Long Island, NY (November 1, 2011) – A Levittown automobile parts manufacturing worker is asking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to halt an unpopular local union from forcing its representation on him and his colleagues.

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, Charlie Shannon filed unfair labor practice charges for himself and his coworkers against the International Union of Electronic, Electrical, Salaried, Machine, and Furniture Workers-Communications Workers of America (IUE-CWA) Local 463 union.

IUE-CWA Local 463 union officials no longer enjoy majority support from the employees after a majority of them signed a petition to remove the unwanted union from their workplace. However, union officials unlawfully continue to negotiate a new monopoly bargaining agreement with the employer, Sterling Instruments, Inc.

After investigating the matter, the NLRB regional office in Brooklyn found that IUE-CWA Local 463 union officials were illegally demanding forced union dues payments from the workers because the contract’s forced-dues clause with the company was not valid. Additionally, union officials never informed workers of their National Right to Work Foundation-won rights to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership and from paying for union boss political activities or member-only events.

The workers are seeking a refund of the dues illegally seized from their paychecks, plus interest.

Despite the charges, union bosses remain deaf to the happenings on the ground level and are threatening to call a strike against the company, even though numerous employees have already resigned their union membership.

“These workers have made it clear: They want nothing to do with the union,” said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work. “These employees, and all American workers, should be free to negotiate their own terms and conditions of employment, and be rewarded on their individual merit, if they so choose.”

“Union bosses will stop at nothing for forced union dues, including exercising illegal bargaining powers over the workers,” added Mix. “It’s cases like these that prove that New York desperately needs Right to Work protections for its workers.”

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.