Worker Rights Advocate Announces Addition of Former NLRB Member to Legal Staff
Springfield, VA (March 1, 2012) – Today, the National Right to Work Foundation announced the addition of John Raudabaugh, a former National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Member and labor and employee relations attorney.
Raudabaugh was nominated to the NLRB by President George H. W. Bush, serving from 1990 to 1993. He has testified before the Senate Committee on Appropriations and the House Committee on Education and the Workforce regarding labor law reform and card-check unionization drives.
Raudabaugh also has extensive private sector legal experience, most recently at the Washington, D.C. office of the Nixon Peabody LLP law firm. He has served as an adjunct professor of labor law at Northwestern University, University of Chicago, and Emory University Law Schools.
Raudabaugh will split time between the Foundation’s Springfield offices and Ave Maria Law School, where he will hold the Reed Larson Professorship of Labor Law. The Professorship was jointly established by the Foundation and Ave Maria to offer courses on workplace litigation and employee freedom.
“John Raudabaugh brings a wealth of experience and a passion for protecting employee rights to our legal aid program,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “He’ll also be training a new generation of attorneys at Ave Maria to stand up for freedom in the workplace.”
In addition to his academic duties, Raudabaugh will help Foundation staff attorneys craft legal strategies to protect and expand employee rights. He will also author “NLRB Watch,” a new regular feature on the Foundation’s website aimed at monitoring the Board’s impact on employee freedom in the workplace.
“With John’s help, our experienced legal team will continue to expand the Foundation’s efforts to help employees whose rights have been abused by compulsory unionism,” continued Mix.
Worker Wins NLRB Settlement after Enduring Harassment by Union Officials
Bloomsburg, PA (February 29, 2012) – With the help of National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys, a local Del Monte Foods employee has reached a settlement with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 38 after a union official repeatedly harassed him on the job.
Ronald Brobst, a veteran Del Monte employee, is not a member of UFCW Local 38 and had previously opted out of paying for certain UFCW activities, such as union political activism. Because Pennsylvania lacks a Right to Work law, nonunion employees like Brobst can be forced to pay up to 100% of union dues as a condition of employment. However, the Foundation-won Supreme Court decision Communication Workers v. Beck guarantees that nonunion employees have the right to opt out of dues used for activities, like politics, unrelated to workplace bargaining.
Brobst was repeatedly harassed at work for exercising his constitutional rights to refrain from union membership and the payment of full union dues. In March 2011, a union shop steward reported that Brobst had not cleaned up debris at his work station to his supervisor. In August, the same shop steward falsely indicated that Brobst had not followed proper lockout procedures on a conveyor belt he had been working on.
With the help of Right to Work attorneys, Brobst responded by filing federal unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board.
The settlement agreed upon by Brobst and UFCW Local 38 requires union officials to post workplace notices explaining employees’ rights to refrain from union membership and the payment of full union dues. The notice also promises that nonunion employees will not suffer harassment or retaliation.
“Mr. Brobst’s settlement, which will be posted where all his co-workers can see it, makes it clear that a UFCW official violated the law with her campaign of harassment,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Once again, union officials have shown they are willing to cajole and intimidate independent employees to get them to toe the union line.”
“These ugly tactics could be eliminated if Pennsylvania had a Right to Work law on its books that protected employees’ rights to choose to join and pay dues or fees to a union,” concluded Mix.
New Issue of Foundation Action Spotlights Obama’s Unconstitutional NLRB Appointments, Latest Right to Work Supreme Court Battle
The latest issue of Foundation Action is now available online. The Foundation’s bi-monthly newsletter includes details on our latest Supreme Court appearance and our efforts to challenge the constitutionality of Obama’s "recess" NLRB appointments. For a free subscription to Foundation Action, click here.
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News Release: Employee Files Federal Lawsuit against CWA Union Officials and Verizon for Ignoring Her Rights
Employee Files Federal Lawsuit against CWA Union Officials and Verizon for Ignoring Her Rights
Worker refused to abandon job during highly-publicized strike but Verizon management continues to illegally divert union dues from her paycheck
Newport News, VA (February 28, 2012) – In the wake of last year’s Communications Workers of America (CWA) union boss-instigated strike that grabbed national headlines, a Newport News, Virginia Verizon (NYSE: VZ) worker has filed a federal lawsuit against the company and a local union for violating her rights.
With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, Williamsburg resident Monika Cassell filed the lawsuit in federal district court against Verizon, the CWA and its affiliate, Local 2205, for refusing to honor her right to refrain from paying union dues.
Upset by CWA union officials’ strike order and unwilling to walk off their jobs, Cassell and several other Verizon employees resigned from the union last year and revoked their dues deduction authorizations – documents used by union officials to automatically collect dues from employees’ paychecks – while the union did not have a contract at their workplaces.
Under Virginia’s popular Right to Work law, no worker can be required to join or pay money to a union. Under federal labor law, employees can revoke their dues deduction authorizations once a contract ends.
However, Verizon, at the behest of CWA union officials, continues to confiscate full union dues from Cassell and several of her coworkers despite their attempts to opt out.
Employee Files Federal Lawsuit against CWA Union Officials and Verizon for Ignoring Her Rights
Newport News, VA (February 28, 2012) – In the wake of last year’s Communications Workers of America (CWA) union boss-instigated strike that grabbed national headlines, a Newport News, Virginia Verizon (NYSE: VZ) worker has filed a federal lawsuit against the company and a local union for violating her rights.
With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, Williamsburg resident Monika Cassell filed the lawsuit in federal district court against Verizon, the CWA and its affiliate, Local 2205, for refusing to honor her right to refrain from paying union dues.
Upset by CWA union officials’ strike order and unwilling to walk off their jobs, Cassell and several other Verizon employees resigned from the union last year and revoked their dues deduction authorizations – documents used by union officials to automatically collect dues from employees’ paychecks – while the union did not have a contract at their workplaces.
Under Virginia’s popular Right to Work law, no worker can be required to join or pay money to a union. Under federal labor law, employees can revoke their dues deduction authorizations once a contract ends.
However, Verizon, at the behest of CWA union officials, continues to confiscate full union dues from Cassell and several of her coworkers despite their attempts to opt out. Moreover, Verizon and union officials agreed to a contract that retroactively applies to the time no contract was in effect – a blatant attempt to corral the workers who exercised their right to refrain from dues paying union membership back into union ranks.
Cassell’s lawsuit also challenges the CWA union’s dues deduction authorizations because those authorizations do not allow employees to revoke them when no contract is in effect, as federal law requires. Instead, Verizon and union officials are forcing employees to pay full union dues for at least another year – the one-year anniversary of a new contract between Verizon and the CWA.
“Verizon is bowing to pressure from CWA officials and choosing to single out and punish those workers who chose to stay on their jobs during last year’s destructive and acrimonious strike,” said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work. “It is indefensible that workers who exercised their right to resign their union membership and continued to work to support their families are now having their rights blatantly violated by their employer and union officials.”
NYC Marriott Officials Face Additional Charges for Silencing Employees Opposed to Backroom Deal
The saga continues, as New York City Marriott officials are facing additional federal charges for trying to force workers to accept local union officials’ unwanted "representation" and with it, the obligation of forced dues payments.
Last month, a group of SoHo Marriott workers targeted in a vicious campaign of intimidation and harassment by union organizers and company officials filed federal charges against Marriott and the union with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation.
New York Hotel & Motel Trades Council Local 6 union organizers entered into a backroom deal (called a "neutrality agreement") with company officials. Of course, there is nothing "neutral" about the agreement, which allows union organizers unfettered access to the employees in order to install a union in the workplace while workers who wish to refrain from union affiliation are silenced with threats and punishment.
For example, Marriott worker Coralina Alcantara (who filed the latest around of charges against Marriott last week) and many of her colleagues are prohibited from meeting in the employee break room. Meanwhile, the company’s lawyer has been interrogating Coralina and her colleagues and threatening them for wishing to remain free from union boss shackles.
It should come to no surprise that the workers are now unanimously opposed to the union officials’ presence in the workplace. The same union officials have used video cameras in employee changing rooms, accessed employee lockers, handled employees’ personal possessions, and resorted to verbal abuse against workers. One union official even took photographs of a female employee without her consent while she was changing her uniform in an employee changing room. As reported in the New York Post last month:
Workers at a downtown hotel charge that union goons resorted to outrageous tactics to browbeat them into joining their ranks — going so far as to photograph a female staffer as she changed clothes in an employee locker room, apparently to blackmail her.
"I was wearing my uniform pants and my bra and holding my shirt to put it on when they started snapping pictures," front-desk worker Gisel Rodriguez, 28, recalled of the alleged sneak attack at the SoHo Courtyard Marriott in December.
"I was furious, really didn’t know what to do," she said. "They said, ‘We’re allowed to be here,’ and clicked away."
Rodriguez said she believes the union reps wanted to use the photos "as blackmail, to get us to sign."
News Release: SEIU and Hospital Officials Hit With Federal Charges for Rigging Union Card Check ‘Vote’
SEIU and Hospital Officials Hit With Federal Charges for Rigging Union Card Check ‘Vote’
Union organizers enter into corrupt agreement with hospital to force healthcare workers into union ranks using coercive card check tactics
Orange, California (February 13, 2012) – A healthcare worker has filed federal charges against a major healthcare union and hospital officials for illegally rigging a union organizing “vote” and then forcing workers to accept an unwanted union in the workplace.
With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, Marlene Felter of Costa Mesa filed the charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Workers West union officials and Chapman Medical Center management entered into a backroom deal known as a so-called “neutrality agreement” designed to grease the skids for workers to be forced into union ranks.
In the agreement, company officials granted union operatives access to company facilities to conduct a coercive “card check” organizing campaign, and waived the right to have a federally-supervised secret ballot election to determine whether employees wished to be unionized. Union organizers frequently use “card check” organizing tactics to bribe, browbeat, or cajole workers into forced-union-dues payments against their will.
SEIU and Hospital Officials Hit With Federal Charges for Rigging Union Card Check ‘Vote’
Orange, California (February 13, 2012) – A healthcare worker has filed federal charges against a major healthcare union and hospital officials for illegally rigging a union organizing “vote” and then forcing workers to accept an unwanted union in the workplace.
With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, Marlene Felter of Costa Mesa filed the charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Workers West union officials and Chapman Medical Center management entered into a backroom deal known as a so-called “neutrality agreement” designed to grease the skids for workers to be forced into union ranks.
In the agreement, company officials granted union operatives access to company facilities to conduct a coercive “card check” organizing campaign, and waived the right to have a federally-supervised secret ballot election to determine whether employees wished to be unionized. Union organizers frequently use “card check” organizing tactics to bribe, browbeat, or cajole workers into forced-union-dues payments against their will.
In response to the union’s coercive tactics, a majority of hospital workers signed cards, letters, and petitions stating that they did not want the SEIU union bosses’ so-called “representation.” Instead of respecting the employees’ wishes, Chapman officials accepted SEIU union officials as the workers’ monopoly bargaining agents after a rigged “card count” was held. Chapman and SEIU officials are now negotiating a contract, which almost certainly will include a provision to force the workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment because California does not have a Right to Work law that makes union membership and dues payment strictly voluntary.
The federal unfair labor practice charges ask for an injunction to stop hospital and SEIU officials from illegally negotiating a contract on the basis of the fraudulent “card check” union recognition because the union does not have majority support of the workforce.
“Chapman and SEIU officials have colluded to shove SEIU union bosses’ ‘representation’ – and with it forced dues payments – down workers’ throats,” said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work. “Schemes like this show that the ultimate goal of union officials is more forced dues collected from workers, even when rank-and-file employees want nothing to do with the union.”
News Release: AFSCME Union Bosses Hit With Federal Charges for Illegally Ordering Hospital Employee Fired
AFSCME Union Bosses Hit With Federal Charges for Illegally Ordering Hospital Employee Fired
Union officials demand worker be fired for exercising Constitutionally-protected right to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership
Saint Paul, Minnesota (February 13, 2012) – A Regions Hospital switchboard operator filed a federal charge against a local union for threatening to fire her for exercising her right to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership.
With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, Rebecca Holt recently filed the charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 722 union bosses demanded Holt sign an “Authorization of Payroll Deduction” form authorizing union officials to deduct full union dues from her paycheck. Holt requested information about her rights, including her right to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership.
Because Minnesota does not have Right to Work protections for its workers, employees can be forced to pay a part of union dues as a condition of employment.
AFSCME Union Bosses Hit With Federal Charges for Illegally Ordering Hospital Employee Fired
Saint Paul, Minnesota (February 13, 2012) – A Regions Hospital switchboard operator filed a federal charge against a local union for threatening to fire her for exercising her right to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership.
With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, Rebecca Holt recently filed the charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 722 union bosses demanded Holt sign an “Authorization of Payroll Deduction” form authorizing union officials to deduct full union dues from her paycheck. Holt requested information about her rights, including her right to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership.
Because Minnesota does not have Right to Work protections for its workers, employees can be forced to pay a part of union dues as a condition of employment. However, union officials cannot demand formal union membership to keep a job. The Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent Communication Workers v. Beck also holds that workers who refrain from union membership cannot be forced to pay for union activities unrelated to workplace bargaining, such as politics and political lobbying.
Instead of informing Holt of her rights, union officials initiated disciplinary procedures with the hospital to have her terminated from her job. Additionally, one union official attempted to bully Holt to sign the dues deduction authorization while she was working at her desk, prompting her immediate coworkers to look into their rights to refrain from union membership.
“Rebecca Holt is taking a courageous stand against the union officials’ campaign of intimidation and thuggery,” said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work. “AFSCME union bosses are blatantly violating the law by attempting to have an employee fired for inquiring about her constitutional rights and for refusing to pay for the union’s political agenda.”
“Ultimately, Minnesota desperately needs a Right to Work law to protect workers from forced unionism abuses like this in the future,” added Mix.
