Springfield, VA (April 21, 2014) – The United Auto Worker (UAW) union has withdrawn its challenge of the Chattanooga Volkswagen workers’ recent unionization vote with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation, issued the following statement in response to the recent media reports:

“This is a win for the workers of Volkswagen. The UAW did everything they could to silence opposition. First, Chattanooga VW employees managed to stave off a coercive unionization campaign even though the UAW and Volkswagen’s German management colluded for over two years to stack the deck against the workers.

“Despite all of this, UAW union officials’ still lost the vote. The result of the election came after the NLRB unprecedentedly fast-tracked the unionization process, further tilting the playing field in favor of UAW union officials.

“Second, the UAW attempted to exclude workers from protecting the outcome of the election. But, once UAW officials realized both sides of the case would be presented at the hearing, they withdrew rather than have their allegations disproved. We are pleased that the workers’ vote will now stand.

“This case demonstrates once again the unreliability of union officials’ ‘card check’ method of unionization, as the UAW continued to claim on the basis of cards that it had the support of a majority of Volkswagen team members and that no election was needed.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Volkswagen employees filed a brief defending their right to have a say in the high-profile unionization dispute.

National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys helped several VW workers file charges citing improprieties in the UAW union hierarchy’s unionization campaign, including getting workers to sign union authorization cards by coercion and misrepresentation and using cards signed too long ago to be legally valid. Some of those workers also filed a federal charge against the company stating that comments made by German VW officials illegally attempted to intimidate their fellow workers into accepting UAW monopoly bargaining power over their workplace.

Madison, WI (April 18, 2014) – Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit for the second time upheld Governor Scott Walker’s 2011 public-sector unionism reform measures, also known as “Act 10,” which included a Right to Work provision giving most Wisconsin public workers the right not to join or pay union fees as a condition of employment..

Patrick Semmens, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation, released the following statement in regards to the court’s decision:

“The court’s decision is a powerful victory for workers who do not want anything to do with an unwanted union in their workplace. The decision ensures that thousands of Wisconsin’s civil servants will continue to have the freedom to decide for themselves whether or not to join or financially support a union.

“Forced unionism is a government-granted special privilege given to union bosses and there is no question that government has the right to restrict or revoke those privileges. No worker should ever be forced to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment, which is why Wisconsin should guarantee that right for all Wisconsin workers, including private-sector employees and public safety workers, through a Right to Work law.”

Massachusetts Childcare Providers File Federal Lawsuit Challenging Forced Unionization Scheme

Childcare providers fight dictate to push childcare business owners into forced dues union ranks

Boston, MA (April 16, 2014) – A group of Massachusetts home-based childcare providers have filed a federal lawsuit challenging a 2012 law that seeks to forcibly unionize the state’s home-based childcare providers.

Providers Kathleen D’Agostino, Denise Boian, Jean Demers, Judith Santos, Laurie Smith, and Kelly Winship filed the suit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

D’Agostino and the other providers seek to halt implementation of a recently-passed law intended to designate Service Employees International Union (SEIU) officials as the monopoly political representative of thousands of providers in the state, who are either business owners or family members who take care of children within their families.

Click here to read the full release.

Boston, MA (April 16, 2014) – A group of Massachusetts home-based childcare providers have filed a federal lawsuit challenging a 2012 law that seeks to forcibly unionize the state’s home-based childcare providers.

Providers Kathleen D’Agostino, Denise Boian, Jean Demers, Judith Santos, Laurie Smith, and Kelly Winship filed the suit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

D’Agostino and the other providers seek to halt implementation of a recently-passed law intended to designate Service Employees International Union (SEIU) officials as the monopoly political representative of thousands of providers in the state, who are either business owners or family members who take care of children within their families.

Home-based childcare and personal care providers, with Foundation attorneys’ assistance, have challenged similar forced-unionization-by-government-fiat schemes in several states across the country, including Michigan and Illinois. The Illinois case is pending at the U.S. Supreme Court. Michigan ended its scheme after Foundation attorneys filed suit for providers there. A group of Minnesota child care providers are also challenging a similar scheme in federal court.

Foundation attorneys argue that such schemes violate the providers’ First Amendment right to choose with whom they associate to petition the government. The government does not have the constitutional authority to force citizens to accept government’s handpicked political representative to lobby itself.

Under the Massachusetts scheme, SEIU Local 509 union officials are empowered to confiscate forced dues and fees from childcare providers for this forced “exclusive representation” starting in June.

“Citizens have the power to select their political representation in government, not the other way around,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This scheme, which forces small business owners, and even grandma taking care of her grandchildren, into union political association is a slap in the face of fundamental American principles we hold dear.”

“This union boss power grab scheme is nothing more than pure political payback and was popularized by disgraced Governors Gray Davis of California and Rod Blagojevich of Illinois.”

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Illinois case, Harris v. Quinn this spring. The Minnesota case has been held pending the outcome of the Harris case.

NLRB Rejects UAW’s Attempts to Silence Chattanooga VW Workers’ in Unionization Vote Hearing

UAW union bosses move to eject workers from process

Washington, DC (April 16, 2014) –The United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials’ request to exclude Chattanooga, Tennessee Volkswagen workers seeking to defend the recent unionization vote in their workplace has been rejected by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The VW employees filed the motion to intervene with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys after the UAW union filed objections to the recent highly-publicized election in their workplace.

UAW union officials filed the objections with the NLRB after Chattanooga VW workers voted against giving the UAW monopoly bargaining control over the plant via a rapid-fire unionization election.

In response, the workers filed a motion to intervene in the objection process to defend the election results.

Click here to read the full release.

Washington, DC (April 16, 2014) –The United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials’ request to exclude Chattanooga, Tennessee Volkswagen workers seeking to defend the recent unionization vote in their workplace has been rejected by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The VW employees filed the motion to intervene with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys after the UAW union filed objections to the recent highly-publicized election in their workplace.

UAW union officials filed the objections with the NLRB after Chattanooga VW workers voted against giving the UAW monopoly bargaining control over the plant via a rapid-fire unionization election.

In response, the workers filed a motion to intervene in the objection process to defend the election results. The NLRB Acting Regional Director in Atlanta ruled to allow the workers to defend the vote during the proceedings. UAW union officials then appealed the Regional Director’s decision to the Board in Washington, D.C.

Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work, issued the following statement in the wake of the NRLB’s ruling:

“The NLRB Acting Regional Director ruled that the workers are entitled to defend the election results. The decision over whether or not to unionize is supposed to lie with the workers, which makes the attempt by the UAW to shut them out of this process all the more shameful.

“And based on Volkswagen management’s actions leading up to this point, these workers are concerned that VW will not actively defend their vote to remain free from union boss control and the workers’ intervention ensures that at least one party to the process is fully invested in upholding the election results.

“The real question here is: Why are UAW officials so afraid of workers and their National Right to Work Foundation-provided attorneys being part of this process?”

Foundation staff attorneys representing the VW employees will attend the NLRB hearing on Monday, April 21.

Worker Advocate Challenges Obama Labor Board’s Ambush Elections Rules

Proposed rules would allow union bosses to ambush workers to push them into Big Labor’s forced-dues-paying ranks

Washington, DC (April 7, 2014) – National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys filed formal comments today with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) opposing the Board’s proposed guidelines, which will help give union organizers the upper hand over independent-minded workers.

The NLRB again proposed these rules dictating how union organizing elections are conducted after a federal court struck them down in 2012. The court ruled that the Board did not have a quorum necessary to enact the new rules when it tried to do so.

Click here to read the full release.

Washington, DC (April 7, 2014) – National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys filed formal comments today with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) opposing the Board’s proposed guidelines, which will help give union organizers the upper hand over independent-minded workers.

The NLRB again proposed these rules dictating how union organizing elections are conducted after a federal court struck them down in 2012. The court ruled that the Board did not have a quorum necessary to enact the new rules when it tried to do so.

The proposed rules dramatically shorten the time frame individual workers have to gather, evaluate, and share information with their coworkers about the effects of unionization. Moreover, the rules require job providers to disclose workers’ personal information (including their phone numbers, email addresses, and shift information), thus opening up dissenting or undecided workers to intimidation and harassment.

The new rules would also create a loophole which allows union organizers to claim they have support of 30 percent of employees in the workplace, the minimum number required to initiate an election, despite a dispute regarding the size of the bargaining unit in question. Then, union organizers who fear that they do not have enough support to win an election could withdraw their request for an election and use the newly-gotten personal information in later attempts to unionize the workers.

Foundation staff attorneys argue in the formal comments that this “ambush” election process would encourage the forced unionization of workers who might otherwise be opposed to unionization, and that the rule requiring job providers to hand over the employees’ personal information to union bosses violates workers’ privacy.

“The NLRB’s proposed rules make union organizing campaigns even more one-sided and stifle the rights of employees who may oppose unionization in their workplace,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This power grab reminds us once again that the Big Labor-dominated NLRB’s enforcement of federal labor law is most often used to empower union officials, not workers, with unique and damaging privileges designed to bolster their power and revenue.”

Foundation staff attorney William Messenger will also speak against the proposed rules at the NLRB’s public meetings on the changes on Friday, April 11.

Volkswagen Workers’ Brief Blasts UAW Bosses’ Desperate and Delusional Attempt to Silence Dissenting Employees

Foundation staff attorneys help employees preserve their decision to reject unionization

Springfield, VA (April 3, 2014) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, five Volkswagen employees filed a brief defending their right to have a say in the high-profile unionization dispute at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tennessee facility.

The brief was filed after the United Auto Worker (UAW) union asked the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to reverse a Regional Director’s ruling allowing the workers to intervene in the union’s challenge to the outcome of the recent unionization election, which the UAW lost.

The brief opposes further delays to the NLRB’s hearing on the union’s challenge, and accuses the UAW of using false evidence to prompt the Board to remove the workers from the process. The brief also calls for a Department of Justice investigation to consider a prosecution of the UAW’s “witness” for filing demonstrably false statements under oath.

Click here to read the full release.

Springfield, VA (April 3, 2014) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, five Volkswagen employees filed a brief defending their right to have a say in the high-profile unionization dispute at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tennessee facility.

The brief was filed after the United Auto Worker (UAW) union asked the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to reverse a Regional Director’s ruling allowing the workers to intervene in the union’s challenge to the outcome of the recent unionization election, which the UAW lost.

The brief opposes further delays to the NLRB’s hearing on the union’s challenge, and accuses the UAW of using false evidence to prompt the Board to remove the workers from the process. The brief also calls for a Department of Justice investigation to consider a prosecution of the UAW’s “witness” for filing demonstrably false statements under oath.

The brief states, “That the UAW resorted to filing a false declaration that could be so easily disproved to attempt to show the existence of a grand and secret conspiracy being waged against it smacks of the desperation and paranoia increasingly gripping the union following its rejection by Volkswagen employees in the election.”

The brief then points out that the UAW’s false accusations against the Foundation are not reason enough to exclude the workers even if the accusations were true. The brief states “The UAW’s case proceeds from the misguided premise that it is objectionable if any entity campaigned or spoke against the union in the election. While this belief may reflect how elections are conducted in Venezuela or North Korea, it does not reflect how elections are conducted in this free nation.”

Patrick Semmens, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation, issued the following statement:

“The NLRB Regional Director has ruled that the workers are entitled to defend their vote to keep the UAW out of their workplace. The decision over whether or not to unionize is supposed to lie with the workers, which makes the attempt by the UAW to shut them out of this process all the more shameful.

“The UAW’s latest claims are both desperate and delusional. Nothing UAW bosses are claiming changes the fact that VW employees should have the right to defend their vote to keep the UAW out of their workplace. The real question the brief raises is: Why are UAW officials so afraid of workers and their National Right to Work Foundation-provided attorneys being part of this process?”