Washington, DC (May 19, 2010) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, two Virginia workers have filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court. The petition asks the court to review a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision invalidating a union decertification in Boykins, Virginia.

Shirley Mae Lewis and Henry Vaughan are both employed at a Narricot plant in Boykins. In August 2007, they initiated an effort to eject the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Local 2316 union from their workplace. Although 64% of employees in the bargaining unit signed a petition against union officials, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) invalidated the decertification on the grounds that Lewis and Vaughan received “unlawful assistance” from their employer.

Narricot management merely gave Lewis and Vaughan factual information about the number of signatures they would have to collect to decertify the union and the proper wording to use in union decertification petitions. Company officials also indicated that signed petitions would have to be presented to management before they could withdraw recognition from the Carpenter union. Narricot did not actively encourage Lewis or Vaughan to organize against the union.

Although federal labor law permits employers to provide information to workers so long as they avoid inducements or threats of reprisal, the NLRB ruled that the information the company passed on to Lewis and Vaughan exceeded so-called “ministerial assistance.” The NLRB’s decision was later upheld by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Foundation attorneys argue that employees should be permitted to receive accurate information about how to exercise their workplace rights. Without the information they received, Lewis and Vaughan might not have been able to get rid of the unwanted union.

“Despite overwhelming employee opposition to the Carpenter union, Narricot employees are still saddled with union bosses’ so-called ‘representation’,” said Patrick Semmens, legal information director for the National Right to Work Foundation. “Workers shouldn’t be punished for seeking information from their employer when attempting to eject an unwanted union, and employers shouldn’t be gagged from giving employees truthful information about their basic rights.”

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.