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.

Because Missouri does not have Right to Work protections for workers, workers can be required to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. However, under Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court precedent, nonmember workers can refrain from paying for union boss politics and many other activities unrelated to bargaining and contract administration.

Rosensteel, a former NAGE Local R14-139 union president, and Fenton filed the federal charges after NAGE union officials stonewalled several workers’ requests to refrain from formal, dues-paying union membership and refused to follow federal disclosure requirements designed to better inform workers of their rights.

Company management entered into a settlement with Rosensteel after the NLRB initiated a prosecution in November 2014 against the company and the union based on her charge.

Under the terms of the settlement with NAGE Local R14-139 union officials, the union hierarchy will refund 14 EDP employees dues illegally seized from their paychecks, totaling $1,580.70.

“It is sad that workers have to resort to federal legal action in order to exercise their rights,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This case underscores the need for Missouri to pass Right to Work protections for its workers.”

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.

Click here to read the full release.

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.

However, Teamster Local 568 union officials have threatened Monroe and other workers in the workplace who refrain (or are considering to refrain) from union membership, stating that they will refuse to represent the workers if they have a grievance against the company unless they pay the union hierarchy a fee.

“Teamster union bosses are retaliating against workers who are exercising their legally-protected right to resign from dues-paying union membership under Texas’ popular Right to Work law,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Much to Teamsters union bosses’ chagrin, if they insist on having monopoly bargaining powers over workers, then they cannot punish those workers for exercising their Right to Work.”

The charge will be investigated by the NLRB regional office in Houston.

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.

Click here to read the full release.

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. In January 2015, Prall, seeking to resign his union membership and revoke his union dues deduction form, made several calls to the union hierarchy to find the exact dates during which he could resign his union membership. He never received a response.

On February 3, Prall sent a letter to the union resigning his union membership. The next day, the union rejected his membership resignation because his letter did not contain a written signature. Prall immediately sent a second, signed letter in response. On February 24, UFCW Local 99 union officials sent a letter accepting Prall’s union membership resignation but denied his dues deduction authorization revocation because it did not fall in the union’s 15-day “window period.” However, UFCW union officials have still refused to inform Prall what the 15-day “window period” is.

“UFCW union bosses are stonewalling this student, who is working part-time to help pay his way through college, about how he can exercise his legally-protected right to resign from dues-paying union membership,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This blatant abuse of power by UFCW bosses must stop immediately.”

The charge will be investigated by the NLRB regional office in Phoenix.

Electrical Worker Files Federal Charge Challenging Union Intimidation of Workers Exercising Their Right to Work

Autoworker union bosses back down in face of federal prosecution for using the same tactic

Croswell, MI (April 14, 2015) – An eastern-Michigan electrical worker has filed a federal charge against a local International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union for using intimidation and coercion to stop workers from exercising their rights under Michigan’s Right to Work law.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Paramount Industries employee Ryan Greene filed the charge last week with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office in Detroit.

Under Michigan’s Right to Work law, no worker can be forced to join or pay dues to a union as a condition of employment.

However, under a new policy issued October 1, 2014, IBEW Local 58 union officials require workers to show up in person and provide photo identification to exercise their rights under Michigan’s Right to Work law. According to the charge, Greene, who resigned his IBEW union membership and revoked his dues deduction authorization discovered the new policy through an arbitration the union brought against Paramount to force Greene to continue to be a dues-paying member.

Click here to read the full release.

Croswell, MI (April 14, 2015) – An eastern-Michigan electrical worker has filed a federal charge against a local International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union for using intimidation and coercion to stop workers from exercising their rights under Michigan’s Right to Work law.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Paramount Industries employee Ryan Greene filed the charge last week with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office in Detroit.

Under Michigan’s Right to Work law, no worker can be forced to join or pay dues to a union as a condition of employment.

However, under a new policy issued October 1, 2014, IBEW Local 58 union officials require workers to show up in person and provide photo identification to exercise their rights under Michigan’s Right to Work law. According to the charge, Greene, who resigned his IBEW union membership and revoked his dues deduction authorization discovered the new policy through an arbitration the union brought against Paramount to force Greene to continue to be a dues-paying member.

Greene’s charge comes on the heels of a federal settlement won by CEVA Logistics U.S., Inc. truck driver Kathileen Sulkowski. Sulkowski filed a similar charge with the aid of National Right to Work Foundation attorneys in 2014 after United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 600 union officials denied her request to resign her union membership and dues payments unless she show up in person and provide photo identification to exercise her right to refrain from union membership. Earlier this year, the NLRB initiated a prosecution of the UAW Local 600, spurring the settlement.

“Union officials continue to pull out all the stops to prevent workers from exercising their rights under Michigan’s Right to Work law,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “IBEW union officials’ latest tactic requiring workers to show up in person and furnish photo identification is designed to dissuade or intimidate them from exercising their rights to refrain from membership.”

Foundation staff attorneys are assisting several workers in cases across Michigan challenging union officials’ schemes stonewalling workers attempts to exercise their rights under the state’s Right to Work law.

Boston, MA (April 7, 2015) – Several Massachusetts caregivers have filed an appeal with the First Circuit Court of Appeals after their lawsuit, which challenges a state law that forces home-based childcare providers to accept union monopoly bargaining, was dismissed in Massachusetts District Court.

Providers Kathleen D’Agostino, Denise Boian, Jean Demers, Judith Santos, Elizabeth Mongeon, Stephanie Kozlowski Heck, Leslie Marcyoniak, Laurie Smith, and Kelly Winship filed the appeal on Tuesday with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

The other providers seek to halt implementation of a 2012 law that designates Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 509 as the monopoly bargaining agent for thousands of providers in the state, all of whom are either small business owners or family members who take care of relatives’ children.

With the help of Foundation attorneys, homecare providers have challenged similar forced unionization schemes in several states, including Michigan, Minnesota, and Illinois. In 2014, Foundation attorneys won a landmark Supreme Court victory in Harris v. Quinn, which outlawed unions from collecting forced dues from home-based caregivers.

Even though the Supreme Court ruled against homecare unions’ forced-dues powers, union organizers have continued their efforts to push unwilling homecare providers into union ranks. Foundation attorneys argue that such schemes violate providers’ First Amendment right to choose with whom they associate to petition the government.

Under the Massachusetts scheme, SEIU Local 509 union officials are empowered to bargain on behalf of all care providers – even those who are not union members – over a small subsidy the providers receive from the state government.

“Citizens are the ones who should be deciding who represents them in the political sphere, not government officials or union bosses,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Homecare unionization schemes like the one we’re challenging in Massachusetts are an affront to the principle of free association, which is why we’re helping these childcare providers stand up for their rights.”

Washington, DC (April 6, 2015) – The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a federal agency charged with administering private sector labor law, recently issued a decision blocking Karen Cox and her Americold Logisitics coworkers from ejecting an unwanted union. Cox received free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys after United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 578 union lawyers intervened to block their efforts to remove the union.

In August 2013, the Board conducted an election at the Americold facility, but impounded the ballots pending the union’s appeal. It will now destroy those ballots.

The Board held that workers who are pushed into union ranks by a “card check” organizing drive can be required to wait up to a year after union and company officials’ first bargaining meeting before they can attempt to decertify an unwanted union. For workers unionized through a traditional secret ballot election, however, this waiting period starts as soon as a union is recognized as their bargaining agent.

Under the Board’s ruling, unions that get in via card check can hold up the bargaining process to delay employees’ efforts to eject the union. Consequently, union organizers have an even greater incentive to avoid secret ballot elections in favor of card check, despite the fact that card check campaigns are often characterized by intimidation, harassment, and coercion on the part of union organizers. This is one of the reasons Congress rejected legislation that would have mandated card check recognition.

In 2011, the Board issued the Lamons Gasket decision, which overturned the Foundation-won Dana precedent and eliminated a 45-day window period for workers to decertify a union following a card check drive. This latest ruling builds on the Lamons Gasket precedent to further curtail the rights of employees organized via card check.

Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, issued the following statement criticizing the Board’s decision:

“Once again, the Obama Labor Board is doing everything it can to prevent independent-minded workers from ejecting an unwanted union. It is outrageous that Karen Cox and her coworkers’ uncounted ballots will now be destroyed because this NLRB says that workers who are unionized through the abusive card check method have to wait longer to decertify a union than workers who were unionized through a traditional secret ballot vote.

“Congress rejected legislation that would have mandated card check recognition because of the intimidation, coercion, and harassment inherent in bypassing secret ballot elections, and yet in this ruling the Obama Board has twisted the law to deny workers their vote to decertify the union solely because they were previously denied a secret ballot vote over unionization.

“This decision, combined with the ambush election rule set to go into effect in just days, demonstrates that the Obama NLRB aims to force as many employees as possible into union ranks and will disregard the rights of any worker who wishes to remain independent to achieve that goal.”

State Troopers File Federal Lawsuit against Connecticut State Police Union

Union bosses violate Connecticut state police troopers’ rights by failing to comply with U.S. Supreme Court protections for nonmember employees

Hartford, CT (March 30, 2015) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, four Connecticut state troopers have filed a federal lawsuit against the Connecticut State Police Union (CSPU) and the state for violating their rights and refusing to follow federal disclosure requirements.

State trooper Marc Lamberty resigned from formal union membership in the CSPU and invoked his right to refrain from paying full union dues in June 2011. Troopers Joseph Mercer, Carson Konow, and Collin Konow did so in November 2014.

The U.S. Supreme Court has long held that workers have the unconditional right to refrain from union membership at any time. Even though the state troopers are not CSPU members, they must still accept union officials’ monopoly bargaining “representation,” and because Connecticut does not have a Right to Work law, union officials can compel the troopers into paying union fees as a condition of employment.

Click here to read the full release.