activist Simon Campbell has bested teacher union bosses in state court over his right to inform Pennsylvania’s nonmember teachers of their constitutional rights regarding union membership and dues payment.

Several years ago, Simon Campbell of Bucks County founded a group dedicated to the goal of making sure all public school children in the state have the legal right to a strike-free education after his own children were forced out of school in the wake of a debilitating union boss-instigated strike.

More recently, Campbell has requested that public school districts disclose the mailing addresses of teachers who have refrained from formal union membership with the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) union, but are still forced to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment because Pennsylvania does not have Right to Work protections for its workers.

Campbell wanted to advise the teachers about their rights under National Right to Work Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court precedent, such as their right not to subsidize union boss activities other than collective bargaining and contract administration and their right to challenge the union hierarchy’s calculations regarding the amount of forced dues charged to nonmember teachers.

Read the full press release here.

Manny Lopez from the Detroit News comments on the United Autoworker (UAW) union hierarchy's "new" strategy of organizing workers, (i.e. using even more intimidation and harassment to force additional workers into their dues-paying ranks):

Bob King, the new president of the UAW was stumping for democracy yesterday, and you'd think that it would be hard to corrupt such a thing.

But he did. See, democracy to the unions means do it our way, or no way.

King said the UAW will try a new tactic to organize foreign automakers. The membership-declining union is going to draft a set of principles that will bar companies from using derogatory, untruthful or threatening statements to dissuade workers from organizing (as if that was a one-way street).

"Any company that does not agree to the UAW principles is essentially declaring war on freedom of speech and assembly," he said.

Ta-da, the "shame campaign" (my interpretation, not his).

Those that don't sign on will be labeled as being against the First Amendment.

But as Lopez correctly points out, UAW union hypocrites seem the least bit interested in protecting Michigan workers' rights to also not be forced to associate with something they want no part of:

In fact, the UAW's push for freedom could be a good thing if it were universally open to such a thing. How about the UAW abide by its own new interest in openness and allow its members in Michigan and other forced unionism states to also have the freedom to decide whether they want to be in the union?

I'll buy into the UAW's campaign for the First Amendment and the freedom of speech and assembly when it gives its workers in every state that same opportunity.

How about it Mr. King? Let's make Michigan a right-to-work state. Or is the freedom to choose limited to certain circumstances?

And not only would Right to Work protections be great for workers' rights, it would also be good for their wallets.  Now that's a "new" strategy Michigan's families could support.