Federal Settlement Will Force SEIU to Leave Local Hospital Workers Alone

Union organizers conspired to force healthcare workers into union ranks using coercive “card check” tactics

Orange, CA (August 3, 2012) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, Chapman Medical Center workers have won federal settlements that will remove unwanted Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Workers West officials’ representation from their workplace.

Chapman management and SEIU officials have signed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) settlements after Marlene Felter of Costa Mesa filed charges with the agency in response to SEIU organizers colluding with Chapman management to illegally rig a union organizing “vote” to pave the way for the union to claim to “represent” the workers. Under the settlements, SEIU must give up its “exclusive representation” and Chapman will publicly withdraw recognition of the union.

Click here to read the full release.

Orange, CA (August 3, 2012) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, Chapman Medical Center workers have won federal settlements that will remove unwanted Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Workers West officials’ representation from their workplace.

Chapman management and SEIU officials have signed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) settlements after Marlene Felter of Costa Mesa filed charges with the agency in response to SEIU organizers colluding with Chapman management to illegally rig a union organizing “vote” to pave the way for the union to claim to “represent” the workers. Under the settlements, SEIU must give up its “exclusive representation” and Chapman will publicly withdraw recognition of the union.

SEIU and hospital officials entered into a backroom deal, known as a so-called “neutrality agreement,” in which hospital management 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 union representation and 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 bosses’ so-called “representation.” Instead of respecting the employees’ wishes, Chapman management accepted SEIU officials as the workers’ monopoly bargaining agents after a rigged “card count” was held. Chapman and SEIU officials were in the process of negotiating a contract which almost certainly would 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 NLRB Regional Office subpoenaed records from SEIU and found that SEIU union bosses illegally claimed to represent the Chapman workers without majority support.

“Chapman and SEIU officials 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. This further makes the case that California desperately needs a Right to Work law on the books making union affiliation completely voluntary.”

State Trooper Files Charge Against Connecticut State Police Union

Union bosses violate Connecticut state police trooper’s rights

Hartford, CT (August 2, 2012) – A Connecticut state trooper has filed a state charge against a local union for violating his rights.

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, state police trooper Marc Lamberty of Hartford County filed the charge with the Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations.

In June 2011, Lamberty resigned from formal union membership in the Connecticut State Police Union and invoked his right to refrain from paying full union dues.

Click here to read the full release.

Hartford, CT (August 2, 2012) – A Connecticut state trooper has filed a state charge against a local union for violating his rights.

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, state police trooper Marc Lamberty of Hartford County filed the charge with the Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations.

In June 2011, Lamberty resigned from formal union membership in the Connecticut State Police Union and invoked his right to refrain from paying full union dues.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Foundation’s Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson (1986) case that union officials can collect union fees as a condition of employment, but must first provide nonmember public workers with an independently-audited financial 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 boss political activities and union member-only events.

Union officials continue to deduct full union dues from the officer’s paychecks as if he is a union member. After Lamberty sent a letter requesting that union officials acknowledge his rights and provide him with the financial breakdown of the union’s expenditures, union bosses refunded only three months of the illegally-taken money and promised to provide the required disclosure documents.

To date, union officials refuse to return the rest of the illegally-taken union dues to the trooper, provide him with a breakdown of union expenditures and give him an opportunity to challenge the forced union fees before an independent third party.

Lamberty seeks refunds of the amount of forced union dues payments illegally taken from his paychecks and to enjoin future collection of any dues until union officials comply with the requirements the Supreme Court established in Hudson.

“Again and again union officials keep rank-and-file workers in the dark to keep their forced-dues gravy train going,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “To prevent these types of forced unionism abuses in the future, Connecticut needs to pass a Right to Work law making union affiliation and dues payments completely voluntary for all of its workers.”

Twenty-three states have Right to Work protections for workers. Recent public polling shows that nearly 80 percent of Americans and union members support the Right to Work principle of voluntary unionism.

Chicago, IL (August 1, 2012) – A State Street Macy’s Walnut Room restaurant worker has filed a federal charge against a local union for intimidating her and violating her rights.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Kathi Szkolny filed the federal charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the Chicago and Midwest Regional Joint Board, Workers United Local 2745 union on Monday.

Workers United Local 2745 union officials illegally misinformed workers that they must pay full union dues to keep their jobs. Union officials refused to inform workers of their right under Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent in Communication Workers v. Beck to refrain from full dues paying union membership.

In Beck, the Court held 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. Additionally, union officials are required to provide audited financial disclosure of union expenditures to inform workers who refrain from union membership of how their forced dues are being spent.

Despite the union bosses’ misinformation, Szkolny exercised her right to refrain from formal union membership. However, because Illinois does not have Right to Work protections making union affiliation completely voluntary, she is still forced to pay part of forced union dues to keep her job.

Union officials have refused to provide the adequate disclosure to ensure that nonmember restaurant workers are fully aware of the amount of forced union fees the union hierarchy can legally confiscate from their paychecks.

Instead, union officials are demanding that Szkolny pay nearly $1,000 in full union dues by August 1 or be fired from her job.

“Workers United Local 2745 union officials are intimidating workers and keeping workers in the dark about their rights in order to keep their forced-dues gravy train going,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Illinois desperately needs a Right to Work law to protect workers from unscrupulous union bosses.”

Workers Challenge Obama NLRB “Recess Appointments” in Federal Appeals Court

Worker advocate argues Labor Board does not have legitimate quorum to hear pending cases because Congress was not in actual recess

Chicago, IL (July 30, 2012) – Four workers filed a brief today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago challenging President Barack Obama’s recent purported recess appointees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

David Yost and Ronald Echegaray of Morgantown, West Virginia, Doug Richards of Ligonier, Indiana, and John Lugo of Chicago, Illinois filed the brief with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

Click here to read the full release.

Chicago, Illinois (July 30, 2012) – Four workers filed a brief today in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago challenging President Barack Obama’s recent purported recess appointees to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

David Yost and Ronald Echegaray of Morgantown, West Virginia, Doug Richards of Ligonier, Indiana, and John Lugo of Chicago, Illinois filed the brief with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

The workers’ two cases, Richards, Yost, & Echegaray v. Steelworkers and Lugo v. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, were consolidated for hearing before the appeals court. The NLRB found in both cases that union bosses illegally forced workers who exercise their right to refrain from formal union membership to "annually renew" their objections to paying full union dues.

But in both cases, the NLRB – filled with President Barack Obama’s legally-suspect appointments – only applied their ruling prospectively to the workers involved in the cases and not retroactively to all workers who have objected in the past to paying full union dues to the respective unions.

Foundation staff attorneys appealed the Board’s decisions to apply its remedy only prospectively, and also challenged Obama’s unprecedented move to install three members on the NLRB as "recess appointees" in January despite the fact that the U.S. Senate was not then in recess.

Foundation staff attorneys argue that the appointments are unconstitutional and, therefore, the Board lacks the quorum necessary to hear any cases. If Obama’s NLRB appointments are unconstitutional, then the Board has only two valid members and lacks a quorum to enact rules or enforce federal labor law under a U.S. Supreme Court precedent established in 2010.

The worker’s cases are among the first in the nation to reach the appellate courts with this issue, and will help set the standard for all further challenges.

"Barack Obama’s so-called recess appointments to the Labor Board clearly violate the U.S. Constitution," said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. "Because the Board does not have a legitimate quorum, it must cease handing down rulings in Foundation-supported cases until a legitimate quorum is established."

Local Scofflaw Teamster Union Bosses Violate Federal Settlement, Worker’s Rights

Union bosses continually keep workers in dark about expenditures

Seattle, WA (July 26, 2012) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, a Sandy, Oregon, bus driver’s case before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has taken yet another dramatic turn.

On Monday, a NLRB Regional Director revoked a federal settlement reached between the agency and Teamsters Local 206 union officials after union officials made a mockery of federal labor law and repeatedly violated the settlement.

The legal challenge is part of an ongoing legal controversy involving the union and First Student bus driver Richard Harmon, who resigned from formal union membership in Teamsters Local 206 in January 2011.

Click here to read the full release.

Seattle, WA (July 26, 2012) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, a Sandy, Oregon, bus driver’s case before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has taken yet another dramatic turn.

On Monday, a NLRB Regional Director revoked a federal settlement reached between the agency and Teamsters Local 206 union officials after union officials made a mockery of federal labor law and repeatedly violated the settlement.

The legal challenge is part of an ongoing legal controversy involving the union and First Student bus driver Richard Harmon, who resigned from formal union membership in Teamsters Local 206 in January 2011.

Because Oregon does not have Right to Work protections making union affiliation completely voluntary, Harmon is still forced to pay part of forced union dues to keep his job.

Despite Harmon’s resignation, Local 206 union officials continued to confiscate full union dues from his paychecks, failed to inform workers of their right to refrain from formal union membership, and failed to provide a legally-required independently-audited breakdown of union expenditures informing workers of what union dues and fees they can be forced to pay.

In September 2011, Harmon forced a settlement of his unfair labor practice charge with Local 206 union officials. However, union officials continued to refuse to provide an adequate audited breakdown of local and other affiliate union expenditures. Harmon filed another charge in late December.

A hearing is scheduled for October 2.

“For years, Teamster union officials have been keeping workers in the dark about their rights in order to keep their forced dues gravy train going,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Local 206 union officials’ actions have made a mockery of federal labor law and once again underscore the need for Oregon to pass state Right to Work protections for its workers.”

Worker Advocate Testifies Before Congress Regarding Obama Big Labor Paybacks

Foundation staff attorney helps expose out of control Obama Labor Board

Washington, DC (July 25, 2012) – This morning, National Right to Work Foundation staff attorney William Messenger is testifying before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.

The subcommittee, which is chaired by Rep. Phil Roe (R-TN), is holding the hearing entitled “Examining Proposals to Strengthen the National Labor Relations Act.” The hearing is located in room 2175 of the Rayburn House Office Building and is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. EDT.

Update: A transcript of Messenger’s testimony can be viewed here (pdf).

Click here to read the full release.