Employees Ask U.S. Supreme Court to Reinstate RICO Case against UAW Union Organizing Scheme

National Right to Work Foundation urges High Court to allow enforcement of longstanding labor bribery statutes against increasingly common union schemes

Washington, DC (April 21, 2009) – Today, National Right to Work Foundation attorneys filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court to uphold workers’ challenge to a secret quid pro quo agreement intended to install the United Auto Workers (UAW) union at Freightliner plants in North and South Carolina.

With free legal aid from the Foundation, five employees at three plants operated by Daimler Trucks subsidiary Freightliner filed a class-action federal racketeering lawsuit in 2006 challenging an illegal scheme in which union officials agreed in advance to significant concessions at the expense of the Freightliner workers at its non-union facilities in North Carolina in exchange for valuable company assistance in organizing those workers.

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Click here to read the full release.  Download a PDF copy of the petition.  For additional background information about the case, click here.

Washington, DC (April 21, 2009) – Today, National Right to Work Foundation attorneys filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court to uphold workers’ challenge to a secret quid pro quo agreement intended to install the United Auto Workers (UAW) union at Freightliner plants in North and South Carolina.

With free legal aid from the Foundation, five employees at three plants operated by Daimler Trucks subsidiary Freightliner filed a class-action federal racketeering lawsuit in 2006 challenging an illegal scheme in which union officials agreed in advance to significant concessions at the expense of the Freightliner workers at its non-union facilities in North Carolina in exchange for valuable company assistance in organizing those workers.

Federal law bars companies from giving “things of value” to unions or union officials, and it is also illegal for company and union agents to negotiate terms and conditions of employment before the union hierarchy has proven a majority of employees actually want it to represent them. But in a secret “Preconditions to Card Check Procedure” pact inked before employees even knew they were a UAW union organizing target, Freightliner and the UAW union expressly agreed to limitations on wages, an increase in the health care costs shouldered by employees, and other concessions.

In return, Freightliner gave the UAW union organizers direct access to propagandize employees at compulsory “captive audience” meetings and to harangue them in company break rooms, granted union organizers access to employees’ private home addresses, agreed not to provide truthful information to employees about the downsides of unionization, and agreed to automatically recognize the union without a secret ballot vote when presented the requisite number of signed union authorization cards.

In such “card check” organizing drives, employees are frequently coerced or misled into signing such cards, which are then counted as “votes.” Workers have also complained that signed cards are difficult to revoke.

In December, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld union lawyers’ motion to dismiss the case. Foundation attorneys argue the lower court erroneously limited “things of value” to only tangible and explicit monetary benefits. But given the millions of dollars unions spend on corporate campaigns to obtain the advantages delivered by Freightliner in this case, the UAW clearly obtained “things of value.” Moreover, the court could have simply remanded for fact finding as to monetary value, which can easily be established.

“We urge the Supreme Court to do what the lower courts have refused: restore the rights of American workers victimized by sweetheart deals between management and union bosses,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation.

The employees seek financial restitution to all employees at the Mount Holly, Gastonia, and Cleveland, North Carolina, facilities in the form of treble damages for all dues seized and earnings lost as a result of the unlawful pact. Additional Freightliner plants known to be covered by the once-secret agreement are located in High Point, North Carolina, and Gaffney, South Carolina.

St. Louis, Missouri (April 13, 2009) – A St. Louis-based AT&T worker has filed federal unfair labor practice charges against a national union for illegal threats in the run-up to an impending national strike.

With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, David McBride of Granite City, Illinois filed charges alleging that Communication Workers of America (CWA) union officials threatened him with legal action if he refused to go on strike and failed to provide him with a federally-mandated audit of union expenditures.

CWA union officials appear to be on the verge of ordering 20,000 employees to abandon their jobs as part of a nationwide strike against AT&T Mobility. However, numerous employees across the United States have contacted the National Right to Work Foundation for legal advice after being falsely informed by CWA officials that they are obligated to participate in the union’s upcoming work stoppage or face severe penalties.

Foundation attorneys have already helped three New Jersey AT&T employees file unfair labor practice charges against CWA Local 1101.

In St. Louis, union officials demanded that McBride sign a “strike assignment form” despite his previous decision to resign from the union. Union officials threatened to “take [him] to court” if McBride refused to participate in the union-instigated strike.

Under the Supreme Court decision Pattern Makers v. NLRB, workers have an absolute right to resign from formal, full dues-paying union membership at any time. Union officials have no legal power to punish employees for resigning from the union and refusing to abandon their jobs during a strike.

Additionally, CWA Local 6300 union officials refused to provide McBride with a financial breakdown of all union expenditures. Because nonmember employees in non-Right to Work states can still be forced to pay union dues for collective bargaining, this disclosure is required to allow nonunion workers to opt-out of union dues unrelated to workplace negotiations.

Union officials have also told CWA union members in Washington, Michigan, Ohio and New Jersey that any attempt to resign from union membership is strictly prohibited. In Ohio, CWA bosses responded to one worker’s inquiry by telling him that he was employed in a “forced union” state. Foundation attorneys anticipate filing additional unfair labor practice charges for these union-abused workers in the coming weeks.

“It’s particularly despicable to threaten workers with legal retaliation if they refuse to abandon their jobs in the midst of an economic crisis,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “All workers should be free to support their families, free from ugly threats by union bosses.”

“The National Right to Work Foundation stands ready to defend the rights of any AT&T employee who is being illegally threatened or coerced by CWA officials,” added Gleason.

Phoenix, AZ (April 2, 2009) – A United States District Court has given the green light to a precedent-setting union racketeering lawsuit filed by National Right to Work Foundation attorneys for several Phoenix-based employees against Dex Media and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1269 union officials.

Judge Mary Muguia denied significant parts of the defendants’ motions for summary judgment and held that union officials and the company should stand trial for giving preferential treatment to union agents through a skewed performance-based pay system.

The employees’ lawsuit alleges that union officials also employed by Qwest Communications subsidiary Dex Media manipulated company procedures to receive greater compensation at the expense of the nonunion plaintiffs.

The lawsuit also alleges that Dex Media colluded with union officials to implement this scheme, violating the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA) and the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

Some of the methods used to increase the union agents’ compensation included reassigning accounts from nonunion employees to union officials, giving union agents “double commissions” for sales made by other workers, and allowing union officials to regularly sell lucrative “group ads” while denying similar opportunities to nonmember employees. By knowingly aiding union agents as they stage-managed company rules to increase their performance-based pay, Dex Media is accused of bribing union officials to act against workers’ interests.

Although the judge ruled there was insufficient evidence to try the RICO claims filed against IBEW Local 1269, the lawsuit against union officials and Dex Media will proceed. The court scheduled a status hearing for April 27, at which time a date will be set for trial of the LMRA and RICO conspiracy claims against the corporate defendants and the union agents.

“Union officials colluded with their employer to sell out the very workers they claim to represent,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “We anticipate a successful legal resolution, but the only way to permanently stop this type of abuse is to get rid of union officials’ monopoly bargaining privileges and make union representation truly voluntary.”

Federal Labor Board to Prosecute Tenet Healthcare for Scheme to Sweep Nurses into Unionization

Employees seek to throw out union after union bosses’ ugly campaign of harassment and coercion

Houston, Texas (April 3, 2009) — National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) prosecutors have filed a complaint this week against Tenet Healthcare Corporation after it entered into a backroom deal with union officials designed to force nurses into union ranks at multiple Houston-area hospitals.

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, two Houston-area nurses, Esther Marissa Cuellar, a nurse at Tenet’s Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center, and Linda D. Bertrand, a nurse at Tenet’s Park Plaza Hospital and Medical Center, filed unfair labor practice charges alleging that an “Election Procedures Arrangement” (EPA) Tenet and California Nurses Association (CNA) union officials secretly established violates employees’ rights.

The unfair labor practice charges also allege that Tenet officials provided CNA union operatives with unlawful organizing assistance in violation of federal statutes: In Tenet healthcare facilities, outside union organizers are given free reign to aggressively push for a union presence; but Tenet nurses who oppose unionization, on the other hand, are forbidden from using Tenet facilities to express their views.

(Continue reading this news release…)

Houston, Texas (April 3, 2009) – National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) prosecutors have filed a complaint this week against Tenet Healthcare Corporation after it entered into a backroom deal with union officials designed to force nurses into union ranks at multiple Houston-area hospitals.

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, two Houston-area nurses, Esther Marissa Cuellar, a nurse at Tenet’s Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center, and Linda D. Bertrand, a nurse at Tenet’s Park Plaza Hospital and Medical Center, filed unfair labor practice charges alleging that an “Election Procedures Arrangement” (EPA) Tenet and California Nurses Association (CNA) union officials secretly established violates employees’ rights.

The unfair labor practice charges also allege that Tenet officials provided CNA union operatives with unlawful organizing assistance in violation of federal statutes: In Tenet healthcare facilities, outside union organizers are given free reign to aggressively push for a union presence; but Tenet nurses who oppose unionization, on the other hand, are forbidden from using Tenet facilities to express their views.

The NLRB regional office in Fort Worth consolidated the two nurses’ charges and filed a formal complaint against Tenet Healthcare Corporation. Trial proceedings in the case are scheduled to take place before an NLRB Administrative Law Judge at the NLRB Courtroom in Houston on May 26.

“CNA union bosses and complicit Tenet Corporation officials must be held accountable for this scheme to push nurses into union ranks,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “CNA union bosses are pursuing a coercive organizing campaign – making it more difficult for employees to resist the CNA’s professional union organizers – to force unwilling nurses across the state of Texas and our country into forced-dues-paying union ranks.”

To date, CNA union organizers have successfully obtained monopoly bargaining privileges at one Houston-area Tenet healthcare facility under similarly controversial circumstances and have expanded their coercive organizing efforts in Tenet facilities nationwide. Recently a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-area registered nurse, with help from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, filed similar unfair labor practice charges against Tenet and CNA union officials.

Morgantown, WV and Goshen, IN (March 17, 2009) – In response to unfair labor practice charges filed by National Right to Work attorneys, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a complaint that seeks nationwide remedies against steelworker union officials for violating employees’ rights.

Nonunion employees of Chemtura Corporation in Morgantown, West Virginia and Cequent Towing Products in Goshen, Indiana are currently forced by United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union (USW) officials to annually opt-out of paying dues unrelated to workplace bargaining. Because neither Indiana nor West Virginia has passed a Right to Work law making union dues fully voluntary, nonunion workers are forced to fund union workplace negotiations. However, under Supreme Court precedents secured by National Right to Work attorneys, workers cannot be forced to pay dues for union activities unrelated to bargaining.

After reviewing the union’s annual objector policy, the NLRB General Counsel agreed with Foundation attorneys’ arguments and issued a nationwide complaint to end the union’s onerous opt-out requirements. The case will now be heard by an administrative law judge.

Under federal labor law, union bosses cannot arbitrarily discriminate against nonunion employees as a condition of maintaining their government-granted monopoly bargaining privileges. At Chemtura and Cequent Towing, nonunion workers are forced to annually repeat their objection to union dues unrelated to workplace bargaining, whereas union members are not required to annually renew their union membership.

The NLRB General Counsel is now seeking a remedy that requires USW bosses to rescind any and all annual opt-out requirements and post public notices informing workers across the country of their right to permanently withdraw financial support from union activities unrelated to collective bargaining

“This Byzantine opt-out process is little more than a scheme to ensure more unwilling workers pay tribute to USW bosses,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Union officials are only interested in making nonunion workers jump through bureaucratic hoops, particularly when forced-dues dollars are involved. Until workers in West Virginia and Indiana have the protection of a Right to Work law that makes union membership and dues payment truly voluntary, these illegal schemes will persist.”

Atlanta, GA (March 12, 2009) – National Right to Work Foundation president Mark Mix called upon Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue to defend Georgia’s cherished Right to Work law that is in danger of becoming a dead letter as a result of a sloppy Georgia appellate court ruling and an Attorney General who has so far refused to defend the law.

“On behalf of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and the union-abused Georgia employees it is assisting, I urge you to use the power granted to you by the laws of the State of Georgia to ensure that Georgia’s longstanding and popular Right to Work law is enforced,” Mix urged Governor Perdue.

“Moreover, in this time of economic crisis, the last thing workers in Georgia should have to worry about is being forced to pay money to self-interested union bosses as a condition of getting or keeping their jobs. And the last thing Georgia needs is for union bosses to flex their muscles and scare away new job opportunities,” continued Mix in the letter.

Attorneys at the National Right to Work Foundation are providing free legal aid to eleven dockworkers at the port of Savannah who are forced to pay a significant portion of their paychecks to Longshoremen union bosses as a condition of obtaining employment. Longshoremen Local 1414 union bosses have demanded that the eleven nonmember employees pay so-called “fees” – as much as $1.33 per hour worked – just for obtaining jobs through a union-controlled hiring hall.

But Georgia’s longstanding and popular Right to Work law unambiguously states that “[n]o individual shall be required as a condition of employment or continuance of employment to pay any fee, assessment, or other sum of money whatsoever to a labor organization.”

Nonetheless, in late January, the Georgia Court of Appeals, affirming a lower court ruling, took the surprising and arbitrary ruling that the Georgia Right to Work law does not apply to a hiring hall scenario, and federal labor law somehow does not permit states to prohibit unions from forcing workers to pay monies to an exclusive union hiring hall. Foundation attorneys have pointed out that the Peachtree State’s Right to Work law unambiguously prohibits any mandate on employees to pay a union for the privilege to work, and state Right to Work laws cannot be preempted by federal law in this regard.

The case, Perry v. International Longshoremen Association 1414, is currently on appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court. Meanwhile, Foundation attorneys asked Attorney General Thurbert Baker to intervene to defend the Right to Work law before the Georgia Supreme Court and to criminally enforce the Right to Work law at the port of Savannah (violations of the Right to Work law are misdemeanor offenses under Georgia law). Thousands of Georgians have also written to the attorney general, but he has taken no action to defend the law.

The download the full text of the letter, click here.

Right to Work Foundation Urges Department of Labor Not to Trash Union Disclosure Rules

Obama Administration seems primed to make it easier for union bosses to hide lucrative perks from rank-and-file workers

Washington, DC (March 9, 2009) – Prompted by a Rahm Emanuel directive on Inauguration Day, the U.S. Department of Labor seems ready to discard new union disclosure rules developed over two years by the previous administration.

In response, the National Right to Work Foundation has submitted comments urging the Department to maintain or strengthen rules aimed at curbing union boss corruption.

In late January, the Department of Labor announced that it was considering changes to recently revised LM-2 disclosure guidelines, which require unions to list the specific compensation – financial or otherwise – of individual union officers and to name all parties involved in any union-related transactions. Unions routinely spend millions of dollars on staff compensation, purchases unrelated to collective bargaining, and lavish perks for top union officials. The disclosure requirements are intended to ensure that dues-paying workers have some idea what they’re paying for . . .

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Click here to read the entire release. The Foundation submitted comments opposing any rescission of existing disclosure regulations, which are available here (.pdf).