Troy-Based Eaton Corporation Worker Challenges IAM Union Scheme Pushing Termination, Fines on Workers Who Oppose Union
Federal charge: IAM officials illegally demanded money, threatened termination of workers who resigned union membership after divisive strike
St. Louis, MO (January 9, 2025) – An employee of power management firm Eaton Corporation’s Troy, Illinois, facility has just filed federal charges against the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union for violating the rights of multiple employees at his workplace. The employee, Robert Jacobs, maintains that IAM officials are threatening to get him and other employees who resigned union membership fired unless they pay a so-called “reinstatement fee” concocted by the union. Jacobs filed his charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.
Under federal labor law, which the NLRB is charged with enforcing, private sector employees have an absolute right to resign union membership. This right is codified in the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), and was affirmed by landmark Supreme Court decisions such as General Motors v. NLRB. Federal law further spells out that neither employers nor union officials can compel private sector workers to participate in union activities or refrain from such activities.
However, in states like Illinois that lack Right to Work protections for their private sector workers, union officials have the legal privilege to enforce contracts that require every employee in a unionized workplace, including those who have abstained from formal union membership, to pay some portion of union dues as a condition of keeping their jobs. In contrast, in Right to Work states, union financial support is fully voluntary and the choice of each individual employee.
“I and several of my colleagues don’t want to be part of the IAM union, but we are required by law to pay fees to union bosses just to keep our jobs,” commented Jacobs. “That’s already something that we don’t want to do. But IAM officials are going even further and hitting us with hundreds of dollars in made-up fees just because we exercised our right to not be union members.”
Post-Strike, IAM Lodge 660 Union Officials Impose $300+ Fine on Workers Who Quit Union Membership
Last October, IAM union officials ordered Eaton Corporation employees – which comprise a work unit of over 400 people – to strike. After the strike concluded, worker opposition to IAM union bosses’ priorities increased and many decided to end their union memberships, including Jacobs.
According to Jacobs’ federal charge, which was filed on the last day of 2024, “the Union is presently threatening Charging Party and [other employees who resigned from the union] with termination if they fail to pay a $306 ‘reinstatement fee’ by January 2025.” The charge argues that the IAM union is violating Eaton employees’ rights under Section 7 of the NLRA, which safeguards employees’ “right to refrain from any or all of” union activities.
Foundation attorneys have recently assisted other employees nationwide in challenging IAM union bosses’ influence, including last August in Dover, Ohio, and Petaluma, California, where employees at two different Ford dealerships successfully forced out IAM Local 1363 and IAM Local 1596 union officials, respectively. In 2022, Foundation attorneys also successfully attacked an illegal dues scheme imposed by IAM union officials on Boeing engineer Don Zueger, which incorrectly calculated the amount of money he could be required to pay to the union as a nonmember.
“Instead of seeking to win Eaton employees’ voluntary support, IAM union officials have decided to effectively extort the workers they claim to ‘represent,’” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Threatening to terminate workers if they don’t pay a fee that is apparently intended to punish those who don’t want union bosses speaking for them tarnishes employee rights and freedom.
“Mr. Jacobs’ case shows the tactics union officials will use to force fealty out of independent-minded workers, which is why it’s important that workers in Illinois and across the nation have the Right to Work freedom to cut off all financial support to union bosses they oppose,” Mix added.
Fairmont, MN, Mayo Clinic Nurses Vote to Remove MNA Union From Facility
Latest in string of union ejections by Mayo Clinic healthcare professionals across state
Fairmont, MN (January 8, 2025) – Nurses at Mayo Clinic’s Fairmont Medical Center have just voted 26-15 to eject Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) union officials from their facility. The push to remove the union was spearheaded by Mayo Fairmont employee Jamie Campbell, who submitted to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in December 2024 a petition seeking a union decertification vote among her colleagues.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Campbell’s union decertification petition contained well over the number of employee signatures needed to trigger a decertification vote under NLRB rules. According to Campbell’s petition, the work unit covered by the vote included all “registered general duty nurses and charge nurses.”
Because Minnesota lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, MNA union officials had the legal power to require all the Fairmont Mayo nurses to pay at least a portion of union dues as a condition of keeping their jobs. In contrast, in Right to Work jurisdictions, union membership and all union financial support are voluntary and the choice of each individual worker. However, in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work states, union officials are able to impose one-size-fits-all contracts on all employees in a work unit, even those who voted against or otherwise oppose the union.
Pending a certification of the vote result by NLRB officials, Fairmont Mayo nurses will be free from both the forced-dues and monopoly bargaining power of the MNA union.
“The MNA was a very divisive force in our workplace, and I think we’ll be able to better serve our patients and the community without the union,” commented Campbell on the vote. “We hope the NLRB quickly certifies the vote and that union officials respect our decision.”
Fairmont Nurses Join Other Healthcare Professionals Across MN in Ousting Unwanted Unions
Since 2022, several sizable units of healthcare workers in Minnesota have sought out Foundation legal aid to obtain removal votes against the MNA and other unions, and have often been successful in freeing themselves. Nurses and nurse support staff at Mayo Clinic’s Mankato branch voted MNA and American Federation of State County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1856 union officials out of their facility between 2022 and 2023, and nurses at Mayo’s St. James branch did the same with AFSCME Council 65 in August 2022. Employees from four Cuyuna Regional Medical Center locations across the Brainerd Lakes region of Minnesota also sought Foundation aid in their decertification effort against Service Employees International Union (SEIU) officials in 2022.
“MNA union bosses’ influence and political connections did not shield them from suffering another defeat by rank-and-file nurses at the ballot box,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Ironically, Minnesota’s lack of Right to Work protections – which are vociferously opposed by the MNA – likely removed an important accountability tool from the relationship between the MNA and the nurses they claim to ‘represent.’ It’s no surprise that union bosses who can force workers to pay union dues or fees on pain of termination wind up being far less effective and more out-of-touch than union officials who must earn the voluntary financial support of each worker.”
National Right to Work Foundation Offers Free Legal Aid to Amazon Workers Who Seek to Rebuff Teamsters Strike Order
Notice: Amazon Employees and Amazon Delivery Service Partner employees impacted by strike should resign their memberships before returning to work
Washington, DC (December 20, 2024) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has released a legal notice to Amazon employees and drivers for Amazon Delivery Service Partners (DSPs), informing them that they have options to continue working and providing for themselves and their families in the face of a strike order issued by Teamsters union officials.
News reports indicate that Teamsters bosses’ strike order claims to apply to thousands of employees (including employees of Amazon contractors) at Amazon facilities in New York, NY; Skokie, IL; Atlanta, GA; San Francisco, CA; and Southern California. Amazon management disputes whether Teamsters union officials have legal authority at all over those employees, in part because of legally suspect organizing tactics Teamsters officials have employed.
The legal notice informs any impacted employees of their rights, including their right to resign union membership and continue working as the strike is ongoing. The notice discusses why workers across the country frequently turn to the National Right to Work Foundation for free legal aid in such situations.
“The Foundation wants you to learn about your legal rights from independent sources. You should not rely on what self-interested union officials tell you,” the notice reads. “Foundation staff attorneys have directly assisted Teamster-represented workers in numerous cases over the years, including multiple recent victories challenging illegal coercion from Teamsters officials.”
The full notice is available at https://www.nrtw.org/Amazon.
Legal Notice: Amazon Workers Who Wish to Work Should Resign From Union Before Returning
The notice outlines the process that Amazon and DSP employees should follow if they want to exercise their right to return to work during the strike and ensure they avoid punishment by union bosses, complete with sample union membership resignation letters. The notice reminds workers that Teamsters union officials have no disciplinary power over workers who are not union members, and advises employees who wish to work during a strike to resign their memberships before returning to work.
“Union officials can (and often do) fine actual union members who work during a strike,” the notice says. “So, you should seriously consider resigning at least one day BEFORE you return to work during a strike, which is the best way to avoid these union fines and discipline.”
Foundation attorneys have a long history of defending employees in cases against the Teamsters. Currently the Foundation is assisting trucking and warehouse workers across the country with obtaining votes to remove Teamsters union officials, including most recently in Northern Ohio where hundreds of employees across multiple facilities just voted to eject the union.
“Teamsters union officials used a number of legally questionable tactics to claim control over several Amazon workplaces, including in Staten Island where the Teamsters effectively purchased a previously independent union’s suspect claim to power,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “In that location, the union didn’t even know the identities of the Amazon employees they claimed to represent, and even sought to have the federal government push Amazon to provide a list to the union earlier this year.
“Many drivers and warehouse workers may be shocked to learn that Teamsters officials believe they have the power to discipline workers for simply continuing their work and not striking,” added Mix. “Regardless of how the legal disputes between Amazon and the Teamsters shake out, federal labor law has always been clear on these points: Workers have a right refuse union membership or resign at any time, and union officials cannot legally subject such nonmember employees to fines or other internal discipline for choosing to work instead of participating in a strike.”
Ruling in Favor of Vanderbilt Grad Students’ Privacy Protections Prompts UAW Affiliate to Abandon Unionization Effort
Separately, Dartmouth and MIT graduate students charge UE affiliates with demanding union dues from them in violation of SCOTUS precedent
Nashville, TN (December 19, 2024) – Following three Vanderbilt University graduate students’ privacy-related legal challenges to the union’s efforts to gain monopoly bargaining privileges on campus, United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials have withdrawn their campaign at the school. The three students, who are identified in legal documents as “John Doe 1,” “John Doe 2,” and “Jane Doe 1,” received free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys in protecting their private information from UAW union officials.
The students invoked their rights under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which generally prohibits universities from disclosing students’ personal information to third parties without their consent. UAW union bosses sought this information from the three Foundation-represented students and thousands of others as part of the union campaign to place Vanderbilt graduate students under UAW union monopoly bargaining control. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued subpoenas for that info.
UAW Union Organizers Demanded Private Info Over Student Privacy Objections
In October, two students identified as John Doe 1 and John Doe 2 moved to intervene in the NLRB case, arguing that FERPA’s language permits students to seek “protective action” if a university receives a subpoena seeking their personal information, as in this case. Several other graduate students also submitted less-formal objections urging the agency not to enforce a subpoena divulging their private information. Despite the students’ concerns, a regional NLRB official ruled on October 18 that Vanderbilt had to comply with the UAW-requested subpoenas.
Foundation attorneys submitted an emergency appeal for John Doe 1 and John Doe 2 to the NLRB in Washington, DC, emphasizing that the students needed an opportunity to “address[] the serious privacy issues raised by the Region’s subpoena.” Foundation attorneys additionally filed an updated motion to intervene that included Jane Doe 1 as another student seeking to intervene in the case.
Following a rising tide of student opposition, the District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee issued a ruling on November 22 temporarily releasing Vanderbilt from its obligation to comply with the NLRB subpoenas. On December 12, UAW union officials announced they were withdrawing their petition to unionize Vanderbilt graduate students, meaning the union campaign has ended and the subpoenas seeking student information are effectively moot.
“Many of my colleagues and I simply want to pursue our academic studies, and oppose not only UAW organizers having our private contact information, but also being forced to associate with a union at all in order to earn our graduate degrees,” commented one of the Foundation-assisted Vanderbilt graduate students, identified as Jane Doe 1 in the legal filings. “The withdrawal of UAW organizers’ petition seeking a vote to unionize us against our will is a welcome victory for us in our defense of our rights and the rights of our fellow graduate students.”
Dartmouth, MIT Grad Students File New Cases Challenging UE Union’s Dues Seizures
Meanwhile, Foundation attorneys are assisting graduate students at Dartmouth and MIT with fighting attempts by United Electrical (UE)-affiliated unions to demand dues payments from students against their will and in violation of their rights. Kara Rzasa, a Dartmouth graduate student, and Michael Fernandez, an MIT graduate student, have each hit UE local and national affiliates with charges for illegal polices UE officials are utilizing nationwide when demanding forced dues payments.
Fernandez’s charge slams the UE for violating federal law, including the Foundation-won Communications Workers of America v. Beck Supreme Court precedent, in how the union calculates the amount of fees it can require the students to pay. The charge notes UE union officials are using out of date, incomplete, and unaudited financial statements to attempt to extract more mandatory fees than can be legally justified.
Rzasa’s charge challenges the UE’s nationwide “window period” policy that blocks graduate students from opting out of full dues, including the portions that go to union activities UE officials admit are explicitly political. The charge notes this violates the National Labor Relations Act, the Beck decision, and other federal limits on union officials’ monopoly representation powers.
Separately, Foundation attorneys are assisting Dartmouth Ph.D. student Ben Logsdon in his effort to seek a religious accommodation that would exempt him from being “represented” by UE union officials. Logsdon objects on religious grounds to the ideological stances of the UE union and wants nothing to do with that union.
“While we’re happy that the private information of Vanderbilt grad students is now secure from prying union eyes, it’s clear from both that case and many other cases that Foundation attorneys are litigating for grad students around the country that union monopoly bargaining power has no place in the academic sphere,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Union bosses were able to get a foothold at colleges and universities as the result of biased rulings from the NLRB under Obama and Biden, which has jeopardized not only academic freedom, but also religious freedom, and federal protections that students rely on for privacy and security.
“While no one in America should be forced to accept the control of a union boss hierarchy they oppose, courts and federal agencies in the new year should look to these cases as prime examples of why the union monopoly bargaining model should never have been extended to graduate students at all,” Mix added.
Hundreds of Northern Ohio Workers Vote Against Teamsters Union Boss Control
Toledo-area scrap metal employees and Wooster Frito-Lay warehouse workers get union ‘decertification votes’ certified over union bosses’ objections
Ohio (December 12, 2024) – Hundreds of employees from across Northern Ohio have voted in favor of removing Teamsters union control at their workplaces. The elections, both certified this month by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), occurred at Wooster, OH, Frito-Lay warehouses and scrap metal firm Omnisource’s Toledo, OH, facility, which are under the control of Teamsters Local 52 and Teamsters Local 20, respectively.
Frito-Lay employee Dusty Hinkle and Omnisource employee Daniel Caughhorn submitted petitions in October 2023 and August 2024 respectively, asking the NLRB to hold union decertification elections among their coworkers at their facilities. Hinkle and Caughhorn both received free legal aid in filing their petitions from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Both Hinkle’s and Caughhorn’s petitions contained a sufficient number of signatures to trigger a vote under NLRB rules. Despite workers voting in both elections against Teamsters union control, Teamsters union officials filed objections against Frito-Lay and Omnisource management in an attempt to overturn the election results.
However, in both cases regional NLRB officials tossed the union objections and certified the workers’ votes. Barring an attempt by Teamsters Local 20 officials to file a Request for Review to the NLRB in Washington, DC, within the next few days, both the Omnisource and Frito-Lay employees – over 430 in total – will have cut all ties with the Teamsters unions.
Because Ohio lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, Teamsters officials enforced contracts that required Hinkle, Caughhorn, and their colleagues to pay union dues or fees as a condition of keeping their jobs. In contrast, in Right to Work states, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary. Now that the Frito-Lay and Omnisource employees have voted out the Teamsters, they are free both of union bosses’ forced-dues demands and their ability to impose one-size-fits-all contracts on the workplace.
Workers Across Country Reject Teamsters ‘Representation’ and Coercive Political Positions
Foundation attorneys have recently assisted a number of workers from across industries in obtaining votes to eject Teamsters union officials. Within the last two months, truck drivers from Georgia, California, Virginia, and New Jersey have successfully booted out Teamsters union officials or initiated removal efforts with Foundation aid.
Beyond Teamsters-controlled workplaces, NLRB data indicates an over 50% increase in the number of decertification petitions filed annually over the last four years. Despite that, Biden-Harris NLRB bureaucrats recently repealed key reforms (known collectively as the “Election Protection Rule”) that made it easier for workers to request decertification elections. Now, union officials have substantially more power to stop workers from even obtaining an election to remove a union, and can also stop workers from requesting decertification elections to challenge a union’s ascent to power via “card check,” an unsecure process that bypasses the traditional secret-ballot vote process.
“Teamsters union officials continue to lose support from the very workers they claim to ‘represent’, and these cases demonstrate yet again why every worker, in Ohio and nationwide, deserves the protection of a Right to Work law so they can decide for themselves whether or not to financially support union officials’ activities,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “While we’re glad these workers have succeeded in freeing themselves from unwanted unionization, it should not require months of litigation and overcoming attempts by union lawyers to overturn the workers’ votes.
“This case shows yet again that despite what local and national Teamsters union bosses claim, they don’t actually speak for the rank-and-file they claim to ‘represent’ and in fact have no qualms about attempting to disenfranchise those workers to trap them in union ranks they oppose,” added Mix.
Full Foundation Action September/October 2024 Newsletter Now Online
All articles from the September/October 2024 issue of Foundation Action are now online.
In this issue:
- Professors Launch Landmark SCOTUS Bid to End Forced Union Association
- Chicago 911 Operator Successfully Defends Janus Rights Against IBEW
- Post-Right to Work Repeal, MI Workers Vote to Cancel Union Bosses’ Forced-Dues Power
- Mark Mix in The Center Square: Escaping the UAW “Roach Motel”
- Foundation Exposes Union Boss Coercion & Discrimination Before Congress
- Flight Attendant Defends Win Against Union, Southwest, for Illegal Firing
Ascension St. Agnes Hospital Nurses Demand Vote to Remove NNOC/NNU Union Officials
Requested vote would take place in unit of roughly 600 nurses; similar efforts also taking place in New York and New Jersey
Baltimore, MD (November 18, 2024) – Nurses at Ascension St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore are demanding a federal labor board hold a vote to remove National Nurses United (NNU) union officials from their workplace. St. Agnes Nurse Jennifer Delaney submitted a union decertification petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on November 15 on behalf of hundreds of her colleagues. Delaney filed the petition with free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Delaney’s decertification petition contains employee signatures well in excess of the threshold needed to trigger a decertification vote under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
According to the petition, Delaney and her coworkers request a vote among all “full-time, regular part-time, and per diem registered nurses” located at Ascension St. Agnes Hospital’s acute care facility in Baltimore. This unit contains approximately 600 nurses.
Because Maryland lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, NNU union officials can enforce contracts that require Delaney and her fellow nurses to pay union dues or fees as a condition of getting or keeping a job. In contrast, in Right to Work states, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary.
A successful decertification vote strips union officials of both their forced-dues power and their ability to impose union monopoly bargaining contracts on every employee in a workplace, even those who oppose the union’s presence.
“This union proved itself to be a divisive force as soon as it began campaigning at our hospital,” commented Delaney. “Many of the nurses opposed its agenda from the very beginning, and a year since it gained power it is still making things difficult for both us and our patients. We are confident that a majority of our coworkers will vote to restore the independence we once had in our workplace.”
Employees in Healthcare and Other Industries Seek to Exit Unions
The St. Agnes Hospital nurses aren’t the only healthcare employees seeking to rid themselves of union monopoly control. In the New York City metro area and Long Island, Foundation staff attorneys are currently assisting nurses at Clara Maass Medical Center and a variety of healthcare workers in the Sun River Health, Inc. system to obtain union decertification elections. If these union removal efforts are successful, over 800 employees will be free from United Healthcare Workers East (1199SEIU) union officials’ forced “association” bargaining powers.
Across all industries, workers are increasingly seeking votes to remove union bosses of whom they disapprove. Despite an over 50% increase in the number of decertification petitions filed annually over the last four years, NLRB bureaucrats recently repealed key reforms (known collectively as the “Election Protection Rule”) that made it easier for workers to request decertification elections.
“Across the country, healthcare workers seem to be discovering that having union bosses in their workplace doesn’t necessarily help them take better care of their patients. We’ve seen many situations where healthcare industry unions needlessly promote union boss priorities ahead of what is best for rank-and-file nurses, or even attempt to force health care providers to abandon their patients during union-instigated strikes,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Unfortunately, union officials often choose to disenfranchise the same workers they claim to ‘represent’ when workers try to exercise their right to vote out a union, a problem made worse by recent Big Labor-backed NLRB rulemaking.
“Regardless, we’ll continue to defend the right of Ms. Delaney, the nurses at St. Agnes Ascension Hospital, and many other healthcare workers across the country to decertify unions they don’t want,” Mix added.
Flight Attendant Defends Win Against Union, Southwest, for Illegal Firing
The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, September/October 2024 edition. To view other editions of Foundation Action or to sign up for a free subscription, click here.
Union and airline seek to overturn District Court ruling & verdict targeting discriminatory union firing
Despite going head-to-head with the well-funded legal teams of Southwest Airlines and the TWU union, Charlene Carter and her Foundation legal team led by staff attorney Matt Gilliam (right) have fought — and won — crucial victories in her case.
NEW ORLEANS, LA – In 2017, Southwest flight attendant Charlene Carter filed her lawsuit against the Transport Workers Union (TWU) and Southwest Airlines for their respective roles in her termination after she spoke out against the TWU’s political activities.
Now, seven years later, despite winning a multimillion dollar jury verdict and a ruling ordering that she get her job back after the company’s and union’s efforts to fire her, Carter’s battle remains ongoing. Recently, Foundation staff attorneys were at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals for oral arguments to defend her District Court victory against appeals by TWU and Southwest.
“Southwest and TWU union officials made Ms. Carter pay an unconscionable price just because she decided to speak out against the political activities of union officials in accordance with her deeply held religious beliefs,” stated National Right to Work Foundation Vice President and Legal Director William Messenger. “Yet rather than comply with the jury’s decision and a District Court order, Southwest and TWU union bosses have decided to attempt to defend their blatant retaliation against a vocal union critic.”
Foundation Attorney: Evidence Shows Carter Was Fired Over Religious Exercise
During oral arguments at the Fifth Circuit, which took place before a three-judge panel this June, Foundation staff attorney Matt Gilliam rebutted specious union claims that there was no direct evidence that Carter’s religious beliefs played any role in the decision to fire her.
Gilliam told the panel that a Southwest agent “specifically admitted that he considered Carter’s religious beliefs in his termination decision” and reminded the judges that, under Title VII, an employee’s religious beliefs “can’t be any factor” in making such a decision.
“Southwest just admitted to this court that they fired her because of conduct. Well, what was the conduct? It was religious conduct,” said Gilliam.
Carter’s Story Reveals Pro-Union Boss Bias of Federal Labor Law
Carter resigned from union membership in 2013 but was still forced to pay fees to TWU Local 556 as a condition of her employment. The Railway Labor Act (RLA), the federal law that governs labor relations in the airline and railroad industries, permits firing employees who refuse to pay union fees and preempts the protections that state Right to Work laws provide.
However, the RLA does protect employees’ rights to resign from union membership. It also has free speech protections that cover the right to speak out against a union and its leadership and to advocate for changing the union’s current leadership.
In January 2017, Carter learned that then-TWU Local 556 President Audrey Stone and other Local 556 officials used union dues to attend the Women’s March in Washington, DC, which was sponsored by Planned Parenthood, an activist group she deeply opposed.
Carter, a vocal critic of Stone and the union, sent private Facebook messages to Stone challenging the union’s support for ideological positions that were contrary to Carter’s beliefs and expressing support for a recall effort that would remove Stone from power. Carter also sent Stone a message emphasizing her commitment to a National Right to Work law after the union had sent an email to employees telling them to oppose Right to Work.
After a meeting at which Southwest officials confronted Carter about private Facebook messages protesting the union’s positions, the company fired Carter. In 2017, Carter filed her federal lawsuit challenging the firing as a clear violation of her rights under two federal laws. She maintained that she lost her job because of her religious beliefs and her criticism of union officials’ spending employees’ dues and fees on ideological causes.
Ultimately, after a six-day July 2022 trial, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas agreed with Carter and her Foundation staff attorneys. During the trial, Foundation attorneys unearthed and introduced bombshell email communications showing TWU union militants advocated for “targeted assassinations” of union dissidents.
“We are proud to defend Ms. Carter throughout this prolonged legal case to vindicate her rights,” stated Messenger. “However, her case should prompt policymakers to pare back union bosses’ coercive, government-granted powers over workers. Even if Charlene attains total victory in her case, the RLA will still force her and airline employees across the country to pay money to union officials as a condition of keeping their jobs, which is why policy change is needed.”
Long Island Healthcare Employee Charges Union Officials With Illicit Attempt to Prevent Workers from Voting Union Out
Brief: 1199SEIU officials engaged in backchannel communications with federal labor board to block vote; same union is facing ouster effort by NJ workers as well
Long Island, NY (November 13, 2024) – Laura Gallo, a Senior Patient Representative at Sun River Health, Inc., has successfully reversed an attempt by United Healthcare Workers East (an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union) officials to snuff out a petition in which she and her coworkers are requesting an election to remove the union from Long Island workplaces. Gallo, who submitted the union decertification petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on her own in August, is now receiving free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Gallo and her coworkers are seeking a vote that, if successful, will end the 1199SEIU union’s control over nearly 230 Sun River Health workers across Long Island, including nutritionists, nurses, call center employees, and others.
Despite Gallo’s decertification petition containing enough employee signatures to satisfy instructions provided by an NLRB agent, an NLRB Regional Director dismissed her petition in October without giving her an opportunity to address what were alleged deficiencies with her filing. The dismissal also contradicted an NLRB agent’s earlier declaration that the decertification petition was valid.
After Gallo enlisted the help of Foundation attorneys, they quickly filed a brief challenging NLRB Region 29’s dismissal of the petition, which additionally pointed out that the dismissal may have occurred as the result of illicit backchannel communications between NLRB Region 29 and 1199SEIU officials.
Now, following the Foundation’s filing, NLRB Region 29 has agreed to reconsider the petition.
Gallo and her coworkers are based in New York, which lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector employees. As a result, union bosses can legally enforce contracts that require workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of getting or keeping a job. In contrast, in Right to Work states, union membership and union financial support are the free choice of each individual worker.
A successful decertification vote strips union officials of both their forced-dues power and their ability to impose union monopoly bargaining contracts on every employee in a workplace, including those who oppose the union’s presence.
Brief: Federal Labor Board Officials Unilaterally Blocked Workers’ Petition Based on Secret Union Filing
Gallo’s brief argues that NLRB Region 29 “cannot unilaterally dismiss” Gallo’s petition because doing so would “strip Petitioner and her fellow workers of their [rights under federal labor law] to seek a representation election once they have raised a question of representation and the relevant Regional Office has approved [the petition’s signatures].”
The brief further asserts that NLRB Region 29 dismissed the petition based on documents that 1199SEIU officials covertly filed in clear violation of the NLRB’s notice requirements. “Here, the Region approved the [petition’s signatures] on August 9, 2024, and allowed the petition to proceed to a hearing all while conducting a clandestine investigation at the request of the Union without any opportunity to challenge [the regional NLRB’s determination],” says the brief. Whether rejection of the petition took place at the behest of the union or not, the brief explains, there was no legal basis for such action.
Clara Maass Medical Center Employees in NJ Also Seek to Remove 1199SEIU
The 1199SEIU union is currently facing opposition from other New York City-area healthcare workers. Foundation-backed registered nurses at Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville Township, NJ, recently filed a union decertification petition seeking a removal vote against the same union. Despite having the requisite number of signatures to prompt a vote, the NLRB is preventing the nurses from voting due to unproven allegations of misconduct that 1199SEIU union officials are leveling at hospital management. Recent rulemaking by the Biden-Harris NLRB permits such allegations, also known as “blocking charges,” to stymie worker-requested decertification elections.
“Officials of 1199SEIU clearly value power far above the will and rights of the workers they claim to ‘represent,’” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Ms. Gallo stepped up on behalf of her coworkers at Sun River Health and filed a petition in which many of them expressed a desire to vote the union out. But 1199SEIU officials conducted shady proceedings behind her back to scuttle her petition and maintain their control over the workplace, likely thinking Gallo didn’t have the formal legal knowledge to fight back.
“While Foundation attorneys have scored a victory against 1199SEIU’s shameful attempt to strip Ms. Gallo and her coworkers of their right to vote on whether the union deserves to stay in their workplace, they’re unfortunately not the only employees that 1199SEIU is attempting to disenfranchise,” Mix added. “Healthcare workers in the New York City metro area and beyond should reach out to the Foundation for free legal aid in obtaining a vote to remove unwanted union officials – especially in the wake of Biden-Harris Administration rulemaking that makes it much easier for union officials to block worker-requested votes.”
