SACRAMENTO, Calif. (July 18, 2001) — A Sheraton Grand Sacramento employee today filed federal charges against an international hotel union for illegally concealing union spending practices from employees, including how much is spent on politics, and for demanding that employees sign a union membership card or face punitive “initiation fees.”

The luxury downtown hotel recently recognized the union without a vote of the employees, and its first contract with the union requires all employees to pay union dues or forfeit their jobs.

National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys filed the unfair labor practice charges on behalf of Heath Langle, an employee at one of the hotel’s restaurants, with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) International Union and its Sacramento-based Local 49 affiliate.

“Secretive union officials are engaged in a campaign of deception in order to con hotel employees into paying forced union dues for politics,” said Foundation Director of Legal Information Randy Wanke.

The charges state that union officials have failed to provide employees with a breakdown of union expenditures, as required by law. By refusing to divulge their expenses for political campaigning and other activities which employees cannot be required to fund with their forced union dues, union officials violated the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson decision. Also, in the Foundation-won Communications Workers v. Beck decision, the Supreme Court held that employees may halt and reclaim all union dues or fees siphoned into politics and other activities unrelated to collective bargaining.

The charges also state that in what appears to be a way to trick employees into joining the union, Local 49 union officials provided them with confusing dual union membership/dues deductions forms and told them they would be subject to “initiation fees” up to $95 if they did not sign and return the forms.

Since the Local 49 union is carrying out the policies established by its HERE international union parent, Foundation attorneys are demanding that the NLRB order the HERE union, which collects dues from employees throughout North America, to halt its illegal practice of discriminating against union objectors and to provide proper, independently audited financial disclosure to all employees.

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.