Federal Labor Board Announces Prosecution of Local Teamster Union Bosses For Threats Against Workers
Seattle, WA (June 3, 2010) – The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office in Seattle has filed a federal complaint against local Teamster union officials for intimidating employees who exercised their limited legal rights to refrain from full dues paying union membership as a condition of employment.
The complaint stems from unfair labor practice charges filed by Alan Ritchey, Inc. employees Gayle May and Patricia Allen – acting for dozens of other similarly-situated employees of the mail transportation equipment repair and service center facility in Auburn – against Teamsters Local 117 union bosses.
With help from the National Right to Work Foundation, May and Allen filed charges after certain employees received a letter from union officials threatening them with job loss if they did not within three days join the union or declare again their nonmember status.
In the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court case Communication Workers of America v. Beck (1988), the Court held that workers who refrain from formal union membership have the right to refrain from paying union dues spent for activities like political activism, lobbying, and member-only events.
At about the same time, other Alan Ritchey employees filed a petition seeking a deauthorization election which would strip union officials of their forced dues powers.
Fearing lack of support, Teamsters Local 117 union lawyers filed charges against the National Right to Work Foundation in a desperate attempt to stall the employee vote that would have rescinded their forced dues privileges, but the NLRB dismissed the union bosses’ unwarranted and frivolous charges.
“Independent-minded employees should not be forced to subsidize Teamsters Local 117 union thugs who threaten them with firings for exercising their rights,” said Patrick Semmens, Legal Information Director of the National Right to Work Foundation. “That is why Washington needs a state Right to Work law protecting workers from union boss intimidation and abuse.”
The NLRB’s complaint against Teamsters Local 117 union bosses will be heard before an administrative law judge in the Jackson Federal Building in Seattle on August 3.
Federal Labor Board to Prosecute Hospital Union for Illegal Bargaining in Secret Agreement
Houston, TX (June 03, 2010) – The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a formal complaint against the California Nurses Association (CNA) union and Tenet Healthcare Corporation (THC) for illegally negotiating contractual provisions before the union received majority support from Tenet employees. The complaint was prompted by unfair labor practice charges filed by several nurses at the Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center with the help of National Right to Work Foundation attorneys.
According to the NLRB’s complaint, Tenet Corporation and union officials agreed to a so-called “Election Procedures Agreement” (EPA) before the CNA’s presence was put to a vote by Cypress Fairbanks nurses. Under the terms of the secret agreement, Tenet and CNA officials committed to mandatory third-party arbitration if they could not agree to a contract within 90 days.
Federal labor law prohibits company and union officials from negotiating a contract until a union receives majority support from the company’s employees. This requirement is intended to prevent union officials from undercutting workers’ rights or negotiating unfavorable wages and working conditions in return for organizing assistance from an employer. At Cypress Fairbanks, CNA officials agreed to the EPA – including the binding arbitration provisions – with Tenet Corporation before they received the consent of Cypress Fairbanks nurses to negotiate on their behalf.
The CNA’s organizing drive at Cypress Fairbanks was also marred by several provisions in the EPA designed to quash anti-union dissent. Tenet managers were forbidden from truthfully answering hospital employees’ questions about unionization, and employees who opposed a union presence were prevented from using company facilities to express their views. CNA organizers, on the other hand, were given wide-ranging access to company grounds to facilitate unionization, as well as a list of employees’ home addresses. Tenet settled earlier Foundation-supported charges by granting employees opposed to unionization equal access to its facilities.
The NLRB’s complaint will be heard by an administrative law judge.
“CNA operatives foisted themselves on Cypress Fairbanks nurses through a backroom deal designed to impose unionization,” said Patrick Semmens, legal information director for the National Right to Work Foundation. “It is telling that these union bosses are so intent on forcing themselves into nurses’ workplaces that they were willing to violate the rights of the very employees they claim to represent.”
Will Former SEIU Lawyer and Current NLRB Member Craig Becker Adhere to His Ethics Pledge?
Here’s an update on National Right to Work’s ongoing effort to hold Big Labor-affiliated Obama appointees accountable.
Following the initial round of filings, National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have now filed supplements to their motions asking National Labor Relations Board Member Craig Becker to recuse himself from pending cases. In addition to the former SEIU and AFL-CIO union lawyer’s clear bias and hostility toward the Foundation, Becker’s signed Ethics Pledge should preclude his participation in cases in which he and his clients had direct involvement. The relevant portion of the Ethics Pledge:
I will not for a period of 2 years from the date of my appointment participate in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to my former employer or former clients, including regulations and contracts.
In one of the cases in which Becker should recuse himself, SEIU affiliate Service Workers United have asked the NLRB to overturn the landmark 2007 decisions Dana Corp. Won by Foundation attorneys, Dana held that workers have 45 days to demand a secret ballot election to toss out an unwanted union after the union achieved monopoly bargaining status through the intimidating card check process.
But Becker actually submitted a legal brief to the Board on behalf of the AFL-CIO and UAW in that very case. It would be highly unethical for Becker to rule on the validity of a prior Board case in which he served as counsel.
While his controversial nomination was stalled in the Senate, Becker also promised to recuse himself from cases involving his former employer, the radical SEIU union. The real test of his ethics, however, comes with cases involving SEIU affiliates and locals.
As Foundation attorney Glenn Taubman explains in one of the motion supplements, in the 2009 Supreme Court case Locke v. Karass the SEIU International (Becker’s former employer until the very day of his recess appointment) admitted to operating "a ‘pooling’ scheme to fund, and thereby control, the litigation of all of its local unions."
In the present case, Foundation attorneys have asked the NLRB to review a case involving SEIU Local 121RN union officials’ threats to nurses of financial penalties and even arrest for refusing to abandon their patients during a union-ordered strike.
Will Becker adhere to the plain language of the ethics pledge and recuse himself from these cases which are substantially related to his former employment? Unfortunately, the precedent in the Obama Administration isn’t encouraging.
Federal Labor Board Forces Recalcitrant Union to Allow Workers to Cut Off Union Dues
Hudson, OH (May 27, 2010) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, Janet Barlow and two of her First Student coworkers have forced Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE) Local 791 union officials to settle unfair labor practice charges. The agreement, which was originally proposed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), requires union officials to post notices informing First Student employees of their workplace rights and to allow nonunion workers to opt out of all union dues.
Because Ohio lacks a Right to Work law, employees throughout the state can be forced to pay certain union dues as a condition of employment. After OAPSE officials obstructed Barlow’s attempt to assert her constitutional right not to pay union dues for politics, however, Barlow initiated a so-called deauthorization drive to strip union officials of their powers to collect mandatory dues from First Student employees.
In February 2010, Barlow and her coworkers voted overwhelmingly to reject the forced-dues clause in OAPSE’s contract, allowing workers to opt-out of union dues at any time. Despite this result, OAPSE officials refused to allow nonunion workers to revoke their dues authorization forms, claiming that the employees’ actions were “untimely.”
First Student employees Jack Hurst and Dennis McConnaughey responded by filing additional unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB. Instead of contesting these charges, OAPSE officials agreed to a settlement brokered by the NLRB that requires union officials to allow any employee to stop paying union dues and revoke their dues authorization forms. The settlement also requires the union to post public notices informing First Student employees of their workplace rights.
“Revoking a union’s forced-dues privileges is an uphill battle to begin with, but even after they lost the election, scofflaw OAPSE bosses refused to acknowledge workers’ rights to stop paying union dues,” said Patrick Semmens, legal information director for the National Right to Work Foundation. “Employees shouldn’t have to jump through this many legal hoops just to protect their hard-earned paychecks, which is why Ohio should make union membership and dues payment strictly voluntary by adopting a Right to Work law.”
Transportation Union Bosses Demand Workers be Fired for Refusing to Pay Union Dues
Lansing, MI (May 25, 2010) – Robert Sherman, a Dean Transportation employee, recently filed federal unfair labor practice charges against the Dean Transportation Employee Union (DTEU) with the help of National Right to Work Foundation attorneys. The charges state that DTEU officials failed to provide Sherman with accurate information about his workplace rights and threatened to have him fired for refusing to pay full union dues.
Although Sherman and several of his coworkers are not union members, the DTEU is the monopoly bargaining agent for everyone employed at Dean Transportation. Because Michigan lacks a Right to Work law, Dean employees are obligated to pay union dues as a condition of their employment.
Under the Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent Communication Workers v. Beck, nonunion workers can only be forced to pay dues related to workplace negotiations. Nonunion employees cannot be forced to pay union dues or fees for the purposes of lobbying, political activism, or members-only activities. Federal law also requires union officials to provide an independently-audited breakdown of union expenditures to help nonunion employees determine which activities they can be forced to pay for.
Despite this precedent, DTEU officials failed to provide Sherman and other employees with information about union expenditures or their right to opt-out of certain union dues.
In late April, DTEU officials sent Sherman and other nonunion employees a letter that threatened to have them fired if they refused to pay union dues. In the face of threats and union obstruction, Sherman still attempted to assert his Beck rights, but DTEU officials refused to provide him with any information about union expenses. DTEU officials told Sherman that he did not receive information about his workplace rights because he expressed “anti-union views” and did not attend union meetings.
Sherman’s charges will now be investigated by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
“Instead of persuading workers to join of their own free will, union bosses relied on threats and coercion to force Robert Sherman and other independent-minded employees into their forced dues-paying ranks,” said Patrick Semmens, legal information director for the National Right to Work Foundation. “This incident offers yet more evidence that Michigan desperately needs a Right to Work law, which would curb union abuse by making membership and dues payment strictly voluntary.”
May/June 2010 Foundation Action Now Available Online
The May/June 2010 issue of Foundation Action is now available for download as a PDF. This is the Foundation’s official bimonthly publication that provides an excellent overview of hard-hitting legal actions being taken by Foundation attorneys every day to combat forced unionism.
This issue’s top story details why Foundation attorneys have demanded Craig Becker, President Barack Obama’s radical recess appointee to the National Labor Relations Board, to recuse himself in 15 pending cases
due to his open hostility to the Foundation and independent-minded employees.
Also in this issue:
- Illinois Providers Challenge Big Labor Payback Scheme
- Help Defend Individual Freedom Through Your Estate Plans
- Spotlight on Erin Smith, Foundation Staff Attorney
- UFCW Union Bosses Trick Workers into Paying Full Union Dues
- Sticky-Fingered Union Bosses Caught in PAC Fundraising Scheme
In addition to to reading Foundation Action online, you can sign up to receive a free subscription by mail here.
Government Union Bosses Face Federal Suit for Illegal Forced Dues Scheme
Government Union Bosses Face Federal Suit for Illegal Forced Dues Scheme
Right to Work Foundation attorneys challenge union hierarchy for violating employees’ constitutional rights
Philadelphia, PA (May 21, 2010) – Eight public employees have filed a federal lawsuit against a local union and the Borough of Ephrata for illegally confiscating union dues payments from their paychecks without following federal requirements.
National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, providing the eight employees with free legal aid, filed the suit today in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The borough employees, who have exercised their right to refrain from formal union membership with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1600 union, are asking the court to protect their Right to Work Foundation-won rights upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education (1977). The Court ruled in Abood that nonmember public employees can be forced to pay some union dues, but not the part used to pay for union politics and other union activities.
IBEW Local 1600 union officials are compelling the employees into paying a whopping 99.51 percent of full union membership dues.
Government Union Bosses Face Federal Suit for Illegal Forced Dues Scheme
Philadelphia, PA (May 21, 2010) – Eight public employees have filed a federal lawsuit against a local union and the Borough of Ephrata for illegally confiscating union dues payments from their paychecks without following federal requirements.
National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, providing the eight employees with free legal aid, filed the suit today in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The borough employees, who have exercised their right to refrain from formal union membership with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1600 union, are asking the court to protect their Right to Work Foundation-won rights upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in Abood v. Detroit Board of Education (1977). The Court ruled in Abood that nonmember public employees can be forced to pay some union dues, but not the part used to pay for union politics and other union activities.
IBEW Local 1600 union officials are compelling the employees into paying a whopping 99.51 percent of full union membership dues.
The Supreme Court also ruled in the Foundation’s Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson (1986) victory that union officials must provide public workers with an independently-audited financial breakdown of all forced-dues union expenditures. IBEW Local 1600 union officials have not provided such a breakdown.
The employees are suing to obtain refunds of the amount of forced union dues payments illegally taken from their paychecks.
“IBEW union bosses are deliberately keeping rank-and-file workers in the dark to keep their forced-dues gravy train going,” said Patrick Semmens, National Right to Work Foundation legal information director. “To prevent these types of forced unionism abuses, Pennsylvania needs a Right to Work law making union affiliation and dues payments completely voluntary.”
Obama Executive Order Leaves Workers in the Dark
Regular Freedom@Work readers may remember a spate of Obama Administration executive orders designed to enhance Big Labor’s already-extensive special privileges. Today, the Department of Labor published a final rule implementing Executive Order 13496, which requires government contractors to post notices informing employees of their workplace rights.
At first glance, that seems pretty innocuous. However, when it comes to the union boss-dominated Obama Department of Labor, "innocuous" isn’t part of the equation. Here’s part of the Department of Labor’s explanation of the notice’s content in yesterday’s Federal Register (emphasis mine):
The final notice retains the provision stating that an employee has the right to not join or remain a member of a union that represents the employee’s bargaining unit. However, the OLMS notes, “further explication of Beck rights will not be included because of space limitations and because of the policy choice, as expressed in Executive Order 13496, to revoke a more explicit notice to employees of Beck rights.”
"Beck rights" refer to the Right to Work Foundation-won Supreme Court decision Communication Workers v. Beck, which guarantees the right of employees to opt-out of union dues for politics, lobbying, and other activities unrelated to workplace bargaining. Although workers in non-Right to Work states can still be forced to pay for union ‘representation’, they cannot be forced to subsidize union activities that go beyond the scope of negotiating with management.
Many workers remain unaware of their right to opt-out of objectionable union dues, but the Administration’s notice avoids any mention of Beck rights. It also does not mention the right to seek decertification of a monopoly bargaining agent or the right to abstain from both union membership and payment of any union dues in Right to Work states. In other words, the new notice intentionally, as a matter of White House policy, keeps workers in the dark about their basic rights, leaving them vulnerable to union bosses who have no qualms about extracting forced dues to fund political activism, lobbying, and members-only activities.
Workers in non-Right to Work states can still be forced to pay union dues just to get or keep a job, so posting Beck notices is no panacea. But informing workers of all of their rights – not just their rights to join or organize a union – provides a modicum of protection against Big Labor’s well-known proclivity for redirecting unsuspecting workers’ dues to political and lobbying slush funds. Unfortunately, this skewed notice is yet more evidence that the Obama White House and Department of Labor are more interested in stacking the deck in Big Labor’s favor than protecting employee rights.
After spending billions of dollars to get Obama and other pro-forced unionism politicians elected, Big Labor is once again reaping its reward through a series of favorable executive orders.
Delta Employees File Motion to Join Legal Challenge to Controversial Transportation Unionization Rule
Delta Employees File Motion to Join Legal Challenge to Controversial Transportation Unionization Rule
Former union officials on National Mediation Board created new policy stacking the deck in favor of forced unionization of railway and airline employees
Washington, DC (May 20, 2010) – Acting for three flight attendants and two customer service representatives at Delta Air Lines, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys have filed a motion to intervene in a federal lawsuit that seeks to overturn a dramatic rule change on how a union is imposed on railway and airline industry workers.
Airline employers have filed a federal lawsuit against the National Mediation Board (NMB), the federal agency tasked with administration of labor relations within the railroad and airline industries, attacking its controversial rule change that overturns 75 years of precedent. The new procedure stacks the deck in favor of unionization by granting a union monopoly bargaining power over workers if the union “wins” an election, no matter how few eligible workers actually vote. This means that a small bloc of workers could force union boss “representation” on the whole group rather than having a true majority of all workers deciding for themselves.
Foundation attorneys argue that the new rule is unconstitutional because it violates the workers’ rights of freedom of association and due process, especially when the union can only demonstrate support from a minority of workers in the class or craft.
