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.

Truck Drivers and Dockworkers Fight Back Against Teamster Union Intimidation

Employees seek to throw out union after union bosses’ ugly campaign of harassment and coercion

Seattle, Washington (March 5, 2009) — Employees from nine collective bargaining units of Oak Harbor Freight Lines, Inc. have filed decertification petitions seeking elections to oust the Teamster union as the workers’ monopoly bargaining agent.

With help from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, the employees – drivers and dockworkers – filed the decertification petitions with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking secret ballot elections to determine whether the workforce wants to retain the Teamster union as their monopoly bargaining agent.

On September 22, 2008, Teamster union brass called a strike against Oak Harbor Freight. Teamster union operatives picketed Oak Harbor Freight’s clients with the goal of discouraging them from doing business with the company. Teamster union bosses sought publicly to damage Oak Harbor Freight’s reputation and openly celebrated when clients refused to do further business with the company.

Teamster union bosses organized a subsequent campaign of intimidation and harassment of Oak Harbor Freight employees who continued to work during the strike. Teamster union partisans participated in ambulatory strikes, in which they stalked and picketed Oak Harbor Freight drivers on their daily routes.

(Continue reading this news release...)

A Foundation Action subscriber recently brought this developing story to our attention. Reports of union-related violence and intimidation have surfaced in Bakersfield, California, where members of the local United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners are accused of physically abusing a project manager at a local construction site. Police have responded to reports of union-related violence by opening an investigation into the incident.

Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. intends to file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board charging the union with physical violence, coercive behavior, and invasion of a job site. The organization represents non-union contractors nationwide.

This incident is only the most recent example of union members threatening non-striking co-workers with violence and intimidation. In case you missed it, Freedom@Work has been covering a campaign of union-instigated harassment at a Volvo auto plant in Pulaski County, Virginia. Data compiled by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research suggests that these confrontations are symptomatic of a wider problem, as union violence is often under-reported and difficult to prosecute.

View a new video by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation about the often brutal intimidation that employees face for exercising their Right to Work.

Sadly, while these employees suffered greatly, others often face far worse retaliation for refusing to walk off the job during a strike.

Additional photos documenting earlier reported incidents of retaliation against employees of Volvo who kept working during a recent UAW union strike have surfaced.

Here, an employee finally gained the ability to press charges against a union operative for spitting tobacco juice all over her windshield after contacting the National Right to Work Foundation.

And here are just a couple of several hundred nails the very same employee found in her driveway before heading out to work one morning.

These photos, along with the photo of the broken windshield from last week drive home just how important it is to protect these employees' Right to Work.

Though it's pretty PG-rated compared to what else has gone on around the UAW strike in Virginia, a local employee called in to say that she has been allowed to press charges against a UAW picketer for spitting tobacco onto her car windshield and obstructing her view.

The incident occurred last week when the employee was slowly driving through a swarm of belligerent UAW union picketers on her way to work. Employees have reported this was no picnic, with many picketers hurling obscenities and making obscene gestures at female employees.

Though there are far more and far uglier alleged union reprisals against non-striking employees that need to be investigated, today's news comes as a step in the right direction.

When the Volvo strike that we've covered heavily over the past week came to an end Saturday, one non-striking Volvo employee reports that she received an anonymous "congratulatory" phone call late that night.

When the employee answered the phone, the caller reported the tally of the vote to end the strike and reportedly said:

"Congratulations, you f***ing scab!"

It's because of such hostility that the National Right to Work Foundation again acted on behalf of employees in the area today, seeking information about employee reports that police refused to protect them from union vandalism and harassment.

In case you missed it yesterday, the National Right to Work Foundation is asking for an investigation into reports from employees that local police may have turned a blind eye to union harassment of non-striking workers at Volvo in Pulaski County, Virginia.

Meanwhile, employees continue to contact us with stories of what's been going on during the strike. Some employees report that in addtion to what has already been reported, they believe that union operatives have stalked them, collected their license plate numbers, and slashed their tires.

Again, employees seeking free legal aid can contact the Foundation toll-free at (800) 336-3600.

(Photo by Larry Middleton)

More reports of alleged union inimidation of employees during a strike at Volvo near Roanoke, Virginia, are pouring out today, including a news story by WDBJ-TV. The video report also shows a makeshift coffin put up outside the union hall with an arrow pointing into it and reading "All Scabs Welcome Here."

The report also quotes several employees:

"I expected them to call me a scab. I expected that," says Volvo worker Dreama Dominguez. "What I didn't expect was some of the men that I sorta admired, thought they were descent people, to grope themselves as I drove by."

The employees go on to detail reports we cited yesterday about a broken car window, nails in their driveways, and sugar in a gas tank.

"It scared me but the more I thought about it, it made me angry and if I had to walk over those nails to get into work I would have done it," says Dominguez.

All these brave employees did was show up to work. Sadly, while this situation has gained some attention, the National Institute for Labor Relations Research says that the vast majority of instances of union violence (including both physical and property damage) go unprosecuted.