San Jose, CA (December 3, 2014) – Two Santa Clara Valley Medical Center employees have filed a federal class-action lawsuit against a local union and the county that seeks to expand public employees’ right to refrain from paying union dues used for union politics.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation-provided staff attorneys, San Jose-area county employees Jeffrey Lum and Andrew Li filed the lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California’s San Jose Division.

Lum and Li are not formal union members in the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521. Because California does not have a Right to Work law, workers can be required to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. However, nonmember workers have the right to refrain from paying for union boss politics and many other activities not related to bargaining with their employer.

Although Lum and Li are not union members, SEIU and county officials continue to deduct an amount equal to full union dues from their paychecks as if they were. Up to 14 months after taking full dues and fees from their paychecks, SEIU officials refund the illegally-seized portion of union dues, without interest. In the meantime, SEIU officials can illegally use the money on politics.

For example, SEIU Local 521 officials did not refund to Lum and Li the portion of dues illegally seized from their paychecks during 2013 until March 2014. The workers argue that this amounts to an unconstitutional interest-free loan to bankroll union boss politics.

This lawsuit also challenges existing lower federal court case law that requires nonmember public employees to pay an amount equal to full union dues — including the part used for union politics – unless they affirmatively object. Workers who object also must renew their objections annually.

In its 2012 Foundation-won Knox v. SEIU ruling, in a case that originated in California, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an affirmative objection requirement for special assessments. The Court there indicated that it was ready to reassess whether union bosses’ forced dues powers, which it called “something of an anomaly,” include the power to use in any circumstances “an opt-out system for the collection of fees levied to cover nonchargeable expenses.” Responding to that suggestion, the employees seek to expand Knox to apply to all instances when public employees refrain from union membership.

“Union bosses have government-granted power to compel workers to fund their political activities unless workers object — a power granted to no other private organization in our country,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “The First Amendment right for workers who refrain from union membership to automatically not pay union dues for politics is long overdue.”

New York Childcare Providers File Federal Lawsuit Challenging Forced Unionization Scheme

Childcare providers fight dictate to push childcare business owners into forced dues union ranks

Syracuse, NY (December 2, 2014) – A group of New York home-based childcare providers have filed a federal lawsuit challenging a 2007 executive order that greased the skids for the forced unionization of the state’s home-based childcare providers. The providers seek a refund of illegally-seized union dues.

Mary Jarvis and nine other providers filed the suit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

Jarvis and the other providers challenge AFSCME-affiliated Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) union officials’ monopoly political representation over thousands of providers in the state outside New York City who operate home-based childcare businesses.

Click here to read the full release.

Syracuse, NY (December 2, 2014) – A group of New York home-based childcare providers have filed a federal lawsuit challenging a 2007 executive order that greased the skids for the forced unionization of the state’s home-based childcare providers. The providers seek a refund of illegally-seized union dues.

Mary Jarvis and nine other providers filed the suit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

Jarvis and the other providers challenge AFSCME-affiliated Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) union officials’ monopoly political representation over thousands of providers in the state outside New York City who operate home-based childcare businesses.

The forced unionization scheme started under a 2007 executive order signed by disgraced former Governor Eliot Spitzer. The scheme was later codified in October 2010.

Home-based childcare and personal care providers, with Foundation attorneys’ assistance, have challenged similar forced-unionization-by-government-fiat schemes in several states across the country, including Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Michigan. On June 30, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling in Harris v. Quinn striking down the Illinois scheme, ruling that individuals who receive state subsidies based on their clientele cannot be forced to pay compulsory union fees. The next day, the Court cleared the path for 50,000 home childcare providers in Michigan to receive a refund of union dues illegally taken during Michigan’s now-defunct unionization scheme.

Under the New York scheme, CSEA Local 100A union officials are empowered to confiscate forced dues and fees from over 7,200 childcare providers across the state for this forced “exclusive representation.” The providers in this case also seek a refund of dues illegally seized by CSEA union officials over the past two years.

Foundation attorneys argue that such schemes violate the providers’ First Amendment right to choose with whom they associate to petition the government. The government does not have the constitutional authority to force citizens to accept government’s handpicked political representative to lobby itself.

“Citizens have the power to select their political representation in government, not the other way around,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This scheme, which forces small business owners, and even grandma taking care of her grandchildren, into union political association is a slap in the face of fundamental American principles we hold dear.”

Worker Advocate Urges Labor Secretary: Apply Federal Disclosure Law to German Union and VW Works Council

Foreign union boss groups conspire to force workers into union ranks without complying with federal disclosure requirements

Washington, DC (November 17, 2014) – Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, is urging U.S. Labor Department Secretary Thomas Perez to apply federal labor disclosure law to German union and Volkswagen (VW) officials involved in an international push to unionize workers at VW’s Chattanooga, Tennessee facility.

The Foundation – the nation’s premier advocate on behalf of workers who suffer from the abuses of compulsory unionism – assisted several workers who were subjected to coercive card check unionization tactics and pressure from VW management during the United Auto Workers (UAW) union’s multi-year campaign to unionize the workers. The Foundation also assisted some of those workers in filing a federal suit that challenged the company’s assistance to UAW union officials during the unionization campaign as an illegal exchange of “thing[s] of value” under the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA).

In a letter to Perez, Mix spells out how officials from the German-based IG Metall union, VW’s Global Group Works Council (GWC), the UAW union, and VW Germany have participated in “high-profile public activities…that trigger Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) reporting requirements.” Mix notes that the U.S. Department of Labor has thus far ignored this fact, and if it continues to do so, union and company officials “may receive de facto immunity for their possible violations of the LMRDA’s criminal and civil protections.”

Click here to read the full release.

Washington, DC (November 17, 2014) – Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, is urging U.S. Labor Department Secretary Thomas Perez to apply federal labor disclosure law to German union and Volkswagen (VW) officials involved in an international push to unionize workers at VW’s Chattanooga, Tennessee facility.

The Foundation – the nation’s premier advocate on behalf of workers who suffer from the abuses of compulsory unionism – assisted several workers who were subjected to coercive card check unionization tactics and pressure from VW management during the United Auto Workers (UAW) union’s multi-year campaign to unionize the workers. The Foundation also assisted some of those workers in filing a federal suit that challenged the company’s assistance to UAW union officials during the unionization campaign as an illegal exchange of “thing[s] of value” under the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA).

In a letter to Perez, Mix spells out how officials from the German-based IG Metall union, VW’s Global Group Works Council (GWC), the UAW union, and VW Germany have participated in “high-profile public activities…that trigger Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) reporting requirements.” Mix notes that the U.S. Department of Labor has thus far ignored this fact, and if it continues to do so, union and company officials “may receive de facto immunity for their possible violations of the LMRDA’s criminal and civil protections.”

The LMRDA requires union officials to make comprehensive and detailed disclosure of union financial data, prohibits persons convicted of serious crimes from serving as union officers, forces full reporting by union officers of any personal conflict-of-interest transactions, and prohibits the channeling of bribes and improper influence through middlemen.

“As it stands now, American employees of Volkswagen do not know what inside arrangements exist among UAW, IG Metall, Global Works Council, and VW,” Mix states in the letter to Perez. “I call on you to immediately use your authorized powers to demand [disclosure reports] from IG Metall and the Global Works Council.”

Teamster Union Faces Another Federal Charge for Violating a Disney Company Driver’s Rights

Teamster union officials showing pattern of workers’ rights abuses

Lake Buena Vista, FL (November 17, 2014) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, a Walt Disney Company driver has filed a federal charge against a local Teamsters union.

Winter Garden resident Anthony Pirrelli filed the unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Teamsters Local 385 for ignoring his right to refrain from paying union dues. Under Florida’s popular Right to Work law, no worker can be required to join or pay fees to a union as a condition of employment.

In August, Pirrelli attempted to resign union membership and revoke his union dues deduction authorization – a document used by union officials to automatically collect dues from workers’ paychecks. Despite Pirrelli’s efforts, Teamsters Local 385 union officials have refused to stop collecting union dues from his paychecks or provide him a copy of his union dues deduction authorization.

Click here to read the full release.

Lake Buena Vista, FL (November 17, 2014) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, a Walt Disney Company driver has filed a federal charge against a local Teamsters union.

Winter Garden resident Anthony Pirrelli filed the unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Teamsters Local 385 for ignoring his right to refrain from paying union dues. Under Florida’s popular Right to Work law, no worker can be required to join or pay fees to a union as a condition of employment.

In August, Pirrelli attempted to resign union membership and revoke his union dues deduction authorization – a document used by union officials to automatically collect dues from workers’ paychecks. Despite Pirrelli’s efforts, Teamsters Local 385 union officials have refused to stop collecting union dues from his paychecks or provide him a copy of his union dues deduction authorization.

Two other Walt Disney workers earlier filed federal charges against Teamsters Local 385 for ignoring their right to refrain from union membership and union dues payments.

“Teamster union bosses are refusing to honor workers’ legally-protected right to cut off union dues,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Much to Teamsters union bosses’ chagrin, federal and state statutory protections for workers still apply in the so-called Magic Kingdom.”

The charge will be investigated by the NLRB regional office in Tampa.

Local Grocery Union Faces Federal Charges for Retaliatory Forced Dues Confiscations

Case underscores need for Right to Work protections for workers

Burlington, WA (November 12, 2014) – A local Fred Meyer grocery store worker has filed a federal charge against the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 21 union for refusing to follow federal disclosure requirements and confiscating more than the legally-permitted amount of forced union fees from her paychecks.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Deborah Kohut of Mount Vernon filed the federal unfair labor practice charge Monday with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Click here to read the full release.

Burlington, WA (November 12, 2014) – A local Fred Meyer grocery store worker has filed a federal charge against the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 21 union for refusing to follow federal disclosure requirements and confiscating more than the legally-permitted amount of forced union fees from her paychecks.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Deborah Kohut of Mount Vernon filed the federal unfair labor practice charge Monday with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Because Washington does not have Right to Work protections for workers, workers can be required to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. However, under Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court precedent, nonmember workers can refrain from paying for politics and many other union activities.

Under federal labor case law, union officials must also provide workers with an independently-audited financial breakdown of all forced-dues union expenditures. This procedural safeguard helps inform workers of how their forced union dues are being spent and makes it less difficult for workers to hold union officials accountable.

Because UFCW union officials failed to provide a breakdown of expenditures that complied with federal disclosure requirements, Kohut, who was recently hired at a Fred Meyer store in Burlington, refused to sign a union dues deduction authorization – a document used by union officials to automatically collect dues from workers’ paychecks. In response, UFCW union officials have levied an additional fee on top of Kohut’s forced dues payments.

UFCW union officials also threatened her with job termination to force her to pay the full union member initiation fee, even though nonmember workers can pay a reduced initiation fee.

“UFCW union officials are retaliating against this worker for simply exercising her right to refrain from full union dues payments,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This case underscores the need for Washington to pass Right to Work protections for its workers.”

Twenty-four states have Right to Work protections for workers. Recent public polling shows that nearly 80 percent of Americans and union members support the Right to Work principle of voluntary unionism.

Local Union and Food Service Contractor Face Federal Prosecution for Workers’ Rights Violations

Company and union officials obstruct workers from exercising rights to refrain from union membership and dues payments

Fort Leonard Wood, MO (November 7, 2014) – A local government union and an Overland Park, Kansas-based food services company are facing a federal prosecution for violating Fort Leonard Wood food service workers’ rights.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) prosecution comes in the wake of federal charges filed by two workers with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

Because Missouri does not have Right to Work protections for workers, workers can be required to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. However, under Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court precedent, nonmember workers can refrain from paying for union boss politics and many other activities.

Kimsha Rosensteel, an 11-year employee with food services provider EDP Enterprises, Inc, was president of the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) Local R14-139 union for about one and a half years. While she was union president, Rosensteel discovered that the union was failing to follow federal disclosure requirements designed to better inform workers about their rights to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership.

Click here to read the full release.