AFL-CIO Launches Sneak Attack on Nation’s Non-Union Railway and Airline Workers

National Right to Work opposes union officials’ quiet efforts to grease the skids to impose forced unionism at non-union workplaces

Washington, DC (November 3, 2009) – America’s preeminent workers’ rights advocacy organization raised the alarm about an under-the-radar attempt by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and 30 other unions to make a dramatic change to labor regulations, enabling union organizers to corral tens of thousands of non-union railway and airline industry workers into union membership.

Yesterday, the National Mediation Board (NMB), a government agency charged under the Railway Labor Act with mediating labor disputes within the railroad and airline industries, voted 2-1 to preliminarily support the controversial changes. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation sent a letter objecting to the AFL-CIO union’s proposals and the NMB is requesting comments on the proposed changes. The Foundation will file formal comments in the coming days.

The AFL-CIO union bosses’ proposal urges the NMB to discard its policy of requiring a true majority of all workers within a collective bargaining unit to decide for themselves if they wish to be represented by a union – a 75-year-old precedent – and instead implement new procedures that require only a majority of workers actually voting in a union organizing election to make that decision for the whole group.

(Read the full press release)

Sonoma County grape pickers aren't the only workers facing prolonged union occupation - an employee decertification election aimed at ejecting International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 from a Northwest Indiana plant has also been repeatedly stalled by frivolous union blocking charges:

Dozens of workers at the Edw. C. Levy Co., a slag processing subcontractor at Mittal Steel's Burns Harbor plant, are involved in a lengthy and nasty dispute with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150.

The workers claim Local 150 is purposely delaying their right to an election that could, presumably, rule out the union as their representative. The workers, who voted out Local 150 in 2007, claim that its repeated filing of unfair labor practice complaints is strictly to delay a new election, again presumably to vote in another union.

"All we want is a vote," said Jim Bezler, a Levy Co. mechanic for three years and one of the few workers who would allow me to print his name.

Like the Sonoma grape pickers, workers in Indiana are being punished for an alleged company malfeasance despite the employees' repeated grassroots campaigns to kick out the unwanted union: 

The Levy Co. workers I spoke with disagree, claiming Local 150 is taking full advantage of the NLRB's policy by filing charge after charge against the Levy Co.

"They keep pushing back any hope for us to have an election," said Alvin Johnson III, a mechanic from Hebron. "And now they just filed six more charges which could drag this out even longer, possibly to September."

The union bosses, of course, are only interested in retaining their forced dues and monopoly bargaining privileges. Moreover, evidence suggests union operatives have engaged in vandalsm, including actions which could seriously harm independent-minded workers:

Some of the workers also claimed that Local 150 supporters have sabotaged company equipment, such as dumping materials in hydraulic tanks and removing bolts from transmissions.

"I've seen the damage first-hand," Bezler said.

Other workers told me their personal property has been vandalized, including slashed tires, allegedly by Local 150 supporters.

While we applaud these workers for stepping forward, many employees don't have the time or legal expertise to deal to take on union lawyers and union thugs. If you or your coworkers need legal assistance, please contact the National Right to Work Foundation. We provide free aid to workers across the country who have been victimized by compulsory unionism.