Anchorage, Alaska (November 1, 2004) – A three-member panel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ordered that results from a union decertification election be set aside and that a new election be held that could strip officials of Teamsters Union Local 959 of their monopoly representation power over roughly 250 school bus drivers.

The company, First Student, Inc., provides school bus services to the Anchorage School District.

The federal labor agency’s order affirms the findings in a report issued by a hearing officer of the NLRB’s Regional Office for Alaska. That report found “serious and extensive” company interference by enforcing an “overly broad rule” limiting employees’ rights to distribute pro-decertification literature leading up to the election.

With free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, school bus driver Jayne Larrassey filed objections to the May 2004 decertification election in which the Teamsters union narrowly maintained its status as the workers’ monopoly representative. The NLRB Region ordered a new election in July, but union officials appealed the decision to the full board, delaying the election.

The objections originated when Larrassey exercised her right to oppose the union hierarchy by distributing flyers in the company parking lot promoting the decertification of the Teamsters union as monopoly bargaining agent. However, union activists quickly seized the flyers from the vehicles and turned them over to the union steward, who then reported the incident to company officials.

Larrassey was then given a “verbal warning” by a company official and told that any further attempt to circulate pro-decertification literature would result in disciplinary action. Larrassey was reprimanded a second time on the day of the election when she stood in a non-work area and reminded people to vote.

The full NLRB upheld the hearing officer’s finding that First Student unfairly discriminated against Larrassey by imposing a new rule limiting her right to distribute literature. The Board ordered a new decertification election to take place on a date that its Regional Director deems appropriate.

“First Student employees will be allowed, once and for all, to decide their own representation in an atmosphere free from coercion,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation.

If a decertification election is successful, Teamsters union officials would lose their special privilege to act as the “exclusive bargaining representative” of the employees. All First Student employees then would be free to negotiate their own terms and conditions of employment and could be rewarded on their individual merit.

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.