Grocery Union Faces Federal Charges for Violating Teenage Ralphs Grocery Clerk’s Workplace Rights

Union officials threaten teenage worker with job termination

Oceanside, CA (September 5, 2013) – A local grocery union is facing federal charges for violating a teenage part-time Ralphs Grocery clerk’s workplace rights.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, the Ralphs clerk filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 135 union late last month.

UFCW Local 135 union officials provided the clerk in July with a membership packet that illegally stated that the clerk and other new hires must join the union and pay full union dues as a condition of their employment while burying notice of his actual legal rights. Information about workers’ right to refrain from full dues paying union membership was located at the back of the packet in fine print.

The clerk eventually learned about his right to refrain from full dues paying union membership and made multiple inquiries about resigning his union membership and paying reduced dues with UFCW Local 135 brass. The clerk’s multiple requests were denied, stonewalled, or ignored.

Click here to read the full release.

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.