Liz Chase works as a School Bus Driver near Anchorage, Alaska. She and her fellow bus drivers at Apple Bus Company decided they no longer wanted the so-called representation of Teamsters union officials, and sought to remove them from their workplace.

What followed was a nearly three year legal struggle, made possible with free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.

In 2017, Chase collected signatures from more than half of her coworkers on a decertification petition and submitted it to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) requesting a vote to remove the unpopular union officials.

The Board denied her petition, however, because of a non-statutory rule that prevents employees from decertifying an unwanted union until a year after a new employer takes over.

The NLRB’s complicated rules make it difficult for independent-minded employees to exercise their rights.

Chase was struck by the injustice of the process:

“It seemed like all the cards were stacked against us and that we were fighting not just the union, but the NLRB, and that wasn’t fair. We had a majority, we had the votes to remove the union and it should not have taken two and a half years.”

Thanks to a steadfast effort by Chase and her Foundation staff attorneys, Teamsters officials withdrew from the Alaska workplace before a vote to remove them could even take place.

Chase thanked her Foundation-provided attorneys for guiding her and her coworkers through the complicated legal process:

“Without them, we would never have known what to do with our signatures, we would never have been able to write all the legal briefs that were necessary. Our request went in five times. Even though it was denied, they appealed it five times in those two and a half years. I can’t thank the National Right to Work Foundation enough for the support that they gave us.”

You can hear more about Liz Chase’s battle with Teamsters bosses in the video below:

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.