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.

Despite union lawyers’ obstruction, workers vote to “decertify” United Electrical union bosses

Pittsburgh, PA (March 12, 2009) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, Pittsburgh Precision Turned Products employees recently overcame frivolous union boss blocking charges to eject the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 623 union.

In November 2009, Kathleen Lobodinsky, an employee at Precision Turned Products, solicited signatures from coworkers to hold an election to eject Local 623 from their workplace. Instead of defending their presence to employees, union officials responded by filing spurious blocking charges with the National Labor Relations Board(NLRB), alleging that company officials unlawfully assisted Lobodinsky’s efforts to collect employee signatures.

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