Court Strikes Down Obama Labor Board’s Ambush Election Rule Change

Challenged rules would allow union bosses to ambush workers into forced-dues-paying union ranks

Washington, D.C. (May 14, 2012) – Today, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has struck down the National Labor Relations Board’s new rules dictating how union organizing elections are conducted, ruling that the Board did not have a quorum necessary to enact the new rules.

The National Right to Work Foundation – the nation’s premier advocate for workers who suffer from the abuses of compulsory unionism – filed comments opposing the Board’s proposed new guidelines which would help give union organizers the upper hand over independent-minded employees.

The new rules dramatically shortened the time frame individual workers have to share truthful information with their coworkers about the adverse effects of unionization and to hear their employer’s views on the subject. In other words, the new rules were one-sided.

Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work, issued the following statement regarding the ruling:

"The Obama NLRB is determined to make union organizing campaigns as one-sided as possible and to stifle the rights of employees who may oppose bringing a union into their workplace. Today, the court’s ruling demonstrates once again the biased way that the Obama Labor Board has operated – a two member majority ramming through the final pro-union boss rule change without even asking the one minority member to vote.

Read the entire release here.

To read more about the court’s decision and the ambush elections rule, click here.

Washington, D.C. (May 14, 2012) – Today, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has struck down the National Labor Relations Board’s new rules dictating how union organizing elections are conducted, ruling that the Board did not have a quorum necessary to enact the new rules.

The National Right to Work Foundation – the nation’s premier advocate for workers who suffer from the abuses of compulsory unionism – filed comments opposing the Board’s proposed new guidelines which would help give union organizers the upper hand over independent-minded employees.

The new rules dramatically shortened the time frame individual workers have to share truthful information with their coworkers about the adverse effects of unionization and to hear their employer’s views on the subject. In other words, the new rules were one-sided.

Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work, issued the following statement regarding the ruling:

“The Obama NLRB is determined to make union organizing campaigns as one-sided as possible and to stifle the rights of employees who may oppose bringing a union into their workplace. Today, the court’s ruling demonstrates once again the biased way that the Obama Labor Board has operated – a two member majority ramming through the final pro-union boss rule change without even asking the one minority member to vote.

“Today’s decision prevents implementation of a rule that deprives employees of hearing both sides of the story about unionization and is a victory for workers. However, despite this decision, a secret ballot election can’t prevent the fundamental violation of individual rights that occurs under union boss monopoly bargaining.”

Verizon Employee Wins Settlement After CWA Union and Company Officials Collude to Ignore Her Rights

Worker refused to abandon job during highly-publicized strike

Newport News, VA (May 14, 2012) – A Newport News, Virginia Verizon (NYSE: VZ) worker has won a settlement from the company and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union, and its local affiliate, for violating her rights following last year’s strike that grabbed national headlines.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, Williamsburg resident Monika Cassell filed a lawsuit in federal district court in February against Verizon, the CWA and its affiliate, Local 2205, for refusing to honor her right to refrain from paying union dues.

Upset by CWA union officials’ strike order and unwilling to walk off their jobs, Cassell and several other Verizon employees resigned from the union last year and revoked their dues deduction authorizations – documents used by union officials to automatically collect dues from employees’ paychecks – while the union did not have a contract at their workplaces.

Read the entire release here.

Newport News, VA (May 14, 2012) – A Newport News, Virginia Verizon (NYSE: VZ) worker has won a settlement from the company and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union, and its local affiliate, for violating her rights following last year’s strike that grabbed national headlines.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, Williamsburg resident Monika Cassell filed a lawsuit in federal district court in February against Verizon, the CWA and its affiliate, Local 2205, for refusing to honor her right to refrain from paying union dues.

Upset by CWA union officials’ strike order and unwilling to walk off their jobs, Cassell and several other Verizon employees resigned from the union last year and revoked their dues deduction authorizations – documents used by union officials to automatically collect dues from employees’ paychecks – while the union did not have a contract at their workplaces.

Under Virginia’s popular Right to Work law, no worker can be required to join or pay money to a union. Under federal labor law, employees can revoke their dues deduction authorizations once a contract ends. However, at the behest of CWA union officials, Verizon continued to confiscate full union dues from Cassell and several of her coworkers despite their attempts to opt out.

Moreover, Verizon and union officials agreed to a contract that retroactively applies to the time no contract was in effect – a blatant attempt to corral the workers who exercised their right to refrain from dues paying union membership back into paying union dues. Cassell’s lawsuit also challenged the CWA union’s dues deduction authorizations because those authorizations do not allow employees to revoke them when no contract is in effect, as federal law requires.

The settlement requires Verizon and union officials to return all illegally-seized union dues and fees with interest to Cassell, totaling over $456. But most significantly, the settlement also requires CWA Local 2205 union officials to acknowledge the revocation of all workers’ dues deduction authorizations during the strike and in similar situations in the future for all workers in the bargaining unit, affecting Verizon workers in Virginia; Washington, D.C.; Maryland; and West Virginia.

“It is indefensible that workers who exercised their right to resign their union membership and continued to work to support their families had to resort to a federal lawsuit after their rights were blatantly violated by their employer and union officials,” said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work. “While Foundation attorneys have won a full capitulation from Verizon and CWA union officials in this case, CWA union officials continue to use illegal dues deduction authorizations that prevent workers from exercising their statutory right to refrain from full union dues payments when a union contract is no longer in effect.”

Union Bosses Levy Retaliatory Strike Fine Against Worker After Telling Him to Continue Working During Strike

Worker fined over $7,300 for exercising his right to refrain from formal union membership

Kansas City, MO (May 9, 2012) – A Honeywell nuclear assembly worker has filed a federal charge against a local union for retaliating against him with a $7,361.36 fine for exercising his right to refrain from union membership and continue to do his job during a union boss-instigated strike.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, Daniel Gudde filed the charge with the National Labor Relations Board regional office in Overland Park, Kansas on Friday.

Gudde began working at Honeywell in late September believing he had to join the International Association of Machinist (IAM) Local Lodge 778 union. In early October, IAM Local 778 union officials instigated a strike. Gudde and three of his coworkers were unsure if they had to go on strike as union members or if they had to fulfill a required 30 day probationary period of employment.

Union officials told Gudde and his colleagues to continue to work to complete the 30 day probationary period.

Read the entire release here.

Kansas City, MO (May 9, 2012) – A Honeywell nuclear assembly worker has filed a federal charge against a local union for retaliating against him with a $7,361.36 fine for exercising his right to refrain from union membership and continue to do his job during a union boss-instigated strike.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, Daniel Gudde filed the charge with the National Labor Relations Board regional office in Overland Park, Kansas on Friday.

Gudde began working at Honeywell in late September believing he had to join the International Association of Machinist (IAM) Local Lodge 778 union. In early October, IAM Local 778 union officials instigated a strike. Gudde and three of his coworkers were unsure if they had to go on strike as union members or if they had to fulfill a required 30 day probationary period of employment.

Union officials told Gudde and his colleagues to continue to work to complete the 30 day probationary period. After the probationary period, union bosses obligated Gudde and his coworkers to leave their jobs at the nuclear facility. Union members bound by the union’s constitution and bylaws can be fined for continuing to work during a strike.

After the 30 day period, Gudde learned of his right to resign from full dues paying union membership at any time. He notified the IAM union hierarchy that he was resigning from formal union membership when his 30 day period ended and returned to work after a couple of days. Workers who refrain from union membership are not subject to a union’s constitution and bylaws and cannot be fined or otherwise disciplined for working during a strike.

However, because Missouri does not have a Right to Work law, Gudde is still forced to pay a certain amount of union dues and fees to the union.

In mid-March, IAM union bosses fined Gudde $7,361.36 for working during the strike. Moreover, three coworkers who did not resign from the union but also worked during the 30 day probation period were not fined, thus suggesting the fine was in retaliation for Gudde exercising his rights.

“Cynical IAM union bosses are retaliating against a worker for exercising his rights to continue providing for himself and his family during a strike, even after they told him to keep working,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “These types of compulsory unionism injustices will continue to occur until Missouri passes Right to Work protections for its workers.”

Lake County, IN (May 7, 2012) – Two Indiana citizens, David Brubaker and Douglas Richards, have just submitted an amicus curiae brief to defend Indiana’s newly-enacted Right to Work law from a frivolous union legal challenge in state court.

Brubaker and Richards are both clients of National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys. To comply with Indiana bar and court rules, the Foundation engaged Indiana attorneys Asheesh Agarwal and David Wagner of the Indianapolis office of Ogletree Deakins to file the workers’ amicus brief.

The anti-Right to Work lawsuit, filed by United Steel Workers (USW) lawyers in April, makes a number of dubious claims about Indiana’s new law, including the argument that unions have a right to force workers to pay for their unwanted services.

Both Brubaker and Richards are employed in workplaces where a forced dues contract remains in place between their employers and the USW. Consequently, both workers are still forced to pay union dues just to keep their jobs, despite the fact neither belongs to the union nor sought the union’s so-called “representation.”

Although Indiana’s recently-enacted Right to Work law states that no employee can be required to pay union dues as a condition of employment, forced dues contracts between unions and employers entered into prior to the effective date of the law remain in force throughout the state.

According to Brubaker and Richards, monopoly bargaining agreements that force nonunion employees to subsidize union activities – such as the agreements both workers are currently subject to – infringe on their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association. Brubaker and Richards have no desire to affiliate with the USW union or contribute financially to union activities, and Indiana’s new Right to Work law frees them from those obligations as soon as their employers’ old contracts with the USW union expire.

“Hoosier citizens want to make their voices heard against a frivolous union legal challenge to Indiana’s new Right to Work law,” said Patrick Semmens, legal information director for the National Right to Work Foundation. “Workers shouldn’t be forced to join or pay tribute to a union just to keep a job, which is why we applaud David Brubaker and Douglas Richards for standing up for their rights in state court.”

U.S. Appeals Court Rejects Obama Administration Stance in Case Challenging Backroom Union Deals

Obama Labor Board and Departments of Labor, Justice sought to roll back worker’s federal court victory

Hollywood, FL (May 3, 2012) – The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has shot down the Obama Administration’s attempt to roll back a worker’s protracted, precedent-setting legal victory against a local union.

The case is a legal challenge initiated by Hollywood, Florida-area Mardi Gras Gaming groundskeeper Martin Mulhall with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation.

In 2008, Mardi Gras entered into an agreement with Unite Here Local 355 union officials promising that it would hand over employees’ personal contact information (including home addresses), grant union operatives access to company facilities for the purpose of organizing through a coercive card check campaign, and refrain from speaking about the downsides of unionization. In return, the Unite Here officials expended over one hundred thousand dollars to support a gambling ballot initiative and guaranteed not to picket, boycott, or strike the facility.

Read the entire release here.

Hollywood, FL (May 3, 2012) – The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has shot down the Obama Administration’s attempt to roll back a worker’s protracted, precedent-setting legal victory against a local union.

The case is a legal challenge initiated by Hollywood, Florida-area Mardi Gras Gaming groundskeeper Martin Mulhall with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation.

In 2008, Mardi Gras entered into an agreement with Unite Here Local 355 union officials promising that it would hand over employees’ personal contact information (including home addresses), grant union operatives access to company facilities for the purpose of organizing through a coercive card check campaign, and refrain from speaking about the downsides of unionization. In return, the Unite Here officials expended over one hundred thousand dollars to support a gambling ballot initiative and guaranteed not to picket, boycott, or strike the facility.

Federal law aimed at preventing unions from agreeing to undermine workers’ rights in exchange for concessions from management explicitly prohibits employers from giving “any money or other thing of value” to unions. Mulhall sued Unite Here Local 355 and Mardi Gras in 2008, arguing that the company’s organizing assistance to the union is of substantial monetary value to the union.

In a precedent-setting decision, a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit agreed with Mulhall, ruling that organizing assistance can be an unlawful “thing of value.” Union lawyers subsequently petitioned the full court to rehear the case.

Obama Justice and Labor Department officials, along with controversial National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon, filed an amicus curiae brief supporting the union lawyers’ position.

The court rejected the union bosses’ petition, even noting that not one of its regular active judges requested a poll on whether to grant the union lawyers’ request for rehearing.

“Union bosses and the Obama Administration have failed to roll back a major, precedent-setting victory for workers,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Today, the court reaffirmed that union organizing is indeed a thing of value to union bosses who want to sell out workers to pave the way for monopoly control over a workplace.”