Right to Work Foundation brief argues NLRB is harming workers by imposing union over their objections

Hope, Arkansas (November 11, 2016) – National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, in St. Louis, opposing an NLRB ruling that forces workers at an Arkansas bakery into unwanted union representation. The brief was filed by the Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation on behalf of John Hankins.

Hankins is an employee of Southern Bakeries in Hope, Arkansas, and has been the leader of several efforts to remove Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International Local 111 from his workplace. After the NLRB Regional Director refused to process multiple petitions from the workers at this facility to remove Local 111 as their exclusive bargaining representative, Hankins collected signatures from two-thirds of the employees asking that Southern Bakeries withdraw recognition of Local 111 as it “does not enjoy the support of a majority of employees in the bargaining unit.” Southern Bakeries complied with his request in July 2013.

Local 111 officials responded by filing unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB challenging Southern Bakeries’ withdrawal of recognition. The NLRB obtained an injunction to force the workers back into the union, but the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed. Now, at a later stage of the process, the NLRB is again asking that same court to reinstate the rejected union.

The Foundation’s brief argues that the NLRB order reinstating Local 111 as the monopoly bargaining agent grievously harms the workers of Southern Bakeries. Two-thirds of the employees signed the petition rejecting Local 111 officials’ representation, but the NRLB has completely ignored the employees’ wishes. The NLRB also tramples on the workers’ rights laid out in the First Amendment, the right to associate with whomever the workers choose, by forcing them into a monopoly bargaining situation without hope of relief. The brief asks the court of appeals to vacate the NLRB order and restore the workers’ freedom of association.

“It is outrageous that the Obama NLRB is using a federal court to stop employees from getting rid of a union that is overwhelmingly opposed, when the workers are simply trying to exercise their basic right to the freedom of association,” Foundation President Mark Mix said. “This is just the latest example of workers rights being trampled on by union officials and non-elected government bureaucrats, despite the protections offered by Arkansas’ Right to Work law.

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.