High Point, North Carolina (February 25, 2005) – Facing intense employee opposition and pending unfair labor practice charges, United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials have agreed to pull up stakes at the massive Thomas Built Bus facility after having obtained recognition through the coercive “card check” process.

National Right to Work Foundation attorneys helped Thomas Built worker Jeff Ward file unfair labor practice charges early last year that led to issuance of a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) complaint against the company and union. The complaint alleged unlawful coercion during a “card check” drive and unlawful premature bargaining when a majority of employees had not yet chosen to unionize.

Although union and company officials are eager to sign a settlement agreement stipulating that UAW disclaims representation power over employees at the Thomas Built Bus facility, Ward is objecting to the settlement. He is asking the NLRB to void the entire “neutrality” or “card check” agreement negotiated by parent company Freightliner.

The UAW union’s controversial recognition as the monopoly representative of the facility’s workers has been in dispute since last year. NLRB prosecutors, based in Winston-Salem, agreed with employees’ contentions that union and company officials jointly conducted unlawful mandatory pro-union “captive audience speeches” to coerce the plant’s workers to sign union recognition cards. They also found that the “card check” agreement involved unlawful premature bargaining over substantive terms of employment.

“This victory is an encouraging step towards holding union officials across the country accountable for trampling workers’ rights under abusive ‘card check’ schemes,” said Foundation Vice President Stefan Gleason.

“But the UAW hierarchy is only cutting its losses at Thomas Built in the hopes of keeping their illegal ‘neutrality’ and ‘card check’ agreement alive so that they can continue to coerce workers at other Freightliner facilities into union ranks.”

Bowing to pressure brought by UAW union operatives, Freightliner-Daimler Chrysler signed the so-called “neutrality agreement” that includes a prohibition of the traditional and less-abusive secret ballot election process. The company instead agreed to recognize the union on the basis of a majority of employees signing union authorization cards. Under the agreement, union organizers were given full access to employees’ private personal information (including home addresses) and access to company facilities to browbeat workers into signing the cards.

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.