NLRB ruling greenlights election to determine if union officials get to continue to bargain for all teachers and collect mandatory union dues

Nassau County, NY (June 6, 2016) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, 27 Evergreen Charter School employees have won the right to conduct a decertification election to decide the fate of the Evergreen Charter Staff Association-NYSUT union. The Regional Director for Region 29 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has scheduled the union decertification election for June 16, 2016.

Under the National Labor Relations Act, private-sector employees in unionized workplaces have the right to petition for a decertification election to remove a union. After 22 Evergreen employees signed and submitted an election petition to the NLRB in April, union officials attempted to head off the vote by claiming that Evergreen Charter School is a public employer, and thus outside the NLRB’s jurisdiction.

Union lawyers argued that the New York State Public Employment Relations Board has jurisdiction over Evergreen employees, an interpretation that was ultimately rejected by the NLRB, which determined that the Evergreen Charter School is a private employer. Had the union’s arguments prevailed, the school’s employees would have been forced to pursue a much more onerous and complex process to remove the unwanted union.

The scheduled decertification election will determine whether Evergreen employees can be forced to pay union dues and accept union bargaining over their salaries and working conditions. If a majority of eligible employees vote against the union, the Evergreen Charter Staff Association union will be formally removed from the school and lose its workplace privileges.

“We’re happy to report that the NLRB has rejected union lawyers’ attempt to derail the Evergreen decertification vote,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Given the fact that the NYSUT opposed the establishment of the Evergreen Charter School in the first place, it’s no surprise that these teachers and support staff are disillusioned with the union’s so-called ‘representation’.”

“Employees shouldn’t have to jump through this many hoops to get rid of one stubborn union, but Foundation staff attorneys are committed to helping these teachers and support staff navigate the decertification process and assert their right to vote out union officials whom they feel are a detriment to their school and their students,” added Mix.

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.