Top Down Organizing (card check)

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

Anthony Riedel — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 08:40:43 -0400

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.

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

Nick Cote — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:04:05 -0400

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.

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

Nick Cote — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:14:11 -0400

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.

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

Nick Cote — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:48:40 -0400

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

Anthony Riedel — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:40:04 -0400

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.

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

Will Collins — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 10:49:45 -0500

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.

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

Anthony Riedel — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 09:21:31 -0500

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.

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

Will Collins — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 14:42:27 -0500

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.

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

Nick Cote — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:33:08 -0500

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.

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

Patrick Semmens — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:13:39 -0400

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.