Grand Rapids, MI (October 4, 2013) – A Wyoming, Michigan UPS (NYSE: UPS) worker has filed a federal charge against a local Teamster union for violating his rights.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Gary Frost filed the unfair labor practice charge Tuesday with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Frost, who is not a member of the Teamster Local 406 union, had to pay union dues and fees as a condition of his employment before Michigan recently enacted a Right to Work law making union dues payments completely voluntary.

Frost informed the Teamster Local 406 union that he was exercising his right under Michigan’s Right to Work law to refrain from union dues payments after the Teamster Local 406 union’s monopoly bargaining agreement with UPS expired on August 1, 2013. Under Michigan’s Right to Work law, contracts entered into after the law went into effect must respect workers’ right to refrain from the payment of any union dues.

Out of an abundance of caution, Frost attempted to comply with Teamster Local 406’s procedure to end forced dues payments by revoking his dues deduction authorization – a document union officials use to take dues or fees from workers’ paychecks.

Instead of complying with Frost’s request, Teamster Local 406 union officials told him that he would have to wait for a union-designated “window period” before he could revoke his dues deduction and opt out of union dues.

Teamster Local 406 union officials have refused to provide Frost with a copy of his dues deduction authorization and have not told him of the dates of the so-called “window period” for revocation.

“Teamster union bosses are trying to keep workers from exercising their rights under Michigan’s Right to Work law,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Schemes like this show that the ultimate goal of union officials is more forced dues collected from workers, even when rank-and-file employees want nothing to do with a union.

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.

Posted on Oct 4, 2013 in News Releases