Employees who sought to end union ‘representation’ win a swift victory

BLOOMINGTON, IN (March 9, 2022) – Mechanics and customer service employees at Penske Truck Leasing in Bloomington, Indiana have won their effort to end Teamsters union control at their workplace. Rather than contest the workers’ decertification request in a secret ballot vote, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 135 officials have filed documents with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ending their monopoly bargaining power over all workers at the Penske Truck Leasing facility in Bloomington.

Penske Truck Leasing employee Steven Stuttle and his colleagues received free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys in filing a petition for a vote to oust union officials. All but one Penske Truck Leasing employees in the bargaining unit signed the decertification petition, which was filed with the NLRB in February 2022.

“I never felt properly represented by our union. I prefer to have the ability to negotiate the value of my skills as an individual,” Stuttle remarked about the effort. “I very much appreciate the work done by National Right to Work, I could not have done it without them.”

Before an NLRB-supervised decertification election was scheduled, Teamsters officials issued a statement, disclaiming representation in an apparent attempt to spare themselves the embarrassment of an overwhelming vote by workers to reject the union’s so-called “representation.”

This is the latest in a recent series of successful worker efforts aided by National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys. In just the past few weeks, Foundation staff attorneys aided Atlantic Aviation PNE, Inc. employees with filing their decertification petition and successfully defended Kansas City, Missouri hospital workers against an SEIU union attempt to overturn their vote to remove the union.

The Foundation has also fought to break down union boss-created legal barriers to unseating unwanted union officials. In 2020, following detailed formal comments submitted by Foundation attorneys, the NLRB adopted rules eviscerating union bosses’ ability to stop a decertification effort with “blocking charges,” i.e., accusations made against an employer that are often unverified and have no connection to workers’ desire to kick out unwanted union officials.

“Workers across the country are exercising their rights to remove unwanted unions and throwing off the yoke of coercive monopoly unionism,” remarked National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “No worker anywhere should be forced under the so-called ‘representation’ of a union they oppose, and Foundation staff attorneys stand ready to assist workers wanting to hold a decertification election to oust a union they oppose and believe they would be better off without.”

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.