Studio Teacher Hits Union with Federal Labor Board Charges After Being Fired for Not Paying Union Dues
Los Angeles, California (May 13, 2009) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a Venice-based employee of Hesher Productions, LLC has filed unfair labor practice charges against the company and the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 884 union for her illegal termination.
Mandy Diassellis was formerly employed as a studio teacher by Hesher Productions in Santa Monica. Thinking she had an obligation to do so, she tried to join IATSE Local 884, but she was refused membership and subsequently fired for not joining the union. The charges will now be investigated by the National Labor Relations Board.
Because California does not have a Right to Work law making union membership and dues payment voluntary, workers are routinely forced to pay union dues or lose their jobs. However, federal labor statutes do not impose a forced dues requirement until workers have been employed in the same bargaining unit for at least 30 days. Further, under federal law, when an employee is barred from union membership for a reason unrelated to nonpayment of dues, the union loses its special legal privilege to compel any dues payment whatsoever.
Diassellis was not a member of IATSE Local 884 and had not been employed by Hesher Productions for more than 30 days, and therefore could not yet be legally forced to pay union dues or join the union. However, Diassellis did attempt to join the union, not understanding that formal membership was not required by law, but was then rebuffed by IATSE union officials anyway. After rejecting her attempt to join the union, union officials ordered her employer to fire her for not having joined the union or paid dues.
The charges filed by Foundation attorneys seek the immediate reinstatement of Diassellis to her job, as well as payment of back pay owed her since the day she was fired.
“For whatever reasons, union bosses wanted Mandy Diassellis fired, and they flagrantly broke the law in doing so,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Union bosses in the entertainment industry have routinely ignored federal labor laws in an effort to maintain monopoly control of who is hired and who is fired. We intend to challenge and stop this flagrant violation of employee rights.”
Taxi Drivers Force Union to End Illegal Union-Dues Scheme
Taxi Drivers Force Union to End Illegal Union-Dues Scheme
Union bosses illegally refused to allow drivers out of union membership, despite Nevada’s popular Right to Work law
Las Vegas, Nevada (May 13, 2009) — With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a cab driver working for the largest taxi business in Las Vegas forced a local union’s bosses to back down after they refused to allow him and his coworkers to exercise their right to refrain from formal, dues-paying union membership.
Late last year, Fred Haeberle and some of his colleagues at the Nevada Yellow, Checker and Star Cab Corporations attempted to resign from formal, dues-paying union membership with the Industrial, Technical, and Professional Employees (ITPE) union – a local union of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), an AFL-CIO affiliate.
ITPE union bosses maliciously refused Haeberle’s request – saying he had “no standing” to assert his rights. Haeberle then turned to the National Right to Work Foundation for free legal aid.
Taxi Drivers Force Union to End Illegal Union-Dues Scheme
Las Vegas, Nevada (May 13, 2009) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a cab driver working for the largest taxi business in Las Vegas forced a local union’s bosses to back down after they refused to allow him and his coworkers to exercise their right to refrain from formal, dues-paying union membership.
Late last year, Fred Haeberle and some of his colleagues at the Nevada Yellow, Checker and Star Cab Corporations attempted to resign from formal, dues-paying union membership with the Industrial, Technical, and Professional Employees (ITPE) union – a local union of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), an AFL-CIO affiliate.
ITPE union bosses maliciously refused Haeberle’s request – saying he had “no standing” to assert his rights. Haeberle then turned to the National Right to Work Foundation for free legal aid.
In the Foundation-assisted Pattern Makers v. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) United States Supreme Court case, the Court held that employees have the right to resign from union membership at any time. And Nevada’s Right to Work law prohibits union officials from compelling employees to join or pay dues to a union.
After Foundation attorneys filed a federal charge with the NLRB for Haeberle (and others similarly situated), the ITPE union acknowledged that Haeberle’s request indeed had standing, but still wrongly claimed that he had to wait until a designated “window period” of time in order to resign from union membership.
Only when the NLRB Regional Office seemed poised to prosecute the violations did ITPE union officials back away from this illegal “window period” policy. The threat of prosecution forced ITPE union officials to admit Haeberle’s original union membership resignation letter was indeed effective, and they agreed to settle. ITPE union bosses must also now post a notice stating that they will no longer deny workers of their right to refrain from union membership or use “window periods” to prevent workers from exercising their right to resign from formal union membership.
“Union bosses are interested in one thing, and one thing only: money,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of National Right to Work. “Workers should not have to get an attorney, nor face ugly union intimidation and stonewalling tactics, when they try to exercise their legal rights under Nevada’s popular Right to Work law.”
Nurses Seek Ejection of Union at Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center; Union Bows Out Of Two Other Hospitals
Houston, Texas (May 12, 2009) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, nurses at the Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center have filed a decertification petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to remove an unwanted union from their workplace.
The nurses’ decertification petition comes on the heels of the California Nurses Association (CNA) union’s decision to withdraw its controversial petitions for unionization at the Park Plaza and Houston Northwest medical centers. Hospital employees became increasingly disillusioned with union officials after many nurses raised concerns about conflict in the workplace and the quality of patient care.
The California Nurses Association union originally obtained its monopoly bargaining privileges at Cypress Fairbanks through a once-secret deal with Tenet Healthcare Corporation. Company officials agreed to provide union organizers with assistance as part of an “Election Procedures Agreement,” allowing CNA operatives to unionize the facility with relative ease.
The CNA-Tenet “Election Procedure Agreements” used in Houston and elsewhere typically included several provisions designed to quash anti-union dissent. Tenet managers were forbidden from answering hospital employees’ questions about unionization, and employees who opposed a union presence were prevented from using company facilities to express their views. CNA organizers, on the other hand, were given wide-ranging access to company grounds to facilitate unionization, as well as a list of employees’ home addresses.
The agreements between Tenet and the CNA also subverted the NLRB’s oversight role for workplace elections. Under the union’s scheme, the NLRB would merely count ballots and rubber stamp the union’s monopoly bargaining privileges instead of supervising the entire process.
After enduring a coercive CNA organizing campaign, nurses at Cypress Fairbanks filed an employee decertification petition to eject the union from their workplace. Once the NLRB confirms that the petition includes signatures from at least 30 percent of Cypress Fairbanks employees, federal administrators will supervise a secret-ballot election to determine whether the union hierarchy will retain its monopoly bargaining privileges.
“CNA operatives forced their union on these health care professionals using legally questionable tactics,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “We’re happy to report that these nurses will finally have their chance to send the CNA union bosses back to California.”
Podcast: National Right to Work Radio Appearance on Card Check Power Grab
The National Right to Work Committee’s Greg Mourad sits down with WCHS radio hosts Michael Agnello and Rick Johnson to discuss card check’s legislative prospects. Click here to listen or use the embedded player below:
Greedy Detroit Union Boss Threatens Firings: Teachers, Your Money or Your Jobs!
The Detroit Free Press reports that the Detroit Federation of Teachers union is threatening to have up to 70 teachers fired for not paying forced union dues. A school district error is mainly responsible for the mix up.
Yet, because of the clerical error, union official Mark O’Keefe stated that the "fair" thing to do would be to fire the teachers who fail to pay the full union dues.
No, Mark. The "fair" thing to do is to not require teachers to pay ANY union dues as a condition of teaching Detroit’s schoolchildren.
Washington Examiner: The Big Business of Big Labor
In today’s Washington Examiner, Timothy Carney has an excellent column about President Obama’s plan to "save" Chrysler. As Carney shows, it’s more accurate to call Obama’s plan a bailout of Big Labor and political payback for the UAW union’s exorbitant politicking on behalf of Obama and his party in the 2008 election:
The union’s $1.98 million to Democratic candidates last cycle (not counting the $4.87 million in independent expenditures to elect Obama president) is more than any PAC spent on Republicans. If you combine the political spending of the top three oil company PACs and the UAW’s PAC, Republicans and Democrats come out about even.
Peer deeper into the UAW’s finances, and it starts to look even more like a big business. The organization sits on nearly $1.2 billion in investments. This is money the UAW took from the paychecks of workers, money that now functions as an endowment out of which the union pays its staff and subsidizes its golf resort.
Black Lake Golf Club, which the UAW brags is "one of the finest anywhere in the nation," is owned by the union. Situated at the very top of Michigan, a drive of more than four hours from Detroit, it’s not exactly accessible to the union rank and file.
The resort is subsidized by workers’ paychecks, too—the union currently has $29.6 million in loans outstanding to the resort. That’s not their only posh real estate. The UAW’s Washington headquarters, home base for the union’s $1.6 million-a-year lobbying operation, is a beautiful $2.98 million townhouse in the DuPont circle neighborhood.
While UAW membership has fallen by 32.5 percent since 2002, the national headquarters has kept its spending nearly the same—a reduction of only 1.9 percent. Add these facts together, and it starts to look like the union management exists largely to preserve union management.
These are the people who would, practically speaking, own Chrysler under Obama’s plan. These are the benefactors of Obama’s upturning bankruptcy law and threatening investors.
But Obama’s team will maintain that it’s “the workers” who are taking ownership of Chrysler under their plan. When Obama and Democrats extend future bailouts and subsidies to Chrysler, they will have even more reason to claim that they are simply helping the workingmen. In truth, subsidies and special favors for the UAW are corporate welfare, and considering the UAW’s political activities, the right word might be crony capitalism.
Read the full column here.
It’s also worth remembering that the UAW is one of the most militant unions whose leaders relish in intimidating workers and lashing out at independent-minded employees.
Obama’s a Budget Hawk! But Only Slashes Budget of Watchdog Agency Over Union Corruption
For all the talk of "restoring labor standards," the Obama Administration is cutting four million dollars from the Office of Labor and Management Standards’ (OLMS) already small budget for 2010 (see page 13 of the budget appendix under "Employment Standards Administration").
Not coincidentally, the OLMS is the branch responsible for policing union corruption and enforcing basic transparency standards. This follows on the heels of several Big Labor-friendly executive orders that can only be described as payback by the Obama Administration for union bosses’ political support. After all, who wants oversight when your union bosses allies are involved in all kinds of corrupt schemes?
Of course, all the disclosure in the world won’t fix the much more fundamental problem of forced unionism, but it’s telling that, in the process of exploding the size of the federal budget to unprecedented heights, Obama saw his way clear to cut funding for union oversight.
Far Left Icon George McGovern Takes Aim at Mandatory Binding Arbitration
As we told you last year, Far Left icon and former Democrat presidential nominee George McGovern came out in strong opposition to the Card Check Forced Unionism Bill in the Wall Street Journal. In his op-ed, McGovern recognized that the union boss power grab would destroy the secret ballot, and he noted card check instant organizing drives are infamous for worker intimidation and dirty tricks by union organizers.
Now, McGovern has again taken to the pages of the Journal to criticize another disturbing provision of the card check bill: mandatory binding arbitration.
Last year, I wrote on these pages that I was opposed to this bill because it would eliminate secret ballots in union organizing elections. However, the bill has an additional feature that isn’t often mentioned but that is just as troublesome — compulsory arbitration.
This feature would give the government the power to step into labor disputes where employers and labor leaders cannot reach an agreement and compel both sides to accept a contract. Compulsory arbitration is bound to trigger the law of unintended consequences.
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In a contract negotiation, each party typically perceives the other as too demanding. But no one loses their right to contract willingly or suffers being forced to agree to anything. Employees can strike if they feel that they have been dealt with unfairly, but it is a costly option. Employers are free to reject labor demands they find to be too difficult to accept, but running a business without experienced employees is itself difficult. Both sides have an incentive to press their demands, but they also have compelling reasons not to press their demands too far. EFCA would disrupt that balance by enabling government-appointed lawyers to decide what they believe is fair or reasonable.
A federally appointed arbitrator cannot be expected to understand the nuances specific to each business dispute, the competitive market position of the business, or the plethora of other factors unique to each case. Yet fundamental decisions on wages and benefit costs, rules for promotions, or even rules for exiting an unprofitable line of business could fall to federal arbitrators under EFCA.
Many labor contracts can run over 100 pages with their requirements of each party. Compulsory arbitration is, in one sense, government dictating to employees what they will win or lose in the deal, with no opportunity to approve the "agreement." Why should employees pay union dues to get such a contract?
Good points, but McGovern didn’t think to add: the public sector binding arbitration experience proves arbitrators will usually include a forced union dues requirement in the imposed contract!
But it’s worth remembering the even the secret ballot isn’t a cure-all. As long as individual workers are forced to accept a union-boss "representation," there is no true employee free choice.
Oklahoma Leader of Professional, Non-Union Teachers Receives High Recognition from National Right to Work
On April 24, the National Right to Work Committee presented Professional Oklahoma Educators (POE) executive director Ginger Tinney with the Carol Applegate Education Award.
Ginger Tinney (center) with National Right to Work Chairman of the Executive Committee Reed Larson and President Mark Mix
Tinney was a teacher for more than 11 years before taking on her full-time role as executive director of POE. She taught in both regular and special education, at elementary and secondary grade levels, and in urban and rural school districts.
Vice president of National Right to Work Stefan Gleason stated in the POE’s news release:
“We have had the pleasure of working with Ginger Tinney over many years, and we’ve always been impressed with her leadership skills, her passion for teacher excellence, and her passion for the principles of freedom and volunteerism that embody the Right to Work cause."
The Carol Applegate Education Award is presented annually by the Committee’s Board of Directors to exceptional educators who take courageous stands against the coercive policies of the National Education Association (NEA) union. The award is named in honor of Carol Applegate, a longtime English teacher who refused to formally join the NEA union and was fired from her job.
A longtime member of Concerned Educators Against Forced Unionism (an umbrella organization established by the National Right to Work Foundation), the Professional Oklahoma Educators is a all voluntary professional educators association that serves more than 4,000 teachers, administrators, and support professionals in Oklahoma. The group puts children first and focuses on true professionalism, unlike its militant union counterpart. For more information on the POE, click here.
