Federal law gives rank-and-file workers the right to vote to free themselves from unwanted union “representation”

WHITE PLAINS, NY (February 10, 2022) – Healthcare workers at the White Plains Hospital in White Plains, New York have filed a petition seeking the removal of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1199 union from their workplace. The workers’ decertification petition was filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 2 office in New York, NY with free legal representation from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.

White Plains Hospital Certified Surgical Technologist Yanilda Robinson filed the decertification petition for her coworkers who want to oust the unpopular union. The request seeking to end SEIU union officials’ monopoly bargaining powers at White Plains Hospital was signed by enough workers in the bargaining unit to trigger a NLRB-conducted secret ballot vote to remove the union.

New York is not a Right to Work state, meaning workers can legally be required to join or pay dues/ fees to a union as a condition of keeping their jobs. If the workers’ vote is successful, SEIU union officials will be stripped of their monopoly “representation” powers.

National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have recently assisted workers in numerous successful decertification efforts across the nation, including for workers in Kansas, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Delaware. Reforms to the rules for decertification elections that the NLRB adopted in 2020 have curtailed union officials’ abuse of so-called “blocking charges” to delay or block workers from exercising their right to decertify a union. Such charges are often based on unproven allegations made against an employer, often completely unrelated to workers’ desire to free themselves of the union.

“These healthcare workers have bravely worked over the past two years under exceptionally challenging circumstances. We should honor that devotion by respecting their right to remove an unwanted union from their workplace,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “We hope the NLRB will promptly schedule a vote and not allow SEIU officials to engage in legal trickery to delay the decertification election these hospital workers have requested.”

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.