Lansing, MI (May 25, 2010) – Robert Sherman, a Dean Transportation employee, recently filed federal unfair labor practice charges against the Dean Transportation Employee Union (DTEU) with the help of National Right to Work Foundation attorneys. The charges state that DTEU officials failed to provide Sherman with accurate information about his workplace rights and threatened to have him fired for refusing to pay full union dues.

Although Sherman and several of his coworkers are not union members, the DTEU is the monopoly bargaining agent for everyone employed at Dean Transportation. Because Michigan lacks a Right to Work law, Dean employees are obligated to pay union dues as a condition of their employment.

Under the Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent Communication Workers v. Beck, nonunion workers can only be forced to pay dues related to workplace negotiations. Nonunion employees cannot be forced to pay union dues or fees for the purposes of lobbying, political activism, or members-only activities. Federal law also requires union officials to provide an independently-audited breakdown of union expenditures to help nonunion employees determine which activities they can be forced to pay for.

Despite this precedent, DTEU officials failed to provide Sherman and other employees with information about union expenditures or their right to opt-out of certain union dues.
In late April, DTEU officials sent Sherman and other nonunion employees a letter that threatened to have them fired if they refused to pay union dues. In the face of threats and union obstruction, Sherman still attempted to assert his Beck rights, but DTEU officials refused to provide him with any information about union expenses. DTEU officials told Sherman that he did not receive information about his workplace rights because he expressed “anti-union views” and did not attend union meetings.

Sherman’s charges will now be investigated by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

“Instead of persuading workers to join of their own free will, union bosses relied on threats and coercion to force Robert Sherman and other independent-minded employees into their forced dues-paying ranks,” said Patrick Semmens, legal information director for the National Right to Work Foundation. “This incident offers yet more evidence that Michigan desperately needs a Right to Work law, which would curb union abuse by making membership and dues payment strictly voluntary.”

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 more than 250 cases nationwide per year.