YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (February 13, 2004) — In response to charges brought by hospital employees at Youngstown’s St. Elizabeth Health Center, an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) of the National Labor Relations Board ordered Teamsters Local 377 union officials to end pervasive unfair labor practices against local workers. Enjoying free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, the workers filed federal charges in 2001 against union officials for refusing to accept their resignations and for failing to properly notify them of their right to refrain from paying dues to subsidize union political activities.

In issuing the ruling, the ALJ effectively granted the case “class-action” status, determining that Teamsters officials had failed to inform all 900 workers in the bargaining unit of their rights. The ALJ’s order entitles all such workers to receive a refund on dues collected for political and other non-collective bargaining activities, with interest. In addition, all workers who paid dues for periods when no contract was in effect are entitled to full reimbursement of those dues.

“This ruling is an important step that holds some union officials in Ohio to account for trampling the rights of workers,” said Ray LaJeunesse, Legal Director of the National Right to Work Foundation. “However, as long as Ohio workers labor under a system of compulsory unionism, this sort of abuse will inevitably continue to plague workers across the state.”

Officials of the Youngstown-based union refused to accept employees’ written resignations from union membership and told employees that they must pay all “back dues” before the union would even consider their resignations. Union officials also demanded the firing of workers for refusal to pay dues, without first informing them of their right to become objecting nonmembers. Local Teamsters union officials also used payroll deductions unlawfully to collect dues for periods in which there was no valid forced unionism clause.

Under the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court Communications Workers v. Beck decision, workers may resign from formal union membership at any time and pay only for the union’s proven collective bargaining costs. Now, under the ALJ’s decision, Teamsters 377 union officials must inform Health Center workers of these rights, rescind a threatening letter, and allow all employees to seek retroactive refunds.

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.