Long Island, NY (November 9, 2011) – A group of automobile parts manufacturing workers have forced out an unwanted union despite the union and the company trying to keep the workers under union control.

With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, Sterling Instruments, Inc. worker Charlie Shannon filed unfair labor practice charges for himself and his coworkers against the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine, and Furniture Workers-Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA) Local 463 union. He also filed a decertification petition to force out the union.

In his charges, Shannon asked the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to halt an unpopular local union from forcing its representation on him and his colleagues after all but one of them signed a petition to remove the unwanted union from their workplace.

Despite no longer enjoying majority support from the employees, IUE-CWA Local 463 union officials unlawfully continued to negotiate a new monopoly bargaining agreement with Sterling Instruments.

IUE-CWA union and company officials even went so far as to sign a one-page document that simply stated the workers were getting two percent pay raises for the next three years, then claimed the new agreement invalidated the employees’ decertification petition even though 22 of the 23 employees covered in the union monopoly agreement had resigned their union membership.

After investigating Shannon’s initial charges, the NLRB regional office in Brooklyn indicated that IUE-CWA Local 463 union officials illegally collected forced union dues payments from the workers because the contract’s forced-dues clause with the company was not valid. The union then announced it no longer claimed to represent the employees. The workers are now seeking a refund of the dues illegally seized from their paychecks, plus interest.

“This case is an example of how federal labor law works against workers who want nothing to do with a union,” said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work. “These employees, and all American workers, should be free to negotiate their own terms and conditions of employment, and be rewarded on their individual merit, if they so choose.”

“These courageous workers have successfully stood up against the old-school style of mafia-like forced unionism, but thousands more workers in the Empire State are forced to pay dues and accept the so-called representation of an unwanted union,” added Mix. “Instances like these prove that New York desperately needs Right to Work protections for its workers.”

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.