Arizona Fry’s Employees Take Federal Challenge to Illegal Union Dues Scheme to DC Appeals Court

Obama Labor Board rubberstamps years of suspected widespread abuse

Washington, DC (April 22, 2015) – Seven Phoenix-area Fry’s Food Stores employees have appealed their federal case filed after United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 99 union and company officials refused to honor their legal right to refrain from union dues payments.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Shirley Jones of Mesa; Karen Medley and Elaine Brown of Apache Junction; Kimberly Stewart and Saloomeh Hardy of Queen Creek; and Tommy and Janette Fuentes of Florence – acting for other similarly situated employees – filed federal unfair labor practice charges in December 2009 that spurred the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to investigate and issue a statewide complaint against UFCW Local 99 union officials.

Click here to read the full release.

Washington, DC (April 22, 2015) – Seven Phoenix-area Fry’s Food Stores employees have appealed their federal case filed after United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 99 union and company officials refused to honor their legal right to refrain from union dues payments.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Shirley Jones of Mesa; Karen Medley and Elaine Brown of Apache Junction; Kimberly Stewart and Saloomeh Hardy of Queen Creek; and Tommy and Janette Fuentes of Florence – acting for other similarly situated employees – filed federal unfair labor practice charges in December 2009 that spurred the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to investigate and issue a statewide complaint against UFCW Local 99 union officials.

In the midst of a well-publicized UFCW Local 99 union-threatened strike in November 2009, the employees resigned their UFCW union membership and revoked their dues deduction authorizations – a document used by union officials to automatically withhold dues from employee paychecks – while the UFCW union did not have a contract at their workplaces. Despite the employees’ best efforts to halt the dues seizures, Fry’s continued to illegally deduct dues from the employee’s paychecks for the UFCW union hierarchy.

Under Arizona’s popular Right to Work law, no worker can be required to join or pay any money to a union, and under federal labor law, if there is no longer a bargaining agreement in effect between a union and an employer, employees can revoke their dues deduction authorizations at any time.

After a four month long investigation, the Phoenix NLRB regional director initiated a prosecution against UFCW Local 99 union officials for enforcing illegal dues deduction authorizations that do not allow employees to revoke them during contract hiatus periods, contrary to federal law. However, an NLRB administrative law judge rubberstamped the scheme. The NLRB in Washington, D.C. now has upheld the ruling on appeal a second time. The NLRB previously rubberstamped the ruling in a decision later invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Noel Canning that the Board lacked a valid quorum after President Obama’s unconstitutional 2012 NLRB «recess appointments.»

The seven Fry’s employees are again appealing the NRLB’s ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

«The Obama NLRB has rubberstamped UFCW Local 99 bosses’ years of suspected abuse and violation of thousands of workers’ rights across the state of Arizona,» said Patrick Semmens, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. «We applaud these workers’ pursuit for justice on behalf of thousands of workers who may have been illegally forced into paying union dues in violation of Arizona’s Right to Work law.»

Local Sheet Metal Factory Workers File Federal Charges against Machinist Union and Company

Case underscores need for Wisconsin’s new Right to Work law

Allenton, WI (April 22, 2015) – Three Maysteel, LLC sheet metal fabrication factory workers have filed federal charges against a local Machinist union and the company for violating their rights.

With the help of National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Daniel Sarauer of Campbellsport, Dan Zastrow of Mayville, and Daryl Bartsch of Oakfield filed the charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office in Milwaukee.

International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local Lodge 2053 union officials currently enjoy monopoly bargaining control over the Maysteel workers’ workplace. Previously, the three workers resigned their union membership and exercised their right upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Foundation-won Communications Workers v. Beck case to refrain from paying for union political activities and member-only events. Even though they are not union members, they have still been forced to accept the union hierarchy’s so-called representation and pay union fees as a condition of employment.

Click here to read the full release.

Allenton, WI (April 22, 2015) – Three Maysteel, LLC sheet metal fabrication factory workers have filed federal charges against a local Machinist union and the company for violating their rights.

With the help of National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Daniel Sarauer of Campbellsport, Dan Zastrow of Mayville, and Daryl Bartsch of Oakfield filed the charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office in Milwaukee.

International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local Lodge 2053 union officials currently enjoy monopoly bargaining control over the Maysteel workers’ workplace. Previously, the three workers resigned their union membership and exercised their right upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Foundation-won Communications Workers v. Beck case to refrain from paying for union political activities and member-only events. Even though they are not union members, they have still been forced to accept the union hierarchy’s so-called representation and pay union fees as a condition of employment.

Under Wisconsin’s Right to Work law making union dues payments completely voluntary, contracts entered into after the law went into effect must respect workers’ right to refrain from the payment of any union dues.

The three workers have since made multiple requests of the IAM union and the company for copies of their union dues deduction authorizations – a document union officials use to take dues or fees from workers’ paychecks. IAM Local 2053 union officials have refused to provide the workers with copies of their dues deduction authorizations. Meanwhile, company officials have maintained that they do not have any copies of the forms.

«To keep their forced-dues gravy train going as long as possible, Machinist union officials are stonewalling these workers’ requests to learn when they will be able to refrain from paying union dues or fees under Wisconsin’s new Right to Work law,» said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. «Schemes like this underscore the importance Wisconsin’s new Right to Work law has for workers who want to exercise their right to refrain from union affiliation once the law applies to their workplaces.»