13 Feb 2014

TV Report: California Civil Servants Challenge SEIU Dues Scheme

Posted in TV & Radio

A news report highlights the a recent case filed by Foundation staff attorneys on behalf of a group of California Civil Servants against SEIU Local 1000:

12 Apr 2015

Teamster Union Faces Federal Charge for Violating Machinery Manufacturing Company Worker’s Rights

Posted in TV & Radio

Teamster Union Faces Federal Charge for Violating Machinery Manufacturing Company Worker’s Rights

Teamster union officials retaliate against workers who exercise rights under Texas’ popular Right to Work law

Longview, TX (April 14, 2015) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, a Crosby Group/Lebus Manufacturing Company worker has filed a federal charge against a local Teamsters union for violating her rights.

White Oak resident Sammie Monroe filed the unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Teamsters Local 568 for threatening her for exercising her right to refrain from paying union dues. Under Texas’ popular Right to Work law, no worker can be required to join or pay fees to a union as a condition of employment.

Even though Monroe resigned her formal union membership and now refrains from paying dues, she must still accept Teamster Local 568 union officials’ so-called “representation.” Because Teamster union officials have claimed monopoly bargaining privilege to speak for and control all workers, including nonmembers like Monroe, they must fairly represent all the workers in the bargaining unit.

11 Apr 2015

Part-time Fry’s Pharmacy Tech Hits Grocery Union Officials with Federal Charge for Violating His Rights

Posted in TV & Radio

Part-time Fry’s Pharmacy Tech Hits Grocery Union Officials with Federal Charge for Violating His Rights

Union bosses continue to stonewall college student’s attempts to exercise rights under Arizona’s popular Right to Work law

Phoenix, AZ (April 14, 2015) – A Fry’s Food and Drugstore pharmacy technician and Arizona State University (ASU) student has filed a federal charge against the United Food and Commercial Worker (UFCW) Local 99 union for stonewalling his attempts to exercise his rights to refrain from union membership and dues payments under Arizona’s popular Right to Work law.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Phoenix resident Travis Prall filed the unfair labor practice charge last Wednesday with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Under Arizona’s Right to Work law, no worker can be required to join or pay fees to a union as a condition of employment.

Prall, an ASU biology student, began working for Fry’s in December 2013.

14 Apr 2015

Fort Leonard Wood Food Service Employees Win Refunds in Federal Settlement over Illegal Union Dues Seizures

Posted in TV & Radio

Fort Leonard Wood Food Service Employees Win Refunds in Federal Settlement over Illegal Union Dues Seizures

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

Fort Leonard Wood, MO (April 14, 2015) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, two Fort Leonard Wood food service workers have won a federal settlement from a local union for violating their and several of their coworkers’ rights.

In November 2014, Kimsha Rosensteel, an 11-year employee with the Overland Park, Kansas-based food services provider EDP Enterprises, Inc., and coworker Stephanie Fenton filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) Local R14-139 union. Rosensteel later filed a charge against the company.

22 May 2015

Michigan Bus Drivers File Complaint to Enforce Their Rights Under Michigan’s Right to Work Law

Posted in TV & Radio

Michigan Bus Drivers File Complaint to Enforce Their Rights Under Michigan’s Right to Work Law

AFSCME union officials and school district entered into illegal agreement threatening the jobs of drivers who don’t pay union dues or fees


Oakland County, MI
(May 22, 2015) –Ten Michigan workers filed a complaint in Oakland County Circuit Court alleging their rights, under the Michigan Right to Work law, were violated when they were forced to pay union dues as a condition of employment, and when they were threatened with termination of employment.

The workers, Ronald Weider, Robin Atkins, Claudine Barnes, Arthur Brannan, Brad Bell, Belinda Colley, Cheryl Gorham, Danyell Polk, Sonya Tiggs, and Lisa Vanderzyppe are all school bus drivers for the Avondale School District, and are represented by attorneys at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

The bus drivers are seeking injunctive relief, return of dues paid to the union, and other relief from American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 202 (AFSCME) union officials who have the power to exclusively represent all workers in the bargaining unit, even nonmember employees.

8 Jun 2015

Carpenters Union Officials Hit with Charges for Illegal Retaliation Against Workers Who Resigned Membership

Posted in TV & Radio
Carpenters Union Officials Hit with Charges for Illegal Retaliation Against Workers Who Resigned Membership
NLRB will investigate charges that union bullied workers who resigned from the union and took a nonunion job rather than remain out of work in the union 

Boone, IA (June 8, 2015) – Unfair labor practice charges have been filed with the National Labor Relations Board against the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters and its Local 308 union. The charges were filed by workers, with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, who faced retaliation from union officials after they resigned their union membership.

The workers are carpenters and resigned their membership in Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters Local 308 on June 23, 2014. They then found employment with Lehman & Associates Concrete, Inc. in Boone, Iowa.

On August 1, 2014, the union filed internal discipline charges against the workers for finding work at Lehman and Associates, which is a union free workplace, despite the fact that workers who exercise their right to resign formal union membership can no longer be subjected to internal union discipline procedures. 
15 Jun 2015

Nonunion Corrections Officers File Suit against Governor, Teamsters Union over Illegal Forced Dues

Posted in TV & Radio
Nonunion Corrections Officers File Suit against Governor, Teamsters Union over Illegal Forced Dues
Lawsuit challenges forced union dues for Washington State public employees and union failure to provide disclosures mandated by U.S. Supreme Court
 
Tacoma, WA (June 15, 2015) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys and the Olympia-based Freedom Foundation, one retired and four current Washington State correctional officers have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Governor Jay Inslee, two high-ranking state Department of Corrections officials, and the Teamsters Local 117 union. The lawsuit challenges Teamster policies that discourage nonunion correctional officers from opting out of paying full union dues.

Gabriel Forest, Arthur Henderson, Joshua Lenss, and William McLaughlin are currently employed as correctional officers at the Stafford Creek Corrections Center. A fifth plaintiff, Michael Wageblast, retired from the State Department of Corrections in February 2015. All five plaintiffs have exercised their right to resign from the union. However, Teamsters Local 117 officials are empowered by state statute to collect dues and negotiate wages and working conditions for all employees within the plaintiffs’ bargaining unit, including nonmembers.

Teamsters Local 117 officials violated nonunion correctional officers’ rights by failing to provide them with adequate information about the union’s expenditures and sufficient opportunity to opt out of paying full union dues. Under the National Right to Work Foundation-won Hudson Supreme Court precedent, nonunion civil servants are entitled to information about union expenditures and a chance to refrain from paying union dues for anything unrelated to workplace bargaining, such as political activism.
 
16 Jun 2015

Nurse Wins NLRB Settlement Against Union for Illegal Policies Designed to Infringe on Right to Resign

Posted in TV & Radio
Nurse Wins NLRB Settlement Against Union for Illegal Policies Designed to Infringe on Right to Resign
NRTW Foundation staff attorneys asking NLRB to inform other nurses of settlement through union email system to avoid keeping them in the dark about their rights 
 
Olympia, WA (June 16, 2015) – The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a unilateral settlement between United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21 (UFCW 21) and Sandra Dickson in response to unfair labor practice charges filed by National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys for Dickson.

Dickson worked as a registered nurse at Providence St. Peter Hospital. She was not a union member, but because Washington is a forced unionism state, Dickson was required as a condition of employment to fork over a portion of her paycheck to union bosses for so-called “agency fees.”

On December 29, 2014, charges were filed with the NLRB against UFCW 21 regarding an illegal “window period” restriction in the current collective bargaining contract and a requirement that workers provide their social security number in order to exercise their Beck rights to object to paying for activities unrelated to bargaining. “Window period” restrictions limit when union members can resign their membership, contrary to US Supreme Court precedent that union members have the right to resign their union membership at any time, for any reason. 
22 Jun 2015

School Bus Driver Files Federal Labor Charges Against Teamsters Union That Had Him Fired For Not Paying Union Dues

Posted in TV & Radio
School Bus Driver Files Federal Labor Charges Against Teamsters Union That Had Him Fired For Not Paying Union Dues
 Foundation staff attorneys file charges with NLRB after union officials disregard Supreme Court protections for nonmember workers and carry out threat to have worker fired
 
Fairbanks, AK (June 22, 2015) – National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys filed federal unfair labor practice charges against Teamsters Local 959 on behalf of bus driver Scott Bracy who was illegally fired from his job for not paying forced dues and fees to the union. Charges were also filed against Bracy’s employer, First Student Management, LLC.

The charges, filed with the National Labor Relations Board, state that Teamsters union officials failed to follow U.S. Supreme Court-required procedures while demanding payment from Bracy, a dispute over which union officials eventually had First Student fire Bracy. The charges also state that Teamsters officials are seeking an illegal assessment.

As an employee of First Student, Bracy worked as a school bus driver in Fairbanks, Alaska. Teamsters Local 959 union officials have a monopoly bargaining contract with Bracy’s former employer. Because Alaska has not yet passed a state Right to Work law, workers can be forced to pay fees to a union as a condition of employment.
2 Jul 2015

NRTW Foundation Attorneys Respond to Union Attempt to Silence Pro-Right to Work Employees

Posted in TV & Radio

On May 12, National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief defending Wisconsin’s recently-enacted Right to Work law on behalf or four Wisconsin workers. The brief was filed in response to an International Association of Machinists (IAM) union lawsuit challenging the Badger State’s recent labor reforms in Dane County Circuit Court.

However, IAM union lawyers are now asking the court not to accept the brief. Responding to this union attempt to silence the viewpoints of pro-Right to Work employees, National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty have now filed another brief with the Court, this time rebutting the IAM’s attempt to keep the four Wisconsin workers from defending their Right to Work law.