Federal law protects workers’ legal right to rebuff union boss strike demand and continue working to support their families

Boston, MA (October 19, 2022) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation issued a special legal notice for Sysco Foods employees potentially affected by strikes being threatened by Teamsters union officials at Sysco Foods facilities across the nation. Media reports indicate that the strike began in Syracuse, New York, and while the strike at the Syracuse location reportedly ended, Teamsters boss-ordered strikes continue at other locations with potentially more occurring.

Because of Teamsters’ union monopoly power, these strikes will affect thousands of employees, impacting the lives of workers and their families across the nation. The Foundation’s legal notice informs workers of the rights union officials often conceal, including that workers have the right to continue working in order to support themselves and their families.

Importantly, the notice gives workers who want to exercise their right to work information on how to avoid fines and punishment that would likely be imposed by union officials.

“Teamster union officials have a decades-long history of abusing workers’ rights and disciplining and firing workers who do not kowtow to their dictates,” the legal notice reads. “Sysco workers may want to contact the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation to learn how they can avoid fines and other vicious union discipline for continuing to report to work to support themselves and their families.”

The Foundation’s special legal notice highlights workers’ rights to resign union membership and to revoke their union dues check-offs. With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys, numerous workers have won cases challenging illegal Teamster union official actions.

In just the past few years, Foundation staff attorneys have assisted other Sysco Foods workers. With Foundation free legal aid, Alabama Sysco Foods worker Sulane Lowery filed charges against the Teamsters Local 612 challenging unlawful intimidation tactics after Lowery and others attempted to oust the Teamsters from their workplace. In another case filed with Foundation legal aid, a group of Sysco Oklahoma workers signed petitions seeking to remove the Teamsters eventually leading to their being free of unwanted so-called “representation” that they opposed.

The National Right to Work Foundation is the nation’s premier organization exclusively dedicated to providing free legal assistance to employee victims of forced unionism abuse. The full special notice can be found at https://www.nrtw.org/sysco-foods/

“For decades, the Foundation has provided free legal aid to workers to protect them from Big Labor’s coercive tactics, which are especially common during union boss-instigated strikes,” National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix said. “Workers always have the right to continue to work during a strike, despite what union officials may tell them or try to pressure them into doing, however there are important steps workers should take to protect themselves from vindictive union boss retaliation.”

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.