National Worker Advocates Issue Labor Day Statement: “Big Labor’s Political Ambitions are Unprecedented”

Leading union watchdog groups warn of looming power grabs and resulting damage to employee rights and America’s fragile economy

Washington, DC (September 4, 2009) – Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and National Right to Work Committee, released the following statement regarding this year’s Labor Day holiday.

“This Labor Day, many Americans will enjoy a well-deserved long weekend. But as we celebrate the free-enterprise system and the value of hard work, union officials are mounting an unprecedented effort to grab more coercive power. At its core, their basic goal is simple: expand the number of workers forced to pay union dues and accept mandatory union representation just to keep their jobs.

“Unfortunately, the union hierarchy’s ambitions go well beyond the scope of previous years. Now that union operatives have helped install a President who in his own words says ‘he owes these unions,’ Big Labor is focused on a series of unprecedented power grabs.

"Their first priority is coercive ‘card check’ legislation, which would shove millions of unwilling workers into unions, disenfranchising workers from the process, and forcing struggling job-providers to knuckle-under to government-imposed contracts. Other legislative plans include the newly-revived Police and Firefighter Monopoly Bargaining Bill, which threatens America’s first responders with federally-mandated unionization. The National Right to Work Committee is mobilizing its 2.2 million members to combat these and other bills designed to force even more unwilling workers into unions.

“Throughout the United States, more than 12 million American workers are already compelled to pay union dues as a condition of keeping their jobs. And millions more are required by law to accept a union’s so-called ‘representation,’ even if they never asked or voted for it.

“Meanwhile, many workers feel they have no choice but to pay for organized labor’s extensive political activities, while others are still unaware of their right to object. That’s why the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is providing free legal aid to thousands of employees nationwide.

“This Labor Day, we commend all workers brave enough to stand up to union intimidation, harassment, and even violence as they defend their cherished freedoms. While we look forward to the day when no American is forced to pay tribute to an unwanted union, we must steel ourselves for the legislative and judicial battles ahead to defend employee freedom.”

To download Mark Mix's statement as an MP3: Click here.

Worker Advocates Join Challenge Against Discriminatory Union-Only Contracting in $300 Million Deal

Right to Work attorneys argue CA local agency illegally imposes union “representation” on local construction employees and employers through Project Labor Agreement scheme

Santa Ana, CA (July 1, 2009) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation today joined a high-profile appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit challenging a public agency’s discriminatory regulations intended to enrich union officials, punish nonunion workers, and stick taxpayers with the bill.

Arguing that a so-called “project labor agreement” (PLA) between the Rancho Santiago Community College District and a union illegally discriminates against construction workers who exercise their right to refrain from union membership, the Foundation is defending the interests of the vast majority of construction employees in California who have opted against unionization.

Rancho Santiago and the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council (CTC) union entered into the PLA, which effectively precludes nonunion apprentices and contractors from working on over 50 construction projects funded by the public agency for over $300 million. Foundation attorneys filed an amicus brief supporting a group of nonunion apprentices seeking to work on the projects.

The union hierarchy does not represent Rancho Santiago employees, and the PLA is simply an attempt by Rancho Santiago to impose union affiliation on others. The PLA is essentially a collective bargaining agreement that contractors must sign as a condition of performing work on a government-funded construction project. It requires contractors to grant union officials monopoly bargaining privileges over their workers, use exclusive union hiring halls, make payments into often corrupt and under-funded union pension funds, and operate according to wasteful union work rules. The PLA also requires that all employees pay forced dues to the union or be fired from their job, as California is not a Right to Work state.

But Foundation attorneys argue that the discriminatory union-only requirement imposed on contractors bidding on the District’s projects violates provisions in the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) that limit the ability of union officials to impose union affiliation on workers against their will. By denying work to nonunion contractors on $300 million worth of public projects, Foundation attorneys argue, Rancho Santiago has imposed blanket regulation of the regional construction industry – an attempt which is federally preempted under U.S. Supreme Court rulings. Foundation attorneys point out that Rancho Santiago is not acting as a valid market participant and does not directly manage labor relations at construction sites.

“Public agencies owe it to their taxpayers to award contracts to those who will do the best work at the best price, not those who agree with bureaucrats to impose union boss control on all employees,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This discriminatory union-only contracting scheme is a payoff to union bosses at the expense of individual workers and taxpayers.”

Workers' Secret Ballot Election Ignored As Company Imposes Unwanted Teamster Union 'Representation'

Workers seek immediate injunction against illegal bargaining between company and non-majority union

Phoenix, AZ (June 15, 2009) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, three U.S. Foodservice employees have filed unfair labor practice charges against the company and Teamster union officials for illegal collusion.

Company and union officials disregarded the results of a secret ballot election where employees clearly chose not to be represented by the union.

The workers, Felix Alvarado and Emilio Lamar of Phoenix and Dennis Dickey of Casa Grande, turned to staff attorneys at the Foundation after they received a memo from U.S. Foodservice management informing them that the company had accepted Teamsters Local 104 as the monopoly bargaining agent of all drivers, warehouse workers, and mechanics at the Phoenix facility and would soon begin contract negotiations with Teamster union bosses.

But the union lost a secret ballot election run by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in September 2008. Moreover, in July 2008, workers collected petitions from a majority of workers stating that they did not want the union’s “representation.” Without demonstrated support of the union by a majority of workers, it is illegal for the company to recognize and bargain with the union.

Foundation attorneys have filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB and are also seeking immediate injunctive relief to halt the unlawful bargaining. In addition, workers are asking the NLRB to conduct a decertification election to remove Teamsters Local 104 as their monopoly bargaining agent. A prior Foundation-won NLRB precedent determined that workers may demand a secret ballot vote within 45 days of company recognition of a union through the abusive “card check” organizing process.

Because Arizona is one of 22 states with Right to Work laws, no employees at the facility can legally be forced to join or pay any dues or fees to the union as a condition of employment. Federal labor law, however, compels all workers in a bargaining unit to accept the “representation” of a union that the company has recognized with demonstrated support from a majority of the unit’s workers. Under these circumstances, it becomes illegal for individual employees to negotiate terms of employment directly with the company.

“Concerned Americans are increasingly aware of Big Labor’s war on the secret ballot in union certification elections,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “The company and the Teamster union should be ashamed of themselves for thumbing their noses at employees’ right to be free of union-boss interference in their workplace lives.”

Employees Ask U.S. Supreme Court to Reinstate RICO Case against UAW Union Organizing Scheme

National Right to Work Foundation urges High Court to allow enforcement of longstanding labor bribery statutes against increasingly common union schemes

Washington, DC (April 21, 2009) – Today, National Right to Work Foundation attorneys filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court to uphold workers’ challenge to a secret quid pro quo agreement intended to install the United Auto Workers (UAW) union at Freightliner plants in North and South Carolina.

With free legal aid from the Foundation, five employees at three plants operated by Daimler Trucks subsidiary Freightliner filed a class-action federal racketeering lawsuit in 2006 challenging an illegal scheme in which union officials agreed in advance to significant concessions at the expense of the Freightliner workers at its non-union facilities in North Carolina in exchange for valuable company assistance in organizing those workers.

Federal law bars companies from giving “things of value” to unions or union officials, and it is also illegal for company and union agents to negotiate terms and conditions of employment before the union hierarchy has proven a majority of employees actually want it to represent them. But in a secret “Preconditions to Card Check Procedure” pact inked before employees even knew they were a UAW union organizing target, Freightliner and the UAW union expressly agreed to limitations on wages, an increase in the health care costs shouldered by employees, and other concessions.

In return, Freightliner gave the UAW union organizers direct access to propagandize employees at compulsory “captive audience” meetings and to harangue them in company break rooms, granted union organizers access to employees’ private home addresses, agreed not to provide truthful information to employees about the downsides of unionization, and agreed to automatically recognize the union without a secret ballot vote when presented the requisite number of signed union authorization cards.

In such “card check” organizing drives, employees are frequently coerced or misled into signing such cards, which are then counted as “votes.” Workers have also complained that signed cards are difficult to revoke.

In December, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld union lawyers' motion to dismiss the case. Foundation attorneys argue the lower court erroneously limited “things of value” to only tangible and explicit monetary benefits. But given the millions of dollars unions spend on corporate campaigns to obtain the advantages delivered by Freightliner in this case, the UAW clearly obtained “things of value.” Moreover, the court could have simply remanded for fact finding as to monetary value, which can easily be established.

“We urge the Supreme Court to do what the lower courts have refused: restore the rights of American workers victimized by sweetheart deals between management and union bosses,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation.

The employees seek financial restitution to all employees at the Mount Holly, Gastonia, and Cleveland, North Carolina, facilities in the form of treble damages for all dues seized and earnings lost as a result of the unlawful pact. Additional Freightliner plants known to be covered by the once-secret agreement are located in High Point, North Carolina, and Gaffney, South Carolina.

Federal Labor Board to Prosecute Tenet Healthcare for Scheme to Sweep Nurses into Unionization

Tenet and union bosses signed backroom deal to eliminate employee protections and create phony unionization “election” process

Houston, Texas (April 3, 2009) – National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) prosecutors have filed a complaint this week against Tenet Healthcare Corporation after it entered into a backroom deal with union officials designed to force nurses into union ranks at multiple Houston-area hospitals.

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, two Houston-area nurses, Esther Marissa Cuellar, a nurse at Tenet’s Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center, and Linda D. Bertrand, a nurse at Tenet’s Park Plaza Hospital and Medical Center, filed unfair labor practice charges alleging that an “Election Procedures Arrangement” (EPA) Tenet and California Nurses Association (CNA) union officials secretly established violates employees’ rights.

The unfair labor practice charges also allege that Tenet officials provided CNA union operatives with unlawful organizing assistance in violation of federal statutes: In Tenet healthcare facilities, outside union organizers are given free reign to aggressively push for a union presence; but Tenet nurses who oppose unionization, on the other hand, are forbidden from using Tenet facilities to express their views.

The NLRB regional office in Fort Worth consolidated the two nurses’ charges and filed a formal complaint against Tenet Healthcare Corporation. Trial proceedings in the case are scheduled to take place before an NLRB Administrative Law Judge at the NLRB Courtroom in Houston on May 26.

“CNA union bosses and complicit Tenet Corporation officials must be held accountable for this scheme to push nurses into union ranks,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “CNA union bosses are pursuing a coercive organizing campaign – making it more difficult for employees to resist the CNA’s professional union organizers – to force unwilling nurses across the state of Texas and our country into forced-dues-paying union ranks.”

To date, CNA union organizers have successfully obtained monopoly bargaining privileges at one Houston-area Tenet healthcare facility under similarly controversial circumstances and have expanded their coercive organizing efforts in Tenet facilities nationwide. Recently a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-area registered nurse, with help from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, filed similar unfair labor practice charges against Tenet and CNA union officials.

Nationwide Backroom Deal between Union Bosses and Tenet Corporation Forces Philadelphia Nurses into Union Ranks

Right to Work attorneys hit union and hospital company with unfair labor practice charges for bypassing employee protections

Philadelphia, PA (February 9, 2009) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a registered nurse at a Philadelphia-based Tenet Healthcare facility has filed federal charges against the California Nurses Association (CNA) union and Tenet Healthcare Corporation after union and company officials entered into a backroom deal designed to force unwilling nurses into union ranks.

The charges target a so-called “Election Procedures Agreement” (EPA) formulated by Tenet officials and CNA union bosses at Hahnemann University Hospital to bypass employees’ legal rights. So far, CNA organizers have successfully obtained monopoly bargaining privileges at a Houston-area healthcare facility under similarly controversial circumstances.

The charges list multiple violations of employee rights, all designed to make it more difficult for employees to resist the CNA’s professional union organizers.

Foundation attorneys have reason to believe that the agreement signed by Tenet and the CNA subverts the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) role in supervising unionization elections and bypasses key employee protections. Although the agreement calls for the NLRB to count ballots and “certify” the union, it circumvents all government oversight procedures during the actual election.

The unfair labor practice charges also allege that Tenet officials provided CNA operatives with unlawful organizing assistance in violation of federal statutes. Under the agreement, Tenet managers are gagged from responding to employee questions about the CNA, and nurses who oppose unionization are forbidden from using Tenet facilities to express their views. Outside union organizers, on the other hand, are given free reign to push for a union presence.

“California union militants, with the assistance of complicit Tenet officials, are attempting force unwilling nurses into union ranks,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “We’ve seen this scheme before, and it’s flat out illegal. What isn’t yet clear is exactly what Tenet received in exchange for helping union officials gain access to hundreds of thousands of dollars in union dues.”

The charges, which will now be investigated by NLRB officials, also allege that the EPA amounts to illegal pre-recognition bargaining, with union officials negotiating substantive terms of employment for nurses before they acquire the legal authority to represent them. Foundation attorneys filed similar charges against the CNA and Tenet for several Houston-area nurses in 2008.

Majority of Workers at JCIM Grand Rapids Plant Seek Ejection of UAW Union

Grand Rapids workers want UAW union out while organizers attempt to force their way into JCIM’s Holland plant

Grand Rapids, MI - With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a Johnson Controls (JCIM) employee at the Talon Court facility in Kentwood has filed a decertification petition seeking an election to oust the United Auto Workers (UAW) union as the JCIM workers’ monopoly bargaining agent.

The development is another blow to the UAW union hierarchy which has taken a major public relations hit in recent months because of its role in driving the Big Three automakers to the brink of bankruptcy.

JCIM worker Dawn Lambert filed the decertification petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which should conduct a secret-ballot election to determine whether or not a majority of the workforce wants to retain the UAW union as their monopoly bargaining agent. Under federal labor law governing the private sector, once the NLRB grants union officials monopoly bargaining status, it is illegal for any present or future employees – whether they are members of the union or not – to negotiate with their employer for themselves unless they can prove that the union hierarchy does not retain majority support.

Because a clear majority of the employees at the Talon Court facility in Kentwood have expressed their intent to remove the UAW, National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have also sent a letter to JCIM management demanding that they cease further contract negotiations and also withdraw recognition of what is now a minority union. Under the law, recognizing and negotiating with a union that does not have majority support is an unfair labor practice.

The decertification drive against the UAW in Kentwood comes amidst a UAW campaign to unionize JCIM workers in nearby Holland. In Holland, UAW union bosses are pressuring JCIM to provide union organizers with access to company facilities and personal information about its employees, including their names, phone numbers, and home addresses.  Numerous employees at the JCIM Holland facility have responded by sending JCIM a letter asking that the company not release their personal information to the UAW union. To view a sample of the letter, click here.

Union bosses use this information to pressure employees to sign union authorization cards at work and at home. History shows that during “card check” campaigns union organizers frequently harass and even mislead workers into signing these cards. Once union officials collect signed cards from a majority of the workers, JCIM in Holland could be forced to recognize the union as the monopoly bargaining agent of all employees in the bargaining unit, even for those workers who would prefer to negotiate their own wages and working conditions based on their individual merit.

“Employees are apparently sick and tired of the UAW bosses’ role in fomenting conflict in the workplace, job losses, corruption, and Far Left political activism,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation.

Tenet Nurses’ Unfair Labor Practice Charges Derail Union Officials’ Sham Election

National legal aid foundation puts brakes on collusive arrangement that would force nurses into union ranks

Houston, Texas (November 11, 2008) – Federal labor prosecutors have blocked a so-called “consent election” sought by the Tenet Healthcare Corporation and the California Nurses Association (CNA) while the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) conducts an inquiry into the legality of a secret backroom deal entered into by Tenet and CNA officials.

The National Labor Relations Board’s Regional Director heeded the wishes of Houston-area nurses who filed unfair labor practice charges against Tenet and the CNA with assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation. The scheduled “consent election” would have determined whether the CNA became the monopoly bargaining agent of nurses at the Houston Northwest Medical Center.

Esther Marissa Cuellar, a nurse at Tenet’s Cypress Fairbanks location, and Linda D. Bertrand, a nurse at Tenet’s Park Plaza Medical Center, filed the charges on August 12 with the National Labor Relations Board in Fort Worth. The charges allege that an “Election Procedures Arrangement” Tenet and the CNA secretly agreed to violates employees’ rights.

The nurses’ charges detail how the agreement, signed by Tenet and CNA officials, subverts the NLRB’s role in supervising union certification elections and bypasses critical employee protections. The agreement calls for the NLRB merely to count ballots and “certify” the union without providing oversight for the actual process.

Tenet is also charged with providing unlawful assistance to CNA union organizers and discriminating against nurses opposed to unionization. Tenet managers were forbidden from answering workers’ questions about unionization, and employees who opposed a union presence in the workplace were prevented from using company facilities to express their views. CNA organizers, on the other hand, were given wide-ranging access to company grounds to facilitate unionization.

“California union militants, with the assistance of complicit Tenet officials, are attempting to corral unwilling nurses across the state of Texas into union ranks.” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “If similar agreements elsewhere are any indication, CNA may have sold out employees’ interests to become Tenet’s favored union. We’re pleased that the NLRB stepped up to investigate the matter before proceeding with more of these sham consent elections.”

The NLRB’s decision places the “consent election” on indefinite hold pending the outcome of the unfair labor practice charges.

Worker Seeks Injunction to Prevent Unwanted Union from Acquiring Confidential Personal Information

Union sought quid pro quo from company to unionize its employees

Boca Raton, Florida (November 6, 2008) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, an employee at a Mardi Gras Gaming facility has filed a federal lawsuit to prevent UNITE HERE Local 355 union officials from obtaining illegal assistance in pressuring workers to unionize – including possession of workers’ personal addresses and other private information.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleges that union officials violated the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) by entering into an agreement with Mardi Gras Gaming that allows the union access to information about nonunion employees, use of the employer’s property for organizing, and control over the employer’s communications with workers. The LMRA expressly forbids employers from giving “any money or other thing of value” to unions.

The LMRA’s prohibition on transfers of things of value from employers to unions is intended to prevent deals that induce union officials to place their own interests or the interests of employers above the workers themselves.

The Mardi Gras Gaming facility is not yet unionized, but in August of 2004, management entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with Local 355. In return for a union guarantee not to picket, boycott, or strike against the facility, Mardi Gras Gaming agreed to hand over employees’ personal contact information – including home addresses – to union organizers, grant union officials access to Mardi Gras facilities for the purpose of organizing, and to refrain from requesting a federally-supervised secret ballot election to determine whether its employees actually want to unionize. This quid pro quo arrangement is of substantial monetary value to Local 355, as it would dramatically reduce the cost of successfully unionizing workers at the Mardi Gras facility.

Such so-called “neutrality agreements” between companies and unions give union organizers license to browbeat and intimidate workers into acceding to unionization. Armed with employees’ home addresses and access to company facilities, union officials frequently harass workers on and off the job until they agree to sign cards that are then counted as “votes” for unionization. In other Foundation-assisted cases, employees have testified to and documented the pressure, bribery, and outright fraud union organizers use to obtain signed authorization cards.

“UNITE HERE bosses made a secret deal to force Mardi Gras workers into the union whether they like it or not,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “We intend to shut down this major violation of federal law and employee freedom.”

Nurses Attack Backroom Deal Between Tenet and CNA To Force Texas Nurses Into Union Ranks

Right to Work attorneys hit union and hospital chain with federal unfair labor practice charges for statewide scheme to bypass employee protections

Houston, Texas (August 12, 2008) – Two registered nurses at Houston-based Tenet Healthcare medical centers have filed federal charges against the California Nurses Association (CNA) union and Tenet, after union officials and Tenet entered into agreements designed to force nurses into CNA union ranks.

Esther Marissa Cuellar, a nurse at Tenet’s Cypress Fairbanks location, and Linda D. Bertrand, a nurse at Tenet’s Park Plaza Medical Center, filed the unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 16 in Fort Worth, Texas with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.

The charges focus on a so-called “Election Procedures Agreement” (EPA) between Tenet officials and CNA union bosses designed to assist the CNA in corralling nurses into the union. The agreement affects Tenet locations across Texas. So far CNA organizers have obtained union monopoly bargaining power at Cypress Fairbanks, and they have campaigns underway at other Houston-area hospitals, including Park Plaza.

The nurses’ charges list multiple violations of employee rights, all designed to make it more difficult for nurses to resist unionization by the power hungry California union officials. The charges detail how the agreement signed by Tenet and CNA officials subverts the NLRB’s role in supervising union certification elections and bypasses employee protections. While eliminating NLRB oversight of election conduct, the agreement calls for the NLRB to merely count ballots and “certify” the union.

The unfair labor practice charges also detail unlawful organizing assistance given by Tenet to CNA organizers in violation of federal statutes and a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Under the agreement, Tenet managers are gagged from responding to employee questions about unionization, and nurses who oppose the union have been forbidden from using any Tenet facilities to express their views. Yet pro-CNA nurses and non-employee union organizers are given broad access to Tenet facilities.

“California union militants, with the assistance of complicit Tenet officials, are attempting to sweep nurses across the state of Texas into union ranks, like it or not,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “What isn’t yet clear is exactly what Tenet received in exchange for helping union officials gain access to hundreds of thousands of dollars in union dues. If similar agreements elsewhere are any indication, CNA may have sold out the employees’ interests to become Tenet’s favored union.”

The charges, which will now be investigated by NLRB officials, also state that the EPA scheme amounts to illegal pre-recognition bargaining, with union officials negotiating substantive terms of employment for nurses before they have the legal authority to represent a single employee.

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Case Documents:

NLRB Unfair Labor Practice Charges

Tenet-CNA "Election Procedures Agreement"