COLUMBUS, Ind. (April 26, 2001) — Three Cosco, Inc. employees filed federal charges today against a powerful local union for threatening to end their careers in apparent retaliation for exposing the union’s illegal scheme to collect forced union dues.

In a previous federal case which resulted in a settlement agreement, National Right to Work Foundation attorneys forced United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Local 1155 union officials to stop illegally seizing forced union dues from the workers who had been “grandfathered” out of doing so under the union’s collective bargaining agreement.

Foundation attorneys filed today’s unfair labor practice charges on behalf of Douglas Brown, Ronald Venable, and Kenneth Witt with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Local 1155 union officials for violating the terms of that settlement by demanding that the employees be fired for not paying forced union dues under a prior collective bargaining agreement, reaching back to 1996. Under the settlement, union officials were barred from demanding forced union dues prior to October, 2000.

“Union officials are out for revenge,” said Randy Wanke, Director of Legal Information for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. “They want to put these brave employees out on the street for exposing the union’s illegal scheme.”

The employees first filed federal charges in 1997 against Local 1155 officials, under the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court Communications Workers v. Beck decision, for using a portion of their forced dues for politics.

Upon further investigation into that case, Foundation attorneys discovered that the collective bargaining agreement at Cosco did not authorize the seizure of forced union dues at all between July 26, 1998 – October 20, 2000 from employees who were not members of the union. Union officials have since amended the collective bargaining agreement to force all nonmembers to pay union dues.

Foundation attorneys are seeking an immediate injunction prohibiting union officials from ordering Cosco management to fire these employees.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (April 24, 2001) — A cement factory worker today filed federal charges against a local affiliate of the powerful Teamsters union, seeking to force union officials to stop their illegal practice of funneling compulsory union dues into politics.

The Vulcan Materials Company cement factory employee, Gordon Merkley, sought legal help from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys after officials of Teamsters Local 87 threatened to have him fired from his job for refusing to support the union’s political campaigning and lobbying activities.

“Teamsters bosses harassed and threatened Gordon Merkley simply because he exercised his right not to fund the union’s political machine,” said Randy Wanke, Director of Legal Information for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a charitable organization that provides free legal aid to victims of compulsory unionism abuse.

The federal charges, filed with the National Labor Relations Board against Local 87, state that union officials violated the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court Communications Workers v. Beck decision, which held that workers who resign their union memberships may withhold any union dues used for politics and other non-representational activities. As a nonmember of the union, Merkley can only be required to pay for union activities directly related to collective bargaining.

The charges also state that union officials provided inaccurate and unaudited financial records that unlawfully concealed the union’s actual spending practices and improperly categorized politics, public relations, and organizing expenditures as “chargeable.” Under the Foundation-won Supreme Court ruling in Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson, union officials must provide employees with an independent audit of their books so that employees can identify non-chargeable expenditures, such as politics.

Foundation attorneys are demanding that union officials immediately return any forced union dues illegally seized from employees.

Washington, D.C. (April 18, 2001) — President George W. Bush’s Beck executive order goes into effect today requiring federal contractors to post a workplace notice informing employees of their right to reclaim all forced union dues not used for collective bargaining activities, like politics. 

The order informs objecting employees of their rights under the U.S. Supreme Court decision Communications Workers v. Beck.  National Right to Work Foundation attorneys originally won Beck at the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988 on behalf of telephone lineman Harry Beck.

Signed on February 17, 2001, the executive order only affects a small segment of the 12 million American employees compelled to pay union dues as a condition of employment, as it just requires federal contractors to inform workers of their Beck rights by posting workplace notices. 

Bush’s father issued a similar executive order in April of 1992 that was immediately revoked at the request of union officials as President Clinton took office in 1993.  Additionally, the Clinton National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) stonewalled the enforcement of these precious employee protections, often leaving many cases languishing within the bureaucracy for six or more years.

Noting that President Bush will be able to appoint three new members to the five-person NLRB, Foundation Vice President Stefan Gleason urged him take a “real step forward” in Beck enforcement.  “This order is only a small symbolic first step.  The president must now appoint individuals to the NLRB who are willing to enforce the Beck decision.”

Experts estimate that during the year 2000 elections, union officials spent approximately $800 million on soft money and in-kind political activities, nearly all of it paid for out of union dues collected from employees as a condition of employment.  Gleason pointed out that even with full enforcement, the Beck precedent is not a cure-all.  Nevertheless, the Foundation’s free legal aid program has ensured that hundreds of thousands of employees are getting substantial dues reductions.

Gleason  also noted that the best solution is to attack compulsory unionism abuse at its root, not to fashion new regulatory schemes and government bureaucracies to regulate its ill effects.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (April 17, 2001) — More than 1,500 state health and social service employees won court approval of a large settlement yesterday against a local affiliate of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union for illegally seizing forced union dues.

Under the terms of the settlement, won by National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, officials of AFSCME Local 2620 must refund 75 percent of dues and fees illegally collected from the workers between July 1998 and September 1999, plus 100 percent of the dues and fees illegally collected during the first 12 days of March 2000, along with interest and attorneys’ fees. Based on the amount the union seized from the plaintiff class over a 15-month period, total refunds should exceed $350,000, which breaks down to an average of at least $233 for each employee.

“This is an important victory for workers against Big Labor’s California forced union dues empire,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. “This shakedown of employees for political contributions is deplorable.”

The settlement comes as a result of a 1999 class-action lawsuit, Murray v. AFSCME Local 2620, filed by Foundation attorneys on behalf of Robert Murray, a 16-year veteran of the California State Department of Rehabilitation, and all other employees in State Bargaining Unit 19 who had declined to join the union since union officials began their unlawful dues-collection practices in July 1998.

The politically active AFSCME union was ranked by the Center for Responsive Politics as the second largest overall soft-money contributor in the 2000 election cycle. But under Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court precedents, unions may not seize any forced dues from nonmembers for politics or other non-bargaining activities.

Union officials violated the rights of employees guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution by failing to provide them with notice of their right to object to paying forced fees for the union’s political activities and by failing to reveal how those fees were being spent. Under the Foundation-won Supreme Court decision in Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson, union officials must provide independently audited disclosure of their books and justify the lawfulness of their expenditures before seizing any forced union dues from employees.

MIAMI, Fla. (April 12, 2001) — National Right to Work Foundation attorneys have forced Teamsters Local 769 to pay a monetary settlement for its direct involvement in a bloody attack on Rod Carter during the 1997 nationwide Teamsters strike against United Parcel Service (UPS).

Carter, a UPS driver who suffered severe injuries for choosing to work during the strike in order to feed his family, settled the racketeering and civil conspiracy case pending in Florida’s Circuit Court for Dade County against Local 769 for an undisclosed amount of money. (As part of the settlement, Carter and his attorneys are barred from revealing specific details of the agreement.)

“Rod and his family are very pleased with the settlement and feel that the union has finally been forced to pay a price for its involvement in the bloody assault,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a charitable organization that provides free legal aid to victims of compulsory unionism abuse.

Carter, a linebacker for the 1989 University of Miami Hurricanes and former 10th round draft choice of the Dallas Cowboys, continued to work during the strike in order to support his family, despite the objections of union officials.

After Rod Carter appeared on the evening news to explain why he did not support the strike, he received a threatening phone call at his home. Phone records proved that the phone call was placed from the house of the Teamsters Local 769 president Anthony Cannestro, Sr.

The next day, a group of union militants tracked Carter down on his delivery route, drew him out of his UPS truck, and severely beat and stabbed him. After the bloody attack but before any arrests, at least one assailant was returned to the picket line to continue participating in strike activities. Union officials later used union funds to bail out the assailants and helped to line up legal representation (as had been promised in advance of the violation).

Carter filed a lawsuit against the Teamsters Local 769 union for encouraging and condoning the violence. The lawsuit charged the attackers and union officials with civil conspiracy, assault and battery, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and loss of consortium. And the suit charged the Local 769 with racketeering.

“The settlement in this case should send a message to union officials across America – violence does not pay,” said Gleason.

SEATTLE, Wash. (March 19, 2001) — National Right to Work Foundation attorneys are filing a class-action lawsuit against the Washington Education Association (WEA) union seeking to reclaim money illegally seized from the paychecks of more than 4,200 teachers to advance the union’s political agenda.

Foundation attorneys filed the class-action lawsuit, Davenport v. WEA, in the Superior Court of the State of Washington in and for the County of Thurston on behalf of teachers who are not union members (but who must still pay agency fees) after WEA union officials illegally seized fees without authorization in violation of Washington’s so-called “paycheck protection” law (Initiative 134).

Since the non-member teachers had not exercised their right to reclaim about $175 (per teacher per year) under a recent Foundation-won court settlement against the WEA union, they are only entitled to reclaim about $10 (per year over five years) attributed to “political activities” under the narrow definition in the mis-named “paycheck protection” law.

The suit asks that about $200,000 in illegally seized fees be returned to the teachers.

“Because flimsy ‘paycheck protection’ laws like this one are so fatally flawed, teachers relying on the law have received little protection of their rights not to fund union electioneering and the like,” said National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Stefan Gleason. “However, the Foundation took the case anyway because we always do everything possible under the law to help victims of forced unionism abuse.”

Initiative 134 was intended to prevent union officials from spending government workers’ money for politics without prior authorization. After passage of that law, union officials easily sidestepped the law’s narrow and toothless requirements. Last September, Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission (PDC) determined that WEA union officials had not secured authorization from nonmembers for the forced union dues spent on the tiny fraction of union political activity actually regulated by the law. Washington’s Attorney General now seeks unspecified sanctions against the WEA union, but is seeking absolutely no damages for the teachers whose rights were violated.

Foundation attorneys have already won a settlement for Washington teachers in Leer v. WEA. Under Leer, about 300 teachers annually reclaim more than $175 each in forced union dues that had been seized by WEA union officials for politics, lobbying, organizing, and other non-bargaining activities. Unlike the flawed Initiative 134, Leer attacked the very basis of forced union dues on constitutional grounds.

However, most non-member teachers have not yet exercised their rights under Leer and have thus been paying nearly full dues to the WEA labor union – even money that the PDC found required affirmative authorization. The more than 4,200 teachers in Davenport were never asked for authorization, so they are seeking a full rebate, plus interest, of the amount that was seized illegally from their paychecks. Teachers are also seeking an injunction prohibiting WEA officials from seizing forced union dues used for influencing elections and supporting political committees without affirmative consent from non-member teachers.

Janesville, Wis. (March 9, 2001) — Responding to charges filed by National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has found that local Teamsters union officials violated the rights of Janesville Products employees by threatening to have them fired, and in one case even arrested, for trying to reclaim illegally seized forced union dues.

A full refund of the illegally seized money from approximately 75 workers could exceed $10,000.

The Regional Director of the NLRB based in Milwaukee issued a formal complaint in response to unfair labor practice charges filed last December on behalf of 14 employees against Teamsters union Local 579. Foundation attorneys filed the charges after union officials demanded that the employees pay almost full union dues without any authorization to collect forced dues under the collective bargaining agreement.

“Teamsters officials must now answer for their systematic shakedown of these employees,” said Foundation Director of Legal Information Randy Wanke. “They weren’t legally entitled to dock these employees’ wages, but they did it anyway.”

The employees filed earlier charges against union officials last October for using a portion of their forced dues for politics. Upon further investigation into that case, Foundation attorneys discovered that the collective bargaining agreement at Janesville Products did not authorize any forced union dues at all from certain employees. Under the agreement, employees who were not members of the union when the agreement went into effect on July 1, 2000, were “grandfathered” out of the forced unionism provision.

Despite that clear provision, Teamsters union Local 579 officials demanded that the non-members pay union dues or forfeit their jobs. The NLRB’s complaint states that a union official even went as far as threatening one of the employees with a “police complaint and possible arrest” for demanding that the union stop seizing forced dues from his paycheck.

The NLRB has given Teamsters union Local 579 officials until March 20 to respond to the complaint. Foundation attorneys intend to ensure that any resolution results in full protection for all qualifying employees at the plant, including full rebates of all dues illegally seized.

PALMDALE, Calif. (March 5, 2001) — A Lockheed Martin employee today filed federal charges against an international labor union after union officials illegally seized forced union dues from his paycheck to fund union political activities.

With the help of National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys, the aeronautics factory employee, Mark Thomley, filed federal unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union, its District 725 affiliate, and its Palmdale-based Local 727-P affiliate.

“Mark Thomley and his coworkers are being forced to fork over their hard-earned money for political activities they don’t support,” said Randy Wanke, Director of Legal Information for the National Right to Work Foundation, a charitable organization that provides free legal aid to victims of compulsory unionism abuse.

The charges state that union officials devised a “rebate” scheme under which they seize fees used for politics and other nonchargeable expenditures from nonmembers’ paychecks. Union bureaucrats do not return the money – which (the charges state) “should never have been taken in the first place” – until several months later.

Union officials’ actions violate the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court decision in Communications Workers v. Beck, which held that workers may withhold any forced union dues used for all activities unrelated to collective bargaining. In addition, union officials are violating NLRB rulings (in California Saw and Knife Works and other cases) requiring unions to provide objecting nonmembers with an “advance reduction” of their dues.

Foundation attorneys are demanding that the IAM union halt its practice of collecting full union dues from nonmembers and immediately return all money illegally confiscated from workers under the union’s “rebate” scheme.

Washington, D.C. (February 16, 2001) — A national employee rights spokesman today declared that President George W. Bush’s imminent executive order regarding forced union dues is “only a small, symbolic first step toward curbing compulsory unionism abuse” and warned that far more must be done before employee rights are truly protected.

The Associated Press wire reported this afternoon that President Bush may sign the order as early as tomorrow.

“President Bush’s imminent executive order would only be a small and largely symbolic first step toward curbing compulsory unionism abuse. However, unless the NLRB is actually willing to enforce the law, union officials will continue to shake employees down for political contributions with virtual impunity,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

National Right to Work Foundation attorneys originally won Communications Workers v. Beck at the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988 on behalf of telephone lineman Harry Beck, thereby establishing that objecting employees may reclaim all forced union dues not used for collective bargaining activities, like politics.

The executive order only affects a small segment of the 12 million American employees compelled to pay union dues as a condition of employment, as it just requires federal contractors to inform workers of their Beck rights by posting workplace notices. Bush’s father issued a similar executive order in April of 1992 that was immediately revoked at the request of union officials as President Clinton took office in 1993. Additionally, the Clinton National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) stonewalled the enforcement of these precious employee protections, often leaving many cases languishing within the bureaucracy for six or more years.

Experts estimate that during the year 2000 elections, union officials spent approximately $800 million on soft money and in-kind political activities, nearly all of it paid for out of union dues collected from employees as a condition of employment. Gleason pointed out that even with full enforcement, the Beck precedent is not a cure-all. Nevertheless, the Foundation’s free legal aid program has ensured that hundreds of thousands of employees are getting substantial dues reductions.

Gleason noted that the best solution is to attack compulsory unionism abuse at its root, not to fashion new regulatory schemes and government bureaucracies to regulate its ill effects. (Many are watching President Bush to see whether he will make good on his pledge to advocate the National Right to Work Act in Congress, a measure that would repeal federal authorization of compulsory unionism, thereby restoring employees’ freedom to choose whether to join or support a union.)

Ultimately, another Foundation case may lead the U.S. Supreme Court to declare monopoly bargaining itself unconstitutional or to go beyond the Beck approach and declare forced dues entirely unconstitutional. (The latter of these two goals could be achieved by a pending Foundation case, Belhumeur v. Massachusetts Labor Relations Commission, now on petition for a writ of certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court.)

DEFERIET, N.Y. (February 12, 2001) — A paper mill worker today filed federal charges against a local industrial union for refusing to recognize his legal right to quit the union and stop paying union dues for politics.

The Deferiet Paper Company employee, Wayne Dimock, turned to the National Right to Work Foundation for free legal help after officials at a local affiliate of the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy (PACE) international union refused to acknowledge his objection to union membership. Union officials also threatened to gouge the worker with fines and force his firing from his job unless he became a full member of the union or paid full union dues.

“PACE union officials are systematically violating the civil rights of Wayne Dimock and his co-workers,” said Randy Wanke, Director of Legal Information for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a charitable organization that provides free legal aid to victims of compulsory unionism abuse.

The federal charges, filed with the National Labor Relations Board against PACE Local 45, state that union officials violated the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court Communications Workers v. Beck decision, which holds that workers may resign their union memberships and withhold any union dues used for politics and other non-representational activities.

The politically active PACE union has failed to provide Dimock with an independent audit of its expenditures, in violation of disclosure requirements established in the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson.

Union officials are now threatening numerous other workers at Deferiet Paper Company with fines and discharge for exercising their rights to refrain from union membership and the payment of full union dues.

Foundation attorneys are demanding that any illegally seized forced union dues be returned to these workers.