Last December, a majority of workers successfully voted to strip union officials of power to compel dues payments

Austin, MN (December 12, 2023) – A patient care specialist at the Mayo Clinic location in Austin, MN, has just submitted to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) a petition backed by her colleagues seeking a vote to remove United Steelworkers (USW) Local 11-005 union officials from power at their facility. The patient care specialist, Erin Krulish, filed the petition with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Under NLRB rules, a union decertification petition must contain the signatures of at least 30% of the employees at a workplace to trigger a decertification election. Krulish’s petition contains signatures from a majority of her work unit, which includes licensed practical nurses (LPNs), medical assistants, and patient care specialists.

If a majority of workers vote against a union in a decertification vote, the union is removed from the workplace and loses its monopoly bargaining power. Such power permits union officials to dictate the contract provisions of all employees in a unit, even those who oppose or voted against the union.

Workers’ Petition Follows Successful Vote to Strip Union of Forced-Dues Power

Because Minnesota lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, Steelworkers union bosses have the power to enter into contracts with Mayo Clinic management that force Krulish and her coworkers to pay union dues or fees just to keep their jobs. In contrast, in Right to Work states like neighboring Wisconsin and Iowa, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary.

Last December, however, Krulish and her fellow employees voted 49-17 to revoke the union’s power to compel them to pay dues. Such an election, called a “deauthorization vote,” is the only way in non-Right to Work states to stop a union from seizing dues from workers as a condition of employment, outside of completely decertifying the union.

Pro-Union Boss NLRB Policy Forced Workers to Wait to Remove Union

Even after a deauthorization vote, union bosses still retain their monopoly bargaining powers, which can only be eliminated by decertifying a union. Krulish and her fellow employees desired to do this from the outset, but were unfortunately limited by a non-statutory NLRB policy known as the “contract bar,” which immunizes unions from all worker attempts to vote the union out for up to three years while a union monopoly bargaining contract is in place.

Last December, with one year still left on the union contract, Krulish expressed her and her coworkers’ eagerness to decertify the union once the contract expired: “We plan to decertify come next December when our contract is up and we are ready for another fight!”

“Employees at Mayo Clinic Austin clearly don’t wish to associate with Steelworkers union officials, and twice now Ms. Krulish and her coworkers have mustered the majority showing necessary to revoke coercive powers from the union,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “While we’re proud to support her and her dedicated colleagues, the situation shows the kind of pro-union boss restraints that workers are under not just in non-Right to Work states, but across the country.”

“Workers should not be arbitrarily blocked for years from exercising their right to vote out unwanted union officials, nor should they need to seek a workplace-wide vote just to ensure their hard-earned money isn’t going to an organization they don’t approve of,” Mix added.

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.