Additional Caterpillar Workers File Federal Charges Against Machinist Union Hierarchy for Strike Fines
Chicago, IL (April 1, 2013) – In the wake of last summer’s Machinists union boss-instigated strike against Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), 24 more Caterpillar workers have filed federal charges against a local Machinists union for violating their rights and levying retaliatory strike fines against them after they continued to work during the strike.
With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, the 24 workers filed their charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office in Chicago. Foundation attorneys anticipate more charges will be filed for other Caterpillar workers at the facility.
On May 1, 2012, International Association of Machinists (IAM) District Lodge 851 union bosses ordered all of the over 800 Rockdale Caterpillar workers on strike. The 24 workers were among the over hundred workers who worked despite the IAM union boss demands.
Under federal law, workers who are not voluntary union members are exempt from the union hierarchy’s constitution and bylaws and thus cannot be disciplined for continuing to work during a union boss-ordered strike.
However, IAM Local 851 union bosses recently levied fines totaling in the hundreds of thousands of dollars against the workers for continuing to work during the strike.
Some of the workers allege that they were never truly voluntary union members because IAM Lodge 851 union officials never informed them of their right to refrain from union membership. Some workers resigned union membership before returning to work and others have additional defenses to the union officials’ outrageous demands of retaliatory strike fines.
Some of the workers allege that union officials (including the union’s president) even gave them implicit permission that it was acceptable to go back to work to continue to support their families. Another worker alleges that union militants physically assaulted his wife and child and the union hierarchy has collected twice the normal amount of union dues from his paycheck.
“IAM union bosses are trying to intimidate and punish workers who had the temerity not to toe the union boss line,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Workers should never be forced to abandon their jobs and be denied their right to provide for themselves and their families at the whim of militant union bosses.”
Right to Work Foundation Announces Offer of Free Legal Aid to Chattanooga Volkswagen Employees
Springfield, VA (April 1, 2013) – Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation, has issued the following statement in response to recent media reports that United Auto Worker (UAW) union and Volkswagen AG (VOW.DE) officials are in talks to unionize the VW workers at the Chattanooga, Tennessee plant:
"Recent media reports suggest that UAW union officials are working to negotiate the workplace conditions of Volkswagen’s Chattanooga employees even though the workers are not represented by the UAW union hierarchy.
"The National Right to Work Foundation has seen again and again the UAW union hierarchy pressure companies to cut backroom deals designed to push workers into union ranks whether the employees like it or not. For example, UAW officials vetoed pay increases and secretly pre-negotiated bargaining concessions at the expense of Freightliner workers in North and South Carolina in exchange for company assistance in unionizing the workers.
"Whenever UAW union officials have brokered secret agreements with companies, history shows that workers often end up with a raw deal. Volkswagen workers may suffer the same fate.
"National Right to Work attorneys have assisted workers across the country who have suffered the consequences of these top-down organizing campaign designed by UAW union officials.
"Workers who feel they are being unfairly pressured when deciding whether or not to associate with the UAW union may request free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys by calling 1-800-336-3600 or on the Foundation’s website at www.nrtw.org."
New Michigan Right to Work Laws Take Effect Today
New Michigan Right to Work Laws Take Effect Today
National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation offers free legal aid to workers seeking to exercise their rights under Michigan’s Right to Work protections
Springfield, VA (March 28, 2013) – In response to Michigan’s Right to Work laws taking effect today, Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation, issued the following statement:
"No worker should ever be forced to join or pay dues to a union as a condition of their employment. That is why Michigan’s new Right to Work laws are great advances for worker freedom. Today, workers in Michigan finally have Right to Work protections.
New Michigan Right to Work Laws Take Effect Today
Springfield, VA (March 28, 2013) – In response to Michigan’s Right to Work laws taking effect today, Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation, issued the following statement:
"No worker should ever be forced to join or pay dues to a union as a condition of their employment. That is why Michigan’s new Right to Work laws are great advances for worker freedom. Today, workers in Michigan finally have Right to Work protections.
"In response to recent media reports about union officials seeking to skirt Michigan’s new Right to Work laws, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a charitable organization that provides free legal assistance to employees nationwide, has created a special task force to defend workers seeking to exercise their Right to Work.
"Affected employees are encouraged to call the Foundation’s legal hotline at 1-800-336-3600 or contact the Foundation through its website at www.nrtw.org.
"Any worker who wants to learn more about their rights under Michigan’s Right to Work laws should also visit the Foundation’s award-winning website."
Twenty-four states have Right to Work protections for employees. Public polling shows that nearly 80 percent of Americans and union members support the Right to Work principle of voluntary unionism.
Kansas City Police Officers Seek to Handcuff Union’s Forced-Dues Scheme
Kansas City Police Officers Seek to Handcuff Union’s Forced-Dues Scheme
Right to Work Foundation attorneys challenge union hierarchy for violating employees’ constitutional rights
Kansas City, MO (March 27, 2013) – Seventeen Missouri police officers have filed a federal class-action lawsuit against a local police union, the Board of Police Commissions of Kansas City, and the mayor of Kansas City for violating their rights.
The 17 officers filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
In October of 2012, Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 99 union officials agreed to a settlement in a lawsuit between the union and the city in which union officials made concessions on police officers’ wages, benefits, and retirement age in exchange for the power to force nonmember police officers into paying forced union dues and fees as a condition of their employment.
Kansas City Police Officers Seek to Handcuff Union’s Forced-Dues Scheme
Kansas City, MO (March 27, 2013) – Seventeen Missouri police officers have filed a federal class-action lawsuit against a local police union, the Board of Police Commissions of Kansas City, and the mayor of Kansas City for violating their rights.
The 17 officers filed the suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
In October of 2012, Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 99 union officials agreed to a settlement in a lawsuit between the union and the city in which union officials made concessions on police officers’ wages, benefits, and retirement age in exchange for the power to force nonmember police officers into paying forced union dues and fees as a condition of their employment.
The 17 officers, who all refrain from formal union membership in the FOP Lodge 99 union, allege that the union hierarchy violated its duty of fair representation and acted in bad faith by selling out Kansas City’s police officers in exchange for the forced dues powers.
Further, the 17 nonmember officers allege in their suit that the FOP Lodge 99 union hierarchy is violating their constitutional rights by demanding forced union dues and fees from them without following federal disclosure requirements.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Foundation’s Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson case that union officials must first provide nonmember public workers with an independently-audited breakdown of all forced-dues union expenditures and the opportunity to object and challenge the amount of forced union fees before an impartial decision maker. This minimal safeguard is designed to ensure that workers have an opportunity to refrain from paying for union political activities and member-only events.
In February, FOP Lodge 99 union officials began demanding forced union dues and fees from nonmember police officers while refusing to provide an audited breakdown of union expenditures or giving the officers an opportunity to challenge the forced union fees before an independent third party.
“Because Missouri does not have a Right to Work law, these Kansas City police officers can be compelled to pay union dues and fees to a union hierarchy that clearly does not have the officers’ best interests at heart,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This case underscores why Missouri needs a Right to Work law making union affiliation and dues payments completely voluntary.”
Latest Issue of Foundation Action Now Available Online
The latest issue of Foundation Action, the Right to Work Foundation’s bi-monthly newsletter, is now available on our website. Click here to download the .pdf or view the articles online. We’ve also put up the major articles from the January/February 2013 issue on our blog, which I’ve linked to below:
We also encourage you to sign up for a hard copy of Foundation Action (It’s free!). You can subscribe here.
Local School Bus Drivers Slam the Brakes on Union Boss Rights Violations
Local School Bus Drivers Slam the Brakes on Union Boss Rights Violations
Union officials threatened bus drivers: Join the union or be fired
Gresham, OR (March 25, 2013) – A group of local school bus drivers have won a federal settlement including back pay from a local union hierarchy after union officials illegally demanded they join the union or be fired.
The settlement stems from a federal charge six of the drivers filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Regional Office in Seattle with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
Oregon School Employees Association, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 6732 union officials demanded that all drivers join the union and pay full union dues or face discharge.
Local School Bus Drivers Slam the Brakes on Union Boss Rights Violations
Gresham, OR (March 25, 2013) – A group of local school bus drivers have won a federal settlement including back pay from a local union hierarchy after union officials illegally demanded they join the union or be fired.
The settlement stems from a federal charge six of the drivers filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Regional Office in Seattle with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
Oregon School Employees Association, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 6732 union officials demanded that all drivers join the union and pay full union dues or face discharge.
Because Oregon does not have Right to Work protections making union affiliation completely voluntary, the bus drivers can still be forced to pay part of forced union dues to keep their jobs. However, the U.S. Supreme Court has long held that workers have the right to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership, and nonmember workers cannot be required to pay union dues or fees spent for union political activities and member-only events.
AFT Local 6732 union officials confiscated full union dues from the drivers’ paychecks without informing the workers of their right to refrain from formal union membership. Union officials continued to confiscate full union dues from both drivers who refused to join the union and drivers who joined the union with objections because they thought they had no choice.
After the six drivers represented by Foundation attorneys filed the federal charge, union officials were forced to settle the case and also agreed to refund back pay to four other drivers.
“AFT Local 6732 union officials made a mockery of federal law in order to keep their forced dues gravy train going,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This case underscores the need for Oregon to pass state Right to Work protections for its workers.”
Twenty-four states have Right to Work protections for employees. Public polling shows that nearly 80 percent of Americans and union members support the principle of voluntary unionism.
FOUNDATION ACTION: Pennsylvania Construction Worker Digs Up Illegal Union PAC Scheme
NOTE: This article is from the most recent issue of Foundation Action, our bi-monthly newsletter. You can sign up to receive a print edition of the newsletter here.
Pennsylvania Construction Worker Digs Up Illegal Union PAC Scheme
Worker loses his job because he didn’t contribute to "voluntary" union political fund
SCOTTDALE,?PA?– A Pennsylvania-based construction company and a local union are facing federal charges for violating the rights of a former truck driver/laborer.
With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Jeff Richmond of Meadow Bridge, West Virginia, filed federal unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office in Cincinnati against Penn Line Service, Inc. and Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 453.
Told union membership and political contributions were required
In July 2012, when Penn Line Service hired Richmond, company management informed him that the job was a “union job.” Between July and October, the company confiscated, and the LIUNA union hierarchy accepted, full union dues from Richmond’s paychecks even though he had not joined the union nor given authorization for the company to take full union dues from his paychecks.
In October, Penn Line Service management gave Richmond and his coworkers a union membership and dues deductions authorization form. The form included a section for the employees to authorize “voluntary” contributions to LIUNA’s political action committee (PAC), the Laborers’ Political League, and the West Virginia Laborer’s District Council PAC.
Richmond signed up for union membership and dues payments because he was given the impression that union membership was required for him to keep his job. Richmond did not, however, authorize the “voluntary” PAC contributions. Shortly after, Richmond’s supervisor informed him that the union form was being returned for Richmond to fill out completely. The next day, Richmond notified his supervisor he would not sign up for the PAC contributions for moral reasons.
After making a phone call, the supervisor gave Richmond an ultimatum: fill out the form or the supervisor would take him home. Standing by his convictions, Richmond went home.
“Management took me home because I told them I wouldn’t sign the voluntary check off authorization for the [union’s PACs] for moral reasons,” Richmond said. “I didn’t feel that it was right for them to terminate someone because they wouldn’t sign a ‘voluntary’ check off.”
Federal law provides some recourse; more needed
Under federal law, no worker can be forced to formally join a union. Unfortunately, West Virginia does not have a Right to Work law, which means that workers who refrain from union membership can be forced to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment.
However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Foundation-won Communications Workers v. Beck case that nonmembers have the right to opt out of paying for union activities unrelated to workplace bargaining, such as union boss politics, ideological causes, and members-only events.
Richmond’s charges allege that company and union officials violated his rights by telling him that the union PAC contributions were a condition of employment and terminating him from his job when he refused to pay up. The charge also alleges that company and union officials violated federal law when they failed to inform Richmond of his rights to refrain from union membership and full union dues before confiscating full union dues from his paychecks.
“Bulldozing someone into contributing to a PAC that violates their sincerely-held beliefs is downright unconscionable and also a clear violation of federal law,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Company and union officials often collude to mislead workers into believing that full union dues payments, and in this case so-called ‘voluntary’ union PAC contributions, are a condition of employment while leaving workers unaware of their rights.”
“No worker should ever be forced to pay union dues or fees for a cause with which they disagree,” added Mix. “That is why West Virginia desperately needs to pass a Right to Work law making union membership and dues payments completely voluntary.”
