Court of Appeals Hearing Arguments in Case Brought by Southwest Flight Attendant Who Was Illegally Fired for Criticizing Union Officials
District Court jury found and federal judge ruled: TWU union and Southwest violated multiple federal laws in firing Charlene Carter
New Orleans, LA (June 3, 2024) – Today, a three-judge panel of the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals is hearing arguments in an appeal of a 2022 District Court decision that found that Southwest Airlines and the Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local 556 illegally fired veteran flight attendant Charlene Carter in retaliation for Carter expressing her religious beliefs. Carter filed the lawsuit in 2017 with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
Her lawsuit against the TWU Local 556 union and Southwest challenged her termination by Southwest at the behest of TWU union officials as a violation of both the Railway Labor Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. In 2022, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas awarded Carter $5.1 million in combined compensatory and punitive damages against TWU and Southwest for their respective roles in her unlawful termination.
In December 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas ordered Southwest and the union to give Carter the maximum amount of compensatory and punitive damages permitted under federal law, plus back-pay, and other forms of relief that a jury originally awarded following Carter’s victory in a July 2022 trial. The Court also ordered that Carter be reinstated as a flight attendant at Southwest, writing that, “Southwest may ‘wanna get away’ from Carter because she might continue to express her beliefs, but the jury found that Southwest unlawfully terminated Carter for her protected expressions.”
Both the union and Southwest appealed their loss to the Court of Appeals, resulting in today’s arguments.
Flight Attendant Challenged Union Officials for Their Political Activism
Carter resigned from union membership in 2013 but was still forced to pay fees to TWU Local 556 as a condition of her employment. The Railway Labor Act (RLA), the federal law that governs labor relations in the air and rail industries, permits the firing of employees for refusal to pay dues and preempts the protections that state Right to Work laws provide.
However, the RLA does protect employees’ rights to refrain from union membership, to speak out against the union and its leadership, and to advocate for changing the union’s current leadership.
In January 2017, Carter, a pro-life Christian, learned that then-TWU Local 556 President Audrey Stone and other Local 556 officials used union dues to attend a political rally in Washington, D.C., which was sponsored by activist groups she deeply opposed, including Planned Parenthood.
Carter, a vocal critic of Stone and the union, sent private Facebook messages to Stone challenging the union’s support for political positions that were contrary to Carter’s beliefs, and expressing support for a recall effort that would remove Stone from power. Carter also sent Stone a message emphasizing her commitment to a National Right to Work law after the union had sent an email to employees telling them to oppose Right to Work.
After a meeting at which Southwest officials confronted Carter about her posts protesting union officials’ positions, the company fired Carter. In 2017, Carter filed her federal lawsuit challenging the firing as a clear violation of her rights under two federal laws. She maintained that she lost her job because of her religious beliefs and criticized how union officials spent employees’ dues and fees on political activism.
Ultimately, after an eight-day July trial, a federal jury agreed with Carter and her Foundation staff attorneys. In email communications unearthed and introduced at trial by Foundation staff attorneys, TWU union militants advocated for “targeted assassinations” of union dissidents and mocked Carter for being unable to stop her money from going toward union-backed causes she opposed.
“Southwest and TWU union officials made Ms. Carter pay an unconscionable price just because she decided to speak out against the political activities of union officials in accordance with her deeply held religious beliefs,” stated National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Yet rather than comply with the jury’s decision and the District Court order, Southwest and TWU union bosses have decided to attempt to defend their ‘targeted assassinations’ against a vocal union critic.
“We are proud to defend Ms. Carter throughout this prolonged legal case to vindicate her rights,” added Mix. “Ultimately, her case should prompt nationwide scrutiny of union bosses’ coercive, government-granted powers over workers, especially in the airline and rail industries, because even after winning her reinstatement Charlene and her colleagues at Southwest and other airlines under union control are forced, as per the Railway Labor Act, to pay money to union officials just to keep their jobs.”
St. Louis KIPP Charter High School Educators’ Vote to Remove Unwanted AFT Union Bosses is Now Official
Federal Labor Board has now certified majority decertification vote to end AFT union officials’ “representation” at the school
St. Louis, MO (May 30, 2024) – Teachers, advisors, nurses, and other employees at KIPP St. Louis High School are officially free of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 420 union. Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certified the results of the educators’ May 17 decertification vote in which a majority voted to end AFT union officials’ monopoly bargaining powers at the charter high school.
KIPP teacher Robin Johnston filed a petition to decertify the union on May 2 with NLRB Region 14 in St. Louis using free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. The petition included the signatures of enough employees at the school to trigger the decertification election, resulting in the 19-17 vote against the AFT.
Because Missouri lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers (which includes employees at public charter schools like KIPP), union officials have the legal privilege to enforce contracts that force workers to pay union dues or fees to get or keep their jobs. In contrast, in Right to Work states, union membership and union financial support are strictly voluntary.
However, in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work states, union officials in a unionized workplace are empowered by federal law to impose a union contract on all employees in the work unit, including those who oppose the union. The successful decertification vote at KIPP St. Louis High School strips AFT union officials of both their forced-dues and monopoly bargaining powers.
“AFT union officials never stood up for us and instead undermined our students’ success,” stated Johnston. “This was especially on display when union officials called a divisive strike to demand we abandon our classrooms and our students. I’m grateful for my colleagues who have decided to set our school on a better path without the union.”
The KIPP High School educators are not the only charter school employees who have removed unwanted unions with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation. In 2023 in San Diego, CA, employees of Gompers Preparatory Academy prevailed in 2023 after a nearly four-year effort to vote out the San Diego Education Association (SDEA) union, an affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA).
“The decision by KIPP High School educators to remove the union from their school isn’t the first, nor will it be the last time charter school employees decide they are better off without teacher union officials,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “The fact is, if it were up to national teacher union bosses at the AFT and NEA, charter schools wouldn’t exist at all. So, it is hardly surprising that the educators at these schools, which provide an alternative to the public schools that are so often under union monopoly control, are choosing to kick out the union officials that oppose their very existence.”
Sofitel Lafayette Square Employees Have Successfully Obtained Secret Ballot Vote to Remove Unite Here Union from Hotel
Hotel employees’ petition seeks to challenge union’s installation without a vote through abuse-prone “card check” process
Washington, DC (May 28, 2024) – After Unite Here union officials imposed union control over hotel employees without a secret ballot vote, workers at Sofitel Washington DC Lafayette Square have successfully obtained an election to remove the union. Sofitel employee Mwandu Chibwe submitted on May 15 a petition asking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a decertification election at her workplace. Ms. Chibwe is receiving free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Ms. Chibwe’s decertification petition contains well over the threshold of employee signatures needed to trigger a decertification vote under NLRB rules. The agency has now scheduled a vote to take place at her workplace on June 6, 2024.
Unite Here Local 25 union officials gained power in Ms. Chibwe’s workplace in March through a process called “card check,” which bypasses workers’ right to have an NLRB-administered secret ballot election and instead grants monopoly bargaining power to union officials on the basis of union-solicited “authorization cards.” During a card check drive, union officials can confront workers directly and demand they sign cards, a process that is often rife with threats and misinformation from union officials. Even AFL-CIO organizing manuals admit that workers often sign authorization cards during a card check drive to “get the union off my back.”
Because the District of Columbia lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, Unite Here union officials have the legal privilege to enforce contracts that require employees to pay dues or fees as a condition of getting or keeping a job. In Right to Work states, in contrast, union membership and financial support are strictly voluntary. A successful decertification vote strips union officials of their monopoly bargaining and forced-dues powers.
Biden Administration Attacking Reforms That Give Workers Opportunity to Vote Out Unions
“I believe that the majority of my fellow employees actually oppose this union and don’t want union bosses trying to speak for them,” Ms. Chibwe commented. “While I wish Unite Here had just respected our right to vote from the beginning, I’m glad we’re getting a chance to vote now.”
Ms. Chibwe and her colleagues were able to obtain an election to remove the union under the auspices of the Election Protection Rule (EPR), a set of Foundation-backed reforms that safeguards workers’ right to have secret ballot votes in the face of various coercive union tactics. The EPR gives workers 45 days after the conclusion of a card check campaign to challenge the union’s claims of majority support by filing petitions for union decertification elections. This process was pioneered by Foundation staff attorneys in the 2007 Dana Corp. NLRB decision; though the Obama NLRB overturned that decision, “Dana elections” were reestablished with the EPR.
The EPR also limits union officials’ ability to delay or stop worker-requested union decertification votes by filing so-called “blocking charges” alleging employer misconduct.
The NLRB adopted the EPR in 2020. However, the Biden NLRB is in the process of rulemaking to eliminate the EPR, as part of its broader agenda to give union bosses more tools to corral workers into unions despite polling showing most American workers are “not interested at all” in joining a union.
“Lafayette Square Sofitel employees successfully petitioned for a vote on whether to remove Unite Here officials, and they did so just steps away from the residence of the man whose administration is trying to strip them of that right – Joe Biden,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “We’re proud that Ms. Chibwe and her colleagues will get their requested union decertification vote. But it’s outrageous that the Biden NLRB will soon condemn workers to a future where they can be forced into union-controlled ranks with little or no opportunity to vote in secret or otherwise challenge union bosses’ power grabs, and then become subject to forced-dues obligations and other union demands.”
Worker Advocate Testifies Before Congress on Need to Defend Employees Against Increasingly Coercive Union Tactics
Testimony: Biden Labor Board undermining rights of workers opposed to union affiliation, censoring speech critical of unions
Washington, DC (May 22, 2024) – This morning, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation Vice President and Legal Director William L. Messenger is testifying before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions. The Subcommittee, which is chaired by Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), is holding a hearing titled “Exposing Union Tactics to Undermine Free and Fair Elections”.
As a National Right to Work Foundation staff attorney and now as Foundation Legal Director, Messenger has represented both public and private employees in numerous high-profile cases challenging coercive unionism. He was the lead counsel in multiple Supreme Court cases, including the landmark 2018 Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision, where he successfully argued that the First Amendment protects public employees against being compelled to financially support union activities.
Building on his over two decades of experience litigating on behalf of workers, including in cases before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Messenger will testify on some of the ways federal labor law has been twisted, especially by Biden appointees to the NLRB, to undermine the rights of employees opposed to union affiliation in order to promote union bosses’ coercive power.
In his testimony, Messenger documents how the NLRB, including through its radical 2023 Cemex decision, is promoting unreliable and abuse-prone “card check” organizing, undermining the protections workers enjoy by voting on unionization in the privacy of a secret ballot election, and infringing on the First Amendment by censoring speech critical of union officials:
“To suppress speech unfavorable to unions, the Biden NLRB operates the most repressive regime of government censorship in the nation. Even though Congress sought to foster free speech and debate about unionization with NLRA Section 8(c)—which provides that speech cannot be evidence of an unfair labor practice “if such expression contains no threat of reprisal or force or promise of benefit”—the Biden NLRB flouts that limitation by declaring employer utterances unfavorable to unions, or even just questions about unions, to carry unspoken and implicit threats or promises of benefit…
“Cemex itself is designed to muffle speech critical of unionization. The Biden NLRB’s rationale for nullifying secret ballot elections if an employer engages in speech or conduct NLRB officials consider wrongful, and installing the union as the employees’ representative without an election, is to dissuade employers from engaging in such speech or conduct. This rationale is perverse—the agency plans to deprive employees of their right to vote if their employer says or does something NLRB officials disapprove of. This is like a kidnapper threatening to harm innocent hostages if his victim does not comply with his extortionate demands.”
Testifying alongside Messenger will be Stephen Delie of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, Michael Alcorn, a Trader Joe’s employee who saw firsthand the ways unions and their allies at the NLRB undermine the rights of workers who may be skeptical of unionization, and Lynn Rhinehart of the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). EPI is a union-funded front group whose Board of Directors includes many of the most powerful union bosses in the country.
“This hearing shines a badly-needed spotlight on the many ways the Biden NLRB has abandoned its Congressional mandate to be a neutral enforcer of the law, and instead is acting as a taxpayer-funded organizing arm for Big Labor,” said National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Through its oversight and legislative powers Congress has an important role to play in stopping the Labor Board from continuing to undermine the freedoms of the vast majority of American workers who want nothing to do with union affiliation.”
National Right to Work Foundation Issues Notice to University of California Graduate Students Amid UAW Strike Orders
Foundation informs students of right to resign union membership and complete academic responsibilities despite politicized union strike command
California (May 21, 2024) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has released a special legal notice to graduate students, teaching assistants, and researchers across the University of California system. The notice comes as officials of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union have ordered a strike at UC Santa Cruz over the university’s position on the Israel-Hamas conflict and related campus protests.
Union officials have indicated that similar strike orders could soon be in effect at other UC system schools and that the union’s strike authorization means these orders could be in effect until June 30. The notice provides legal information to the roughly 50,000 unionized students, a small fraction of which voted to approve the strike action.
The full notice is available at www.nrtw.org/UCstrike.
The Foundation’s legal notice informs UC graduate students of their right to resign union membership and resume their academic responsibilities. “This situation raises serious concerns for graduate students who believe there is much to lose from a union ordered strike,” the notice says. “Seven UC undergraduate campuses have exams scheduled for the second week of June, meaning the strike order is likely to cause major disruptions.”
“The Foundation wants you to learn about your legal rights from independent sources,” says the notice. “You should not rely on what self-interested union officials tell you.”
UC Graduate Students Must Resign Union Membership Before Returning to Work
The notice explains that, under California public sector labor law, graduate students who wish to resume working during the strike should resign their union memberships at least one day before returning to work if they want to avoid union discipline. “Union officials can (and often do) levy thousands of dollars in fines against union members who work during a strike,” reads the notice. “So, if you are currently a member, resigning your membership before you work during a strike is the most effective way to avoid union fines and other discipline.”
Links to sample union resignation letters and the Foundation’s page for requesting free legal aid are provided.
Janus Supreme Court Decision Also Protects Students’ Right to Stop Dues Payments to UAW
UC graduate students, who are considered “public employees” for the purposes of unionization, also have a First Amendment right to cut off dues deductions to the UAW as per the Foundation-won Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision, the notice says. “[U]nion officials can only deduct union dues from a person’s paycheck if that person has affirmatively consented to pay,” the notice details, while also explaining that union officials sometimes try to limit when employees can stop union dues and that Foundation attorneys can provide legal aid if students encounter any difficulties in that regard.
The notice concludes by explaining that UC graduate students have a right to petition for a vote to end the UAW’s monopoly bargaining power, with a link to more information on California’s public sector law regarding union “decertification elections.”
“There is good reason to believe that this UAW boss-ordered strike may violate California law, but because that is still being determined, it is important that student ‘employees’ impacted by the strike know their legal rights to protect themselves against union retribution if they exercise their right not to join the strike action,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “University of California graduate students may oppose this strike simply because they want to complete their end-of-semester responsibilities efficiently and without disruption, notwithstanding the UAW’s combative reaction to controversial and divisive protests.
“Graduate students’ ability to complete their work can’t be stripped away by UAW union officials’ eagerness to make a political statement, and Foundation attorneys stand ready to defend these students’ right to work independently of union strike diktats,” added Mix.
Labor Board to Prosecute Teamsters for Illegally Threatening Long Beach Savage Services Employee with Termination and Fines
Complaint says union officials failed to properly inform worker of forced dues; Local 848 now under second federal prosecution this year
Long Beach, CA (May 20, 2024) – After facing federal charges from workers at transportation company Savage Services, Teamsters Local 848 union officials are now facing federal prosecution for saddling employees with illegal threats to have them fired. On May 15, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 21 in Los Angeles issued a complaint against the Teamsters union based on unfair labor practice charges filed by Savage Services employee Nelson Medina. Medina is receiving free legal representation from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
In states like California that lack Right to Work protections for private sector workers, union officials have the legal privilege to enforce contracts that force nonmember workers to pay dues or fees as a condition of employment, though these demands are limited by the Right to Work Foundation-won Communications Workers of America v. Beck Supreme Court case to only dues or fees that go toward the union’s core bargaining activities. In contrast, in Right to Work states, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary.
The complaint targets Teamsters officials’ violations of a 1962 NLRB decision. The precedent in Philadelphia Sheraton requires union officials to inform workers of exactly what obligations they must fulfill to satisfy the requirements of a forced unionism clause in a union contract. This includes providing employees notice of how the union calculates what the employee must pay in terms of dues and a reasonable opportunity for the employee to pay those amounts.
According to the complaint, Teamsters officials, in a July 2023 letter, “threatened [Medina] with sending a letter of removal to the Employer” if he didn’t pay allegedly outstanding fees to the union, without providing the legal protections required by Philadelphia Sheraton. The complaint also says that Teamsters bosses threatened Medina with a fine for the same reason.
New NLRB Complaint Latest in Flurry of Legal Actions Against Teamsters Local 848
This isn’t the first time that Teamsters Local 848 has been subject to federal prosecution at Savage Services. In February, NLRB Region 21 issued a complaint against Local 848 because its agents had threatened employees with violence for not supporting the union. That complaint followed an unfair labor practice charge from Savage Services employee Victor Avila detailing the threats.
Teamsters Local 848 has also faced recent pushback from Savage Services employees for illegal dues practices. In February 2022, Medina forced the union to settle charges that it illegally forced nonmember workers to pay for union political activities in violation of Communications Workers of America v. Beck. The settlement required union officials to pay back thousands of dollars in illegal dues they seized from about 60 of his coworkers who objected to union membership and to funding the union’s political activity.
“Teamsters Local 848 union chiefs are continuing their dismal track record of complying with employees’ legal rights,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Their repeated threats and illegal dues practices show pretty clearly that they value power and dues revenue beyond the well-being of Savage Services employees, who have now attempted twice to throw the union out.
“It’s good that the union is being prosecuted for violating employees’ rights under federal law. But ultimately, Right to Work protections would solve such conflicts about whether or not union officials have complied with their obligations to justify forced union dues by ensuring every workers’ individual right to decide for themselves whether or not to voluntary fund union activities,” Mix added.
Penske Truck Rental Employees in Minneapolis and Nashville Overwhelmingly Vote to Remove Machinists Union
Majority of workers in both work units have prevailed in effort to free themselves of unwanted IAM union bosses’ so-called ‘representation’
MINNEAPOLIS, MN & NASHVILLE, TN – Majorities of Penske Truck Rental employees at locations in Minnesota and Tennessee have voted to remove the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union from their respective workplaces. The decertification petitions were filed by workers with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation in April with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), asking the agency to hold votes to formally remove IAM union officials’ monopoly bargaining power.
On May 1 in Minneapolis, Minnesota workers voted 26 to 7 to remove IAM District Lodge No. 77 union officials. The NLRB-supervised decertification election took place after Penske employee Kyle Fulkerson submitted a petition on April 4, 2024 signed by a majority of his coworkers asking the NLRB to hold a vote to remove the union from the facility.
“This lopsided vote is a testament to the fact that after having seen the IAM up close and personal in our workplace, my colleagues and I are confident that we are better off without union officials so-called ‘representation,” said Fulkerson about the outcome, which became final on May 8 after a one-week objection period passed with no union challenge to the outcome being filed.
Meanwhile in Tennessee, Penske employee David Saylor filed his decertification petition on April 11 backed by a majority of the employees at the downtown Nashville Penske location. On May 8, they voted 15 to 8 to oust IAM District Lodge No. 735. Today, on Thursday, May 16, 2024, the vote became finalized absent a last ditch attempt by union officials to overturn the workers’ vote.
The Minneapolis and Nashville-based workers are not the only Penske employees to remove unwanted union so-called “representation” with legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation. In 2022, every worker but one as a Penske facility in Indiana signed a petition seeking to decertify the Teamsters union officials at that location. Before an NLRB-supervised decertification election was scheduled, Teamsters officials issued a statement, disclaiming representation in an apparent attempt to spare themselves the embarrassment of an overwhelming vote by workers to reject the union’s so-called “representation.”.
“Workers across the country are increasingly exercising their rights to remove unwanted unions, with more decertification elections held last year than in any year since 2017,” said National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “No worker anywhere should be forced under the so-called ‘representation’ of a union they oppose, and Foundation staff attorneys stand ready to assist workers wanting to hold a decertification election to oust a union they oppose and believe they would be better off without.”
KIPP St. Louis Charter High School Educators to Vote This Week on Whether to Oust AFT Union Bosses
Union decertification election will take place among wide swath of school employees, including teachers, advisors, administrative staff, and others
St. Louis, MO (May 14, 2024) – Teachers, advisors, nurses, and other employees at KIPP St. Louis High School will vote this week on whether to remove American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union officials from power at the school. The union decertification vote follows KIPP teacher Robin Johnston’s submission of a “decertification petition” earlier this month to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 14 in St. Louis. Johnston filed the decertification petition with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Johnston’s petition contains signatures from enough of her coworkers to trigger a decertification vote under NLRB rules.
Because Missouri lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers (which includes employees at public charter schools like KIPP), union officials have the legal privilege to enforce contracts that force workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of getting or keeping a job. In contrast, in Right to Work states, union membership and union financial support are strictly voluntary.
However, in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work states, union officials in a unionized workplace are empowered by federal law to impose a union contract on all employees in the work unit, including those who oppose the union. A successful decertification vote strips union officials of both their forced-dues and monopoly bargaining powers.
Vote Set to Take Place May 17
“AFT union officials haven’t stood up for us,” commented Johnston. “I think the majority of my coworkers agree that they’ve only made it harder for us to help our students succeed, especially through a divisive strike order, and that’s a trend I hope we can reverse with this vote. We hope the election proceeds without delay and without interference from union officials.”
The NLRB has scheduled a vote to occur on Friday, May 17. According to Johnston’s petition, the vote will occur among “College and Career Advisors, English Language Learners, Leads, Lead Teachers, Learning Support Teachers, Mental health Professionals, School Nurses, Special Ed. Teachers, Specials Teachers, Speech Language Pathologists, Virtual Learning Facilitators, Behavior Support Specialists, High School Registrars, Long Term Subs, Office Coordinators, Paraprofessionals, Permanent Building Subs and Receptionists” at the school.
Foundation attorneys have recently aided other charter school educators in efforts to remove unwanted union officials, most recently in San Diego, CA, where employees of Gompers Preparatory Academy prevailed in 2023 after a nearly four-year effort to vote out the San Diego Education Association (SDEA) union, an affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA).
“Top teacher union officials, including Randi Weingarten of the AFT and Becky Pringle of the NEA, seem to regularly make headlines for political radicalism and not for anything related to helping teachers, which seems to be a reality on the ground at KIPP St. Louis,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Ms. Johnston and her fellow educators join a growing number of workers across the country who are realizing that union boss agendas don’t align with what’s best for them, and Foundation attorneys are proud to help them exercise their right to vote away unwanted union control.”
Michigan Security Guard Slams Union with Federal Charges for Illegal Dues Seizures, Transparency Issues
Union officials fail to provide required information on how dues money is spent, already face vote which could stop forced-dues spigot
Grand Rapids, MI (May 8, 2024) – James Reamsma, a security guard whose posts include the Gerald R. Ford Federal Building and other government sites in the Grand Rapids area, has hit the United Government Security Officers of America (UGSOA) union with federal unfair labor practice charges maintaining that UGSOA union officials are seizing dues money from his paycheck without providing required disclosures on how the union spends worker cash. Reamsma filed the charges at Region 7 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Detroit.
Reamsma is also leading his fellow security guards at Triple Canopy Inc. in an effort to vote away the UGSOA’s power to compel guards to pay dues or fees to the union in what is known as a “deauthorization election.” He is receiving free legal aid in both actions from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
Reamsma’s charges seek to enforce his rights under the Communications Workers of America v. Beck Supreme Court decision, which was won by Right to Work Foundation attorneys. The Court held in Beck that union officials cannot force workers who have abstained from union membership to pay union dues or fees for expenses not directly germane to contract negotiations, such as union political activities. Workers who exercise their Beck rights are also entitled to an independent audit of the union’s finances, a breakdown of how union officials spend forced contributions, and an opportunity to challenge how the union calculates its reduced “Beck fee.”
Beck rights are only relevant in non-Right to Work jurisdictions like Michigan, where union officials have the legal privilege to force private sector workers to pay dues or fees as a condition of getting or keeping a job. In contrast, in Right to Work states like neighboring Indiana and Wisconsin, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary. Michigan had Right to Work protections until a 2023 repeal rammed through by union partisans on the Michigan Legislature became effective earlier this year.
Union Dubiously Claims No Dues Money Goes to Politics
According to Reamsma’s charge, he submitted a notice to UGSOA union agents in March that requested the union reduce his dues payments in accordance with Beck and provide him with the required financial information. In response, union officials claimed that the amount of dues chargeable to nonmembers was equal to 100% of full union dues. Reamsma’s charge states that UGSOA “failed to provide the required financial disclosures for itself and its affiliated unions, and a chance to object to its alleged reduced fee.”
The charge also notes that, despite Reamsma notifying union officials in April that he prefers to pay union dues by check, UGSOA ignored this request and has continued to take money directly from his paycheck by payroll deduction. Federal labor law forbids union officials from using direct deduction to collect union dues or fees without worker consent.
Foundation attorneys argue in the charge that the union’s continued seizing of dues money from Reamsma’s paycheck “restrain[s] and coerce[s] Charging Party in the exercise of his Section 7 rights” under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The NLRA protects the right of workers to refrain from union activities.
Guards May Vote to End Forced Dues
The NLRB has scheduled May 17 to count the votes in Reamsma’s deauthorization election, which is currently taking place by mail. If a majority of his colleagues vote to deauthorize the union, it will no longer have the legal power to coerce Reamsma and his colleagues to pay dues or fees as a condition of employment. Michigan’s non-Right to Work environment forces workers to either deauthorize a union or vote it out of a workplace completely (via a similar process known as “decertification”) if they want to end union officials’ forced-dues power.
“UGSOA union officials appear to be withholding vital information about how they spend worker money from the very security guards they claim to ‘represent,’” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “If union bosses won’t respect basic worker rights regarding the collection and spending of dues money, Triple Canopy security guards should rightly be skeptical of whether UGSOA deserves the privilege to force them to pay dues or fees at all.
“While it’s illegal everywhere to force workers to pay for union political expenditures they oppose, the choice to financially back a union at all should rest solely with each individual worker, which is why Right to Work protections are so important,” Mix added.
Majority of Employees at Emporia Rehabilitation and Healthcare Seek to Remove SEIU Union
Decertification election to remove “Workers United Mid Atlantic Regional Joint Board” union officials set for Thursday
Emporia, VA (May 8, 2024) – A majority of employees at Emporia Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Emporia, Virginia, have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for a secret ballot vote to remove the Workers United Mid Atlantic Regional Joint Board union from their workplace. A decertification election has been scheduled for Thursday, May 16. Emporia employee Christy Smith filed the petition requesting the vote with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
Smith filed the union decertification petition on April 18 with the NLRB, the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Smith’s petition contained support from over half of her 60 coworkers, well more than required to trigger a decertification vote under NLRB rules. SEIU affiliate, “Workers United” [sic] Mid Atlantic Regional Joint Board union officials have maintained monopoly bargaining power at Smith’s workplace for over a decade.
Virginia is a Right to Work state, which means that union financial support is strictly voluntary for employees. In contrast, in states that do not have Right to Work laws, union officials can require employees to pay union dues or fees under threat of termination. However, in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work states, union officials are empowered by federal law to impose a union contract on all employees in the work unit, including those who oppose the union.
A successful decertification vote strips union officials of such monopoly bargaining powers. Nursing staff, Dietary staff, and Housekeeping staff, comprising of the 61 employees at the facility, are eligible to vote in this NLRB-supervised election.
“This majority-backed decertification petition at Emporia Rehabilitation and Healthcare is yet another example of the growing interest among workers in unionized workplaces to reconsider union affiliation,” said Foundation President Mark Mix. “The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation stands ready to provide free legal aid to workers seeking to exercise their right to remove an unwanted union from their workplace and to defend workers against any attempts by union officials to undermine or block workers from freeing themselves from unwanted so-called union ‘representation.’”
