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.
Delta Employees File Motion to Join Legal Challenge to Controversial Transportation Unionization Rule
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.
The five Delta workers and similarly situated employees in the railway and airline industries could soon find themselves forced into fees-paying ranks against their will. There are ongoing unionization efforts at Delta by the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) unions.
Unlike private sector workers covered by the National Labor Relations Act, nonmember employees in the railway and airline industries are not protected by the Right to Work laws in Georgia, where Delta is headquartered, and 21 other states. Furthermore, the rule change is especially troubling given the complicated bureaucratic hoops these workers must jump through to remove an unwanted union.
Foundation attorneys also argue that the NMB members who approved the rule, Harry Hoglander and Linda Puchala, should have recused themselves because of their prejudgment of the regulations. Hoglander and Puchala are former union officials with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) unions, respectively. Both unions are a major part of an American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) union-led coalition that urged the NMB to discard its longstanding policy.
“This is a shameless payoff from the Obama Administration and two former union officials to their Big Labor associates,” said Patrick Semmens, National Right to Work Foundation legal information director. “If these regulations are upheld, transportation unions will become roach motels – a tiny minority of workers will be able to install the union, but it will be virtually impossible for a majority of employees to remove the unwanted union.”
Virginia Workers Ask U.S. Supreme Court to Uphold Decertification of Unwanted Union
Washington, DC (May 19, 2010) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, two Virginia workers have filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court. The petition asks the court to review a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision invalidating a union decertification in Boykins, Virginia.
Shirley Mae Lewis and Henry Vaughan are both employed at a Narricot plant in Boykins. In August 2007, they initiated an effort to eject the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Local 2316 union from their workplace. Although 64% of employees in the bargaining unit signed a petition against union officials, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) invalidated the decertification on the grounds that Lewis and Vaughan received “unlawful assistance” from their employer.
Narricot management merely gave Lewis and Vaughan factual information about the number of signatures they would have to collect to decertify the union and the proper wording to use in union decertification petitions. Company officials also indicated that signed petitions would have to be presented to management before they could withdraw recognition from the Carpenter union. Narricot did not actively encourage Lewis or Vaughan to organize against the union.
Although federal labor law permits employers to provide information to workers so long as they avoid inducements or threats of reprisal, the NLRB ruled that the information the company passed on to Lewis and Vaughan exceeded so-called “ministerial assistance.” The NLRB’s decision was later upheld by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Foundation attorneys argue that employees should be permitted to receive accurate information about how to exercise their workplace rights. Without the information they received, Lewis and Vaughan might not have been able to get rid of the unwanted union.
“Despite overwhelming employee opposition to the Carpenter union, Narricot employees are still saddled with union bosses’ so-called ‘representation’,” said Patrick Semmens, legal information director for the National Right to Work Foundation. “Workers shouldn’t be punished for seeking information from their employer when attempting to eject an unwanted union, and employers shouldn’t be gagged from giving employees truthful information about their basic rights.”
Mark Mix: Facade of GM/UAW union boss fiscal responsibility to cost taxpayers even more
Today, National Right to Work President Mark Mix was published in the Investor’s Business Daily exposing how General Motors (GM) and United Autoworker (UAW) union bosses colluded to use taxpayer dollars to "pay back" the taxpayers for the government bail out it received last year:
…GM leaders and the UAW officials who colluded with them to extract $43 billion out of taxpayers in exchange for arguably worthless stock are now patting themselves on the back for paying back on April 21 the balance of a $6.7 billion loan they took out from taxpayers as part of the 2009 bankruptcy package.
In a weekly radio address to the nation late last month, President Obama suggested that the fact that taxpayers have now recouped 14% of the taxes he diverted into GM coffers on their behalf vindicates his decision to bail out GM and the UAW brass.
But ordinary Americans, with whom the GM and Chrysler bailouts have become overwhelmingly unpopular over the past year, are unlikely to agree. Especially not if they learn that GM was able to "pay back" the loan only because it had not yet spent all of the other $43 billion in taxpayer money it raked in last year.
But, as Mix further notes, the mirage that GM and UAW officials are being fiscally responsible with the taxpayer’s money is just part of their plan to ask for even more money from the government:
…[T]he apparent motive of Obama-selected GM CEO Ed Whitacre and UAW officials in repaying the $6.7 billion now is to pave the way for the company to secure a new $10 billion loan from taxpayers at an interest rate of just 5%, two points lower than the previous rate, to pay for the retooling of its plants to meet the government’s new, stricter fuel-economy standards.
If the GM/UAW "zombie" corporation obtains the new $10 billion government loan, it will end up even more deeply in hock to taxpayers than before, after having gotten good PR and kudos from the president for having paid off its original loan "in full."
Fortunately, the American people are not as easily bamboozled as President Obama and his cohorts in the GM and UAW union hierarchies seem to think they are.
Mix concludes that "the president’s fork-tongued reassurances that all is going well with the bailouts are likely to make Americans angrier and angrier as time goes on" because his special deals and political paybacks to his Big Labor buddies are more than American families can bear, and serves no purpose other than to enrich Big Labor’s coffers.
Group Home Workers Force SEIU Bosses into Forced Union Dues Refund
Group Home Workers Force SEIU Bosses into Forced Union Dues Refund
Right to Work Foundation attorneys continue to challenge illegal union membership “opt-out” policy
Princeton, WV (May 18, 2010) – Service Employees International Union (SEIU) District 1199 union officials have agreed to a statewide settlement after six ResCare group home employees filed several unfair labor practice charges against them.
The employees, with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, challenged the SEIU District 1199 union’s forced dues policy, which violated Foundation-won employee rights upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in its landmark decision in Communication Workers of America v. Beck (1988).
In Beck, the Court held that union officials cannot lawfully compel nonmembers to pay the part of union dues spent for non-bargaining union boss activities like political activism, lobbying, and member-only events. The employees also challenged the SEIU union officials’ practice of requiring employees to object to paying full union dues multiple times in order to exercise their rights under Beck.
Under the settlement, SEIU District 1199 union bosses will mail notices to all ResCare employees in West Virginia detailing the employees’ rights to object to full-dues-paying union membership. Further, the settlement requires SEIU District 1199 union bosses to allow ResCare employees in Mercer County, who were told by SEIU officials to join or be fired, to retroactively rescind their union membership and to receive refunds of their forced union dues.
