Supreme Court decision on public sector-forced dues, battles over state Right to Work laws, and new bureaucratic push to expand Big Labor’s privileges all loom

Springfield, VA (September 4, 2015) – Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation and the National Right to Work Committee, issued the following statement on the occasion of Labor Day 2015:

“This Labor Day, many Americans will enjoy a well-deserved three day weekend. After the festivities, vacations, and beach trips have ended, however, several important fights for employee freedom loom on the horizon.

“The Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a case that could end all public-sector forced dues in one fell swoop. The Friedrichs challenge would not have been possible without two recent, National Right to Work Foundation-won Supreme Court cases – Harris v. Quinn and Knox v. SEIU – and we hope the High Court will take this opportunity to end the practice of forcing civil servants to pay union dues just to work for their own government.

“Meanwhile, state-level legislative activity over the Right to Work issue will continue to expand. Recently enacted Right to Work laws in Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin have spurred efforts to emulate those reforms in states across the country. The fight to expand employee freedom, encourage economic growth, and roll back union bosses’ special privileges will continue from Maine to Ohio to Missouri, and the National Right to Work Committee will be mobilizing for all of these efforts.

“All of this takes place against the backdrop of an Administration that has abandoned all pretense of neutrality in an effort to expand Big Labor’s privileges through bureaucratic channels. Under President Obama, the Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, and other federal agencies have relentlessly favored union officials’ power, frequently at the expense of independent-minded employees’ rights.

“This Labor Day, as we celebrate hard-working Americans from all walks of life, we should also be preparing and engaging in these important battles against compulsory unionism in both the legislative and legal arenas.”

Mix’s statement can be watched on YouTube here or listened to here. Mix and other Right to Work experts are also available for comment on a variety of labor-related issues. For more information, contact Will Collins at (703) 770-3317 or via email at wfc@nrtw.org.

Union boss policies illegally prevented nonunion drivers from finding work on ABC Lifetime’s Army Wives television show

Washington, DC (August 24, 2015) – The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has affirmed a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision awarding over $55,000 in back pay to a television employee who was discriminated against by Teamster union officials.

This decision caps nearly a six-year legal battle between a worker and union bosses in Charleston, South Carolina. The case began when Thomas Troy Coghill, an ABC driver who received free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB in 2009.

Teamster Local 509 union officials had entered into a monopoly bargaining agreement with ABC in South Carolina that forced workers to go through the union’s exclusive hiring hall to get a job with the studio during production of ABC’s show, Army Wives. Coghill – a member of a different Teamster local from North Carolina– was hired as a driver during the show’s first two seasons after demand for drivers outpaced the number of drivers that Local 509 could provide.

As more Local 509 members became available to work on Army Wives during the third and fourth seasons, a dispute arose among various Teamster officials over who should be eligible to work on the program. Coghill was eventually removed from Local 509’s “Movie Referral List” because he did not belong to Local 509 while its members continued to receive preferential access to jobs on the set of Army Wives.

Coghill responded to Local 509’s hiring procedure by filing unfair labor practice charges against the union on the grounds that federal labor law prohibits union officials from discriminating against nonunion employees. National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys subsequently persuaded an Administrative Law Judge to award Coghill over $55,000 in back pay.

Union lawyers unsuccessfully appealed the ruling to the NLRB, which affirmed the judge’s decision in its entirety. Local 509 then appealed the NLRB’s decision to the Appeals Court.

“After years of a drawn out legal battle and countless appeals, union bosses’ egregious and illegal tactics have yet again been found unlawful by a federal court,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This case shows that even in a Right to Work state like South Carolina, without vigorous enforcement of nonunion workers’ rights, union officials will attempt to discriminate against employees who refuse to tow the union line.”

In a court challenge to the NLRB’s recycled biased rules, Foundation argues Board rules violate NLRB authority to push more workers into Big Labor’s forced-dues-paying ranks

Springfield, VA (August 18, 2015) – The National Right to Work Foundation has filed an amicus curiae brief in federal court challenging the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) recently-enacted regulations that will further give union organizers the upper hand over independent-minded employees during unionization campaigns.

The rules are designed to dramatically shorten the time individual workers have to share information with their coworkers about the effects of unionization. The regulations also require employers to hand over workers’ private information to union organizers, including their phone numbers and email addresses.

The latest rules changes were rushed out before former union lawyer Nancy Schiffer’s term expired on December 16, 2014. The NLRB had previously rushed the regulations out before former Service Employees International Union (SEIU) lawyer Craig Becker’s term expired in December 2011, but they were later invalidated by a federal district court in 2012 on procedural grounds.

Foundation staff attorneys now argue in an amicus brief filed with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, that the new rules violate federal law, because the Board is shirking its statutory duty to determine the scope of the bargaining unit. Under the rules, unionization elections will proceed despite disputes over the unit’s scope if less than 20 percent of the bargaining unit’s composition is contested.

They also argue in this brief that the rule requiring job providers to hand over the employees’ personal information to union bosses violates workers’ privacy. Foundation staff attorneys had previously filed a similar amicus brief when the case was heard in U.S. District Court.

“The NLRB has yet again done Big Labor’s bidding by handing down these election rules that will make union organizing campaigns even further rigged towards the union bosses, who are only interested in growing their ranks,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation.

“Obama’s Big Labor-stacked NLRB has designed a scheme to ambush unsuspecting workers into union ranks which also threatens the privacy rights of employees who may oppose unionization in their workplace,” continued Mix.

Applicant refused when company demanded forced union fees on for IBEW union bosses in blatant violation of Tennessee’s Right to Work protections

Spring City, TN (August 17, 2015) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Bill Bauer has filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against a company that supplies maintenance and repair workers to a Tennessee nuclear power plant run by the Tennessee Valley Authority. The company attempted to force Bauer to pay union fees as a condition of employment. Forced union fees are illegal in Tennessee under Tennessee’s Right to Work law.

The nuclear power plant is located in Spring City, Tennessee and temporary, highly skilled maintenance and repair workers are supplied by Williams Plant Services. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1323 (Local 1323) has a monopoly bargaining contract with Williams Plant Services.

Bauer, a journeyman, was offered a job at the plant, and drove from his home in Pennsylvania to begin work. On July 20, 2015, Bauer’s first day of work, he met with representatives from Williams’ human resources department at the company’s headquarters in Tucker, Georgia, before he made his way to the power plant in Tennessee. Bauer was informed that he could join the workplace union, Local 1323.

Bauer declined to join Local 1323. He was then told he had to sign a dues check off form to authorize his employer to withhold 3.5 percent of his paycheck and remit those funds to Local 1323. Knowing that he would be working in a Right to Work state, Bauer refused to sign the checkoff form, understanding that he had the right to refrain from paying any fees to Local 1323. The company representatives told him that signing the checkoff form was a condition of employment at the power plant.

Under Tennessee’s Right to Work law, no worker can be forced to pay fees to a union as a condition of employment.

“Even in longstanding Right to Work states like Tennessee union bosses all too often engage in schemes and ploys to undermine or outright violate employees’ Right to Work protections,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “No worker should be forced to pay tribute to a union just to get or keep a job, and it is especially outrageous for company and union officials to conspire to violate laws that explicitly make union dues and fees voluntary.”

[An original version of this release incorrectly identified the power plant as located in Spring Hill, TN.]  

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The NRTW Foundation provides free legal assistance to workers who are victims of compulsory unionism 52 weeks a year

Springfield, VA (August 17, 2015) – The National Right to Work Foundation, a charitable organization that provides free legal assistance to employees nationwide, is joining the Nevada Policy Research Institute and a host of other organizations to commemorate National Employee Freedom Week. The weeklong event is dedicated to informing employees across the country of their rights to refrain from union membership and the payment of full union dues.

Since its founding in 1968, the National Right to Work Foundation has been a leading organization involved in the fight to protect workers from the abuse of union bosses and compulsory unionism. The Foundation’s sole, year-long mission is to fight against the injustices of coercive unionism through strategic litigation and education programs.

The Foundation’s sister organization, the National Right to Work Committee is also participating in Employee Freedom Week. The Committee is a 2.8 million member grassroots organization dedicated to ending compulsory unionism once and for all.

The Foundation broadcasts public service announcements on radio programs across the country, and publishes numerous opinion pieces in local and national outlets on the importance of informing workers about their rights to refrain from union membership and the payment of full union dues.

Moreover, Foundation staff attorneys have litigated for workers in all 50 states to enforce employees’ rights to opt out of union membership. In just the past 12 months, Foundation staff attorneys provided free legal representation in over 250 active cases. They have also fought to defend and enforce state Right to Work laws, most recently Michigan’s Right to Work law which was recently upheld by a federal District Court.

Foundation attorneys have successfully argued several significant Supreme Court cases that limit Big Labor’s forced-dues powers and protect workers’ rights to refrain from union activity. In 2012, Knox v. SEIU established an important legal precedent the prevented union bosses from exacting special dues assessments and increases without a worker’s affirmative consent. In 2014, Harris v. Quinn led to thousands of home health care workers being freed from the shackles of compulsory unionism.

Building on precedents set out in Knox and Harris, the Court is set to hear arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teacher’s Association that could result in public employees no longer having to join or pay fees to a union as a condition of employment.

“Unfortunately, Big Labor has waged a successful campaign to deceive many workers into believing they have no rights when it comes to leaving a union or cutting off union dues for politics,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. “In fact, workers in the 25 states with Right to Work laws cannot be required to pay any union fees as a condition of employment.”

“Further, even in the 25 states that haven’t yet passed Right to Work protections, employees have the right to resign their formal union membership and cut off the portion of their dues that is being spent on union politics and lobbying,” continued Mix. “The National Right to Work Foundation stands ready to provide free legal aid to any worker who needs assistance in exercising these critical rights.”

Article in the “NYU Annual Survey of American Law” examines the NLRB’s failure to fully enforce workers’ Supreme Court protections from being forced to subsidize union politics and lobbying

Springfield, VA (August 14, 2015) – The National Right to Work Foundation’s Vice President and Legal Director, Raymond J. LaJeunesse, Jr., has published his latest article, which appears in the New York University Annual Survey of American Law.

LaJeunesse’s article, titled “The National Labor Relations Board Has Failed to Enforce Fully Workers’ Rights Under Communications Workers V. Beck Not to Subsidize Unions’ Political and Other Nonbargaining Activities,” examines the National Labor Relations Board’s insufficient and lackluster enforcement of workers’ rights not to subsidize union bosses’ political activity.

From the article, and according to LaJeunesse:

“… there is a systemic problem with the enforcement of workers’ Beck rights. Since Beck was decided in 1988, the NLRB has dismally failed to protect adequately the statutory rights of workers not to subsidize union political, ideological, and other nonbargaining activities. Indeed, the Board majority under President Obama seems bent on totally eviscerating those rights.”

The full article may be found in the Annual Survey by visiting this link: http://bit.ly/1WjtWUU.

Federal lawsuit takes aim at state policies that force nonunion homecare providers to pay union dues, accept union bargaining

Eugene, OR (August 13, 2015) – With the help of staff attorneys from the National Right to Work Foundation and the Pacific Northwest-based Freedom Foundation, an Oregon homecare provider has filed a federal class-action lawsuit against SEIU Local 503, Governor Kate Brown, and several high-ranking state officials. The lawsuit challenges a state policy that requires nonunion Oregon homecare providers to pay union dues and accept union bargaining over issues related to their caregiving practices.

Julian Brown, the suit’s plaintiff, is a homecare provider from Deschutes County. He is not an SEIU member but is part of a state-wide bargaining unit of Oregon caregivers who have been forced to accept SEIU bargaining and pay union dues as a condition of receiving a state homecare subsidy.

The lawsuit seeks to enforce and expand upon the National Right to Work Foundation-won Harris v. Quinn U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which outlawed mandatory union dues for homecare providers in 2014. The Court ruled in Harris that requiring nonunion caregivers to pay union dues violated their First Amendment rights.

Brown’s lawsuit contends that forcing nonunion Oregon caregivers to financially support a union and work under union-negotiated policies both violate the First Amendment. The lawsuit seeks to remove SEIU officials’ exclusive bargaining arrangement with the state and end the union’s power to collect mandatory dues from Oregon care providers. Brown also seeks a refund of all union dues deducted from his and all other nonmember providers’ state subsidies since 2013.

The lawsuit was filed in United States District Court for the District of Oregon in Eugene.

“Despite the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court outlawed mandatory union dues for homecare providers in 2014, SEIU officials in Oregon persist in collecting forced dues from nonunion caregivers,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “We hope this suit will put a stop to this unconstitutional scheme and ensure that nonunion homecare providers are no longer forced to pay union dues or accept the SEIU’s so-called ‘representation’.”

Plaintiffs seek to reclaim dues collected from tens of thousands of nonunion caregivers who were illegally required to pay AFSCME and UAW

Washington, DC (August 4, 2015) – Building on the National Right to Work Foundation-won Knox v. SEIU Supreme Court decision, Foundation staff attorneys have filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the High Court in Schlaud v. UAW. The class-action lawsuit seeks to reclaim millions of dollars in illegally-seized union dues for thousands of Michigan homecare providers

The petition was filed for Carrie Schlaud, Diana Orr, Peggy Mashke, and Edward and Nora Gross, who receive a small subsidy from the State of Michigan to provide home-based childcare services. Foundation staff attorneys argue that all similarly-situated Michigan caregivers are entitled to refunds of union dues collected after former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and the Child Care Providers Together Michigan (CCPTM) union, an organization jointly founded by AFSCME and the UAW, pushed them into union ranks.

The five plaintiffs originally filed a federal class-action lawsuit against Granholm and the CCPTM union for designating home-based childcare providers who receive state funds as public employees solely for the purpose of forcing them to accept the CCPTM’s “representation” and pay union dues.

Although less than 15 percent of over 50,000 childcare providers receiving state funding voted in a union certification election, CCPTM union bosses obtained monopoly bargaining privileges and the authority to collect union dues from all home-based childcare providers in the state. The union collected over $4 million dollars in dues before Granholm’s successor, Governor Rick Snyder, ended the arrangement.

After filing their lawsuit, the five plaintiffs reached a settlement with Snyder that ensured Michigan is no longer forcing home-based childcare providers into union ranks. However, the providers’ lawsuit was denied class-action status, meaning that CCPTM union officials were not required to refund $4 million in forced union dues previously collected from over 50,000 other care providers.

Foundation staff attorneys contend that the Court should give all Michigan home-based childcare providers an opportunity to reclaim the wrongfully-seized union dues. The petition also asks the Court to rule that unions must always obtain employees’ affirmative consent before collecting dues from their paychecks.

“A backroom political deal empowered union bosses to confiscate millions of dollars in forced dues from thousands of Michigan caregivers who never agreed to support a union,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “The Court should see that this money is returned to Michigan childcare providers and establish that union bosses must obtain employees’ consent before collecting dues.”

State Supreme Court and Federal District Court both rule against union challenges to Right to Work protections for public- and private-sector employees

Detroit, MI (July 31, 2015) – Today, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan has issued an order dismissing an AFL-CIO legal challenge to Michigan’s recently-enacted private-sector Right to Work law. Meanwhile, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the state’s Civil Service Commission has no authority to require state employees to pay union dues as a condition of employment. Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, responded to these developments with the following statement:

“Despite union lawyers’ best efforts, two spurious attempts to undermine Michigan’s popular Right to Work laws have failed. In both cases, Foundation staff attorneys filed briefs for Michigan employees who opposed any attempt to restore union officials’ forced-dues privileges.”

“Thanks to these decisions, Michigan civil servants and private-sector employees will continue to enjoy Right to Work protections, which ensure that they cannot be fired for refusing to join or pay dues to a union. Any Michigan workers who need help exercising their right to cut off union dues or fees should immediately contact the National Right to Work Foundation for free legal aid.”

In the public sector case, National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys submitted an amicus curiae (“friend of the court”) brief for Thomas Haxby, an employee of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. After Michigan’s Right to Work law went into effect, Haxby resigned his membership in the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 517M, one of the unions that filed the suit, and opted out of paying union dues.

Responding to the AFL-CIO’s legal challenge to Michigan’s private-sector Right to Work law, Foundation staff attorneys also filed a brief for four Michigan employees, all of whom were employed in workplaces covered by a forced-dues contract between their employers and unions before the Right to Work law was enacted.

Prior to enactment of the Right to Work laws, the four workers could be forced to pay union dues or fees to keep their jobs, despite the fact they were not union members and opposed a union presence.

Private-sector Michigan employees seeking to learn about their rights under Right to Work should read the Foundation’s special legal notice: https://www.nrtw.org/special-legal-notice-to-most-private-sector-workers-in-michigan…

Public-sector Michigan employees seeking to learn about their rights under Right to Work should read the Foundation’s special legal notice: https://www.nrtw.org/special-legal-notice-to-most-public-sector-workers…

Any employee who needs help exercising his or her rights can contact the Foundation for free legal aid by calling 1-800-336-3600 or through the Foundation’s website: https://www.nrtw.org/free-legal-aid

Two Federal Civil Rights lawsuits filed against the town and police union after officers were threatened for questioning why 13% of paycheck was being sent to union

Westerly, Rhode Island (July 28, 2015) – Five part-time police officers in Westerly, RI have filed a Civil Rights lawsuit against the Town of Westerly, several town officials, and International Brotherhood of Police Officers Local 503 (Local 503) in U.S. District Court. The plaintiffs are receiving free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation.

Thomas Cimalore, Anthony Falcone, Scott Ferrigno, Darrell Koza, and Raymond Morrone, brought the suit and seek declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief because a portion of every paycheck (at a rate of $5 an hour) is being confiscated by the town and paid directly to Local 503.

The lawsuit alleges that the plaintiffs’ First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights (and other state labor and whistle blower protection statues) are violated when they are forced, as a condition of employment, to financially support Local 503 despite never authorizing or requesting that the town withhold a portion of their paycheck and distribute those funds to Local 503.