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.

The National Right to Work Foundation opposes the AFL-CIO’s proposal because it makes it exceedingly difficult for independent-minded workers to resist Big Labor’s well-funded, professional organizing machine, particularly since these campaigns must be run across an entire, often-nationwide bargaining unit.  The proposed change also imposes a greater burden on employees who wish to refrain from union membership by forcing them to either take affirmative action to oppose the union or otherwise potentially allow far less than a majority make that decision for them.

“Apparently unable to convince a true majority of affected workers to vote for unionization under the current process, AFL-CIO operatives are attempting to change the rules to give themselves the upper hand over the workers,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of National Right to Work. “Individual workers should never be forced into union ranks against their will, and it’s unconscionable that union bosses want to be able to impose unionization without an actual majority of employees ever showing support for a union.”

The National Right to Work Foundation’s letter also calls on the NMB to establish a formal process for workers wanting to remove a union as their monopoly bargaining agent as required under Foundation-won precedent in U.S. federal court.

Fort Jackson Security Guard Takes Courageous Stand Against Repeated Union Boss Threats and Abuses

National Labor Relations Board agents investigate charges after Right to Work Foundation attorneys join worker’s efforts

Columbia, South Carolina (October 30, 2009) – A local employee of Wackenhut Services, Inc, a security service provider contracted with Fort Jackson, is fighting back against compulsory unionism after union officials illegally attempted to have him fired from his job for refusing to pay forced union dues.

In September 2008, Ronald I. Paul filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) challenging Wackenhut and International Union, Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA) and its affiliated Local 339 union bosses after Wackenhut fired him in August 2008 for refraining from formal, dues paying union membership.  The charges were eventually settled in December of 2008 and Paul continued his employment.

Starting in May 2009, in violation of the settlement, the employer and SPFPA union officials issued new threats against Paul’s job. Claiming that Paul’s workplace is on an “exclusive federal enclave” not protected by South Carolina’s popular Right to Work law, SPFPA union officials compelled Paul to attend a meeting and coerced him to apply for union membership as a condition to keep his job.  In response, Paul filed another round of unfair labor practice charges against the union – pointing out that the union’s own contract explicitly states that formal union membership is not a condition of employment. In September, the NLRB notified Mr. Paul that his charges would be dismissed.

Attorneys from the National Right to Work Foundation contacted Mr. Paul offering free legal aid (which Paul eagerly accepted), and the regional NLRB office in Winston-Salem, North Carolina is now investigating Paul’s charges and additional charges filed by Foundation attorneys. Related charges against Wackenhut are also pending.

In the Foundation-won Communication Workers of America v. Beck (1988), the U.S. Supreme Court held that union officials can lawfully compel nonmembers to pay union dues as a job condition, but not the part of dues spent for non-bargaining activities like political activism, lobbying, and member-only events.  Under Beck, unions must also provide such employees with an audited breakdown of chargeable expenses.

SPFPA union officials continue to threaten Paul despite the fact that they did not provide him with an adequate explanation as required under Beck for the basis of their claims against a portion of his earnings.  Additionally, SPFPA union bosses are requiring employees who refrain from formal, dues paying union membership to partake in an overly burdensome process of specifying the amount of non-bargaining dues they do not wish to pay without providing them with sufficient information to make such a decision.  And finally, Paul is challenging the SPFPA union’s nationwide policy of requiring employees to object every single year to paying union dues they cannot be lawfully forced to pay – rather than objecting just once.

“SPFPA union bosses have repeatedly reneged on their own word and we hope the NLRB will now hold them accountable for their thuggery,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation.   “Right to Work litigators stand guard with Mr. Paul to protect him from union bosses who will stop at nothing to seize hard earned money for their own purposes.”

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.

Postal Worker Files FEC Complaint for Illegal Union PAC Money Laundering Scheme

Granite State union bosses illegally diverted postal employee's membership dues to fund political coffers

Nashua, New Hampshire (July 28, 2009) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has filed a formal complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) asking it to investigate charges made by a Nashua-area postal worker who discovered his annual union membership dues were illegally diverted into the union’s political action committee (PAC).

In July 2006, United States Postal Service employee Philip Wakeman paid $429 in membership dues to join the National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU), a division of the Laborers’ International Union.  On the “Memo” line at the bottom of the check, he wrote “Union Dues.”  A union official later acknowledged receipt of the union dues.

In October 2008, over two years after submitting the check to the NPMHU union, a stranger called Wakeman on an unrelated matter and informed him that she found his information on the Internet.  The stranger then suggested that he do a “Google” Internet search of his name.   After doing so, Mr. Wakeman was astounded to find his name disclosed as making a contribution to the NPMHU PAC in the exact amount of his annual NPMHU union membership dues – all without his knowledge.

Apparently NPMHU union bosses had illegally diverted his dues payment to the union’s PAC.   Mr. Wakeman contacted the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, and Foundation attorneys filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission for him and the Foundation.

It is illegal for union officials to fund union PACs using “dues, fees, or other moneys required as a condition of membership in a labor organization.”  NPMHU union bosses are also accused of violating federal election law by making a political campaign contribution in another person’s name and soliciting political contributions under false pretenses while failing to inform Mr. Wakeman that his membership dues would be used for political purposes.

“This union money laundering scheme makes a mockery of the right to political autonomy,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation.   “Foundation attorneys intend to trigger prosecution of this NPMHU union boss political fundraising fraud and an investigation into whether there is a larger scheme afoot. We urge the FEC to take decisive action.”

Employees Force Settlement in Precedent-Setting Federal Union Racketeering Lawsuit

Right to Work Foundation uses innovative legal techniques after company and union officials collude to enrich union bosses

Phoenix, Arizona (July 22, 2009) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, five Phoenix-based employees who refrained from formal dues-paying union membership forced a settlement with the defendants in a federal lawsuit laying out how union agents conducted a corrupt scheme to divert sales commissions from the employees to union officials.

National Right to Work Foundation attorneys used the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) anti-corruption statute (establishing new legal precedent in the process) and the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) to attack a scheme allegedly orchestrated by Qwest Communications and Dex Media, publisher of the yellow pages phone books, and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1269 union bosses.

Evidence discovered in the lawsuit showed that IBEW Local 1269 union officials manipulated company procedures to receive greater compensation at the expense of the nonunion plaintiffs. Some of the methods used to increase the union agents’ compensation included reassigning accounts from nonunion employees to union officials, giving union agents “double commissions” for sales made by other workers, and allowing union officials to regularly sell lucrative “group ads” while denying similar opportunities to nonmember employees. By knowingly aiding union agents as they manipulated company rules to increase their performance-based pay, Qwest and Dex were accused of bribing union officials to act against workers’ interests in bargaining negotiations.

In April, a United States District Court judge denied significant parts of the defendants’ motions for summary judgment and held that the union officials and company should stand trial for giving preferential treatment to union agents through the distorted performance-based pay system. The judge’s decision and an earlier decision denying motions to dismiss have established a favorable anti-corruption precedent enabling National Right to Work Foundation litigators to target other union schemes under the federal racketeering statute.

“Because IBEW Local 1269 union bosses acquired monopoly bargaining privileges from Qwest and Dex Media, they were emboldened to conjure up a scheme fleecing the very workers they claimed to represent,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “The only meaningful way to limit union corruption is stripping union officials of their government-granted monopoly bargaining privileges and making union representation truly voluntary.”

“The Foundation employs cutting-edge legal strategies to take on such compulsory unionism abuses nationwide and forcing corrupt union bosses to be accountable to the rule of law.”

Union Watchdog Files Disclosure Request after Virginia Turns Over Private Citizens' Personal Information to Union Operatives

Department of Medical Assistance giving union organizers access to care providers' phone numbers, addresses for aggressive organizing campaign

Richmond, VA (June 15, 2009) – The National Right to Work Foundation has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) seeking any records related to the department’s decision to provide union bosses with the personal contact information of in-home service providers.

The Foundation fears employees will face intimidation at the hands of union organizers.

On May 27, DMAS director Patrick Finnerty sent a letter to personal care attendants “providing in-home services through any consumer-directed Medicaid home and community-based waiver program” informing them that DMAS has provided the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) with their names, telephone numbers, and addresses.

DMAS turned over the personal information after SEIU union officials filed their own FOIA request seeking information to be used by a union entity called Virginia Association of Personal Care Assistants (VAPCA). The SEIU and VAPCA are attempting to unionize Virginia home-care providers.

In today’s FOIA request, National Right to Work Foundation Vice President and Legal Director Raymond LaJeunesse asks DMAS to release any records related to the SEIU’s request, including the original request, any correspondence between SEIU and Commonwealth personnel, any internal or interagency communication related to the request, any communication to or from Governor Tim Kaine’s office, any DMAS or other agency communication related to SEIU or VAPCA attempts to become monopoly bargaining agents of Virginia home-care providers, any documents or communication pertaining to Commonwealth policies regarding in-home service providers, and any DMAS or other Commonwealth agency documents pertaining to the employment classification of in-home service providers.

Union organizers often use such personal contact information to badger workers into joining union ranks.

“Virginians have a right to know if the Commonwealth is preparing to impose the SEIU on in-home care providers,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Thanks to the state government, those workers now have to worry about union organizers knocking on their doors to browbeat them to join the union.”

Seven Employees Force Settlement with Teamster Local Union Brass

Right to Work Attorneys help employees after union officials levy more than $200,000 in confiscatory fines

Chicago, IL (May 29, 2009) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, seven employees who refused to abandon their jobs during a strike forced a settlement with a local union after union officials levied exorbitant and illegal retaliatory fines against them.

The employees, truck drivers for industrial laundry company Lechner and Sons, filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Teamsters Local Union 731, an affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union, after Local 731 union officials hit the employees with fines ranging from $13,946 to $40,000 each for not abandoning their jobs during a strike. None of the employees were truly voluntary members of the union during the strike.

In July 2006, Local 731 union bosses ordered the employees to abandon their jobs during a so-called “sympathy strike” involving a different bargaining unit of workers at the plant where the strike occurred. After the strike ended in June 2007, union brass claimed the power to use fines to discipline non-striking employees.

Union officials never informed any of the employees of their right to refrain from formal union membership and pay a reduced amount of forced dues. Instead, union officials mislead the employees into believing that formal, full-dues-paying union membership was a condition of employment.

The union hierarchy also claimed the power to discipline two employees for working during the strike even though they were not union members during the strike. The union bosses illegally threatened one employee that if he did not pay the fine, he would never again work in a “union shop.”

With help from Foundation attorneys, the employees forced Local 731 union officials to drop the fines against the seven workers and refund part of their forced dues.

“It is unconscionable for union bosses to mislead employees into union membership and then attempt to drive them into the poorhouse in vicious retaliation for working,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Confiscatory fines and kangaroo courts are just some of the disturbing, yet increasingly-used tactics of union boss intimidation that are all too common in states like Illinois where there is no Right to Work law on the books.”

The employees at the workplace have since decertified the Teamster union as their monopoly bargaining agent.

(Click here to see a copy of a Teamsters Local 731 strike fines notice in which Teamster union bosses claimed the power to use $40,000 worth of fines to discipline one of the non-striking employees.)

Union Settles Lawsuit Alleging Identity Theft in Retaliation Campaign against Independent Worker

Union militants bombarded dissenting employee’s house with unwanted mail

Hartford, Connecticut (May 19, 2009) – National Right to Work Foundation attorneys have successfully negotiated a settlement with the Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 1103 union for Patricia Pelletier, a worker who was targeted by CWA operatives for a vicious campaign of retaliation after she attempted to remove the union from her workplace.

Connecticut’s lack of a Right to Work law compelled Pelletier, a Hartford-based employee of the Connecticut Student Loan Foundation, to pay union dues as a condition of employment. Dissatisfied with the union’s presence in her workplace, Pelletier exercised her legal right to circulate a decertification petition to eject the union. Her co-workers ultimately voted to remove the unpopular union, but CWA operatives responded by allegedly forging Pelletier’s signature on numerous magazine subscriptions and consumer product solicitations.

In her lawsuit, Pelletier also alleged that union officials planted cocaine in her office in an effort to have her fired.

Pelletier’s home was then flooded with hundreds of unwanted magazines and advertisements. Not only was Pelletier forced to spend several hours each day canceling individual subscriptions, she was also billed for thousands of dollars by unwitting magazine companies, jeopardizing her credit rating. Even after her lawsuit was filed, Pelletier still received excess mail from a variety of journals and magazines, and her name continued to be circulated through advertiser mailing lists across the country.

The 31-count suit brought by Foundation attorneys for Pelletier against CWA Local 1103 and four union officials alleged that CWA operatives committed identity theft, conspired to forge Pelletier’s signature, inflicted undue emotional distress on Pelletier and her family, and violated Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Practice Act by unlawfully retaliating against Pelletier for attempting to remove the union.

Although Foundation attorneys achieved a settlement that satisfies Pelletier, the terms of the settlement are confidential.

“We’re happy to report that after enduring a trying ordeal, Patricia Pelletier is finally getting a satisfactory resolution,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “No worker should be subjected to vicious union retaliation for exercising their rights in the workplace.”

Court Upholds Racketeering Case against Union Officials and Yellow Page Company, Trial Planned

Employees target Dex Media and union officials for corrupt scheme to funnel sales commissions to union agents

Phoenix, AZ (April 2, 2009) – A United States District Court has given the green light to a precedent-setting union racketeering lawsuit filed by National Right to Work Foundation attorneys for several Phoenix-based employees against Dex Media and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1269 union officials.

Judge Mary Muguia denied significant parts of the defendants’ motions for summary judgment and held that union officials and the company should stand trial for giving preferential treatment to union agents through a skewed performance-based pay system.

The employees’ lawsuit alleges that union officials also employed by Qwest Communications subsidiary Dex Media manipulated company procedures to receive greater compensation at the expense of the nonunion plaintiffs.

The lawsuit also alleges that Dex Media colluded with union officials to implement this scheme, violating the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) and the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

Some of the methods used to increase the union agents’ compensation included reassigning accounts from nonunion employees to union officials, giving union agents “double commissions” for sales made by other workers, and allowing union officials to regularly sell lucrative “group ads” while denying similar opportunities to nonmember employees. By knowingly aiding union agents as they stage-managed company rules to increase their performance-based pay, Dex Media is accused of bribing union officials to act against workers’ interests.

Although the judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to try the RICO claims filed against IBEW Local 1269, the lawsuit against union officials and Dex Media will proceed. The court scheduled a status hearing for April 27, at which time a date will be set for trial of the LMRA and RICO conspiracy claims against the corporate defendants and the union agents.

“Union officials colluded with their employer to sell out the very workers they claim to represent,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “We anticipate a successful legal resolution, but the only way to permanently stop this type of abuse is to get rid of union officials’ monopoly bargaining privileges and make union representation truly voluntary.”

Right to Work Foundation Urges Department of Labor Not to Trash Union Disclosure Rules

Obama Administration seems primed to make it easier for union bosses to hide lucrative perks from rank-and-file workers

Washington, DC (March 9, 2009) – Prompted by a Rahm Emanuel directive on Inauguration Day, the U.S. Department of Labor seems ready to discard new union disclosure rules developed over two years by the previous administration.

In response, the National Right to Work Foundation has submitted comments urging the Department to maintain or strengthen rules aimed at curbing union boss corruption.

In late January, the Department of Labor announced that it was considering changes to recently revised LM-2 disclosure guidelines, which require unions to list the specific compensation – financial or otherwise – of individual union officers and to name all parties involved in any union-related transactions. Unions routinely spend millions of dollars on staff compensation, purchases unrelated to collective bargaining, and lavish perks for top union officials. The disclosure requirements are intended to ensure that dues-paying workers have some idea what they’re paying for.

Although Right to Work litigators have previously criticized LM-2 guidelines for not going far enough (the regulations still allow union officials to obscure questionable expenditures through a glaring secrecy loophole), the Foundation recognizes that some financial disclosure is better than none.

As Right to Work President Mark Mix noted in the Foundation’s formal comments, union members and workers forced to pay union dues have the right to know where their money is going:

“Does the Secretary believe that hardworking Americans would be better off if embezzlement and self-enrichment is made easier for men such as these? Isn’t it better to err on the side of a little more disclosure, than to allow crooks another place on the LM-2 to hide millions of hard-earned dollars?”

Moreover, the Department of Labor only solicited outside comments on the LM-2 revisions for an extremely short 30 day period. The Department also refused the Foundation’s request to extend the window for public comments from workers, unions, and other concerned organizations.

“The Administration is threatening to scrap two years of public comment, deliberation, and carefully crafted disclosure guidelines simply because Big Labor wants them to,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Such an action would betray Obama’s promise to increase transparency and only serves union bosses, not workers.”