Washington, DC (December 10, 2013) – Today, the United States Supreme Court announced that it «dismissed as improvidently granted» a union appeal of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling in Mulhall v. UNITE HERE.

The order leaves intact a significant victory for National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys and a Florida Mardi Gras Gaming employee in which the appeals court ruled that the company’s organizing assistance to union officials could be unlawful «thing[s] of value.» Consequently, as Jack Goldsmith, the Henry L. Shattuck Professor at Harvard Law School, today said about the Mulhall dismissal in a blog, «as long as CA11’s decision stands, the specter of expensive and difficult litigation will hover over neutrality/bargaining agreements in many circuits, and will indeed chill the making of those agreements.»

In 2004, UNITE HERE Local 355 and Mardi Gras Gaming entered into an agreement in which union officials promised to spend over one hundred thousand dollars on a gambling ballot initiative and guaranteed not to picket, boycott, or strike against Mardi Gras facilities.

In return, Mardi Gras agreed to give union operatives employees’ personal contact information (including home addresses) and grant access to company facilities during a coercive «card check» organizing campaign, refrain from informing workers about the downsides of unionization, and refrain from requesting a federally-supervised secret ballot election to determine whether employees unionized.

Under the Labor Management Relations Act, employers are prohibited from handing over «any money or other thing of value» to union organizers, a provision that is supposed to prevent union officials from selling out workers’ rights in exchange for corporate concessions. With the help of Foundation staff attorneys, Mardi Gras Gaming employee Martin Mulhall sued challenging this organizing pact in 2008. Mulhall alleged that the company’s concessions were of substantial monetary value because they made UNITE HERE’s organizing drive easier and less expensive.

Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work, issued the following statement in wake of the Court’s order:

«We’re happy to report that the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling will stand, limiting the potential for backroom deals between union organizers and company officials. Management shouldn’t be allowed to turn over employees’ personal information to aggressive Big Labor organizers as a negotiating tactic, which is why the Eleventh Circuit’s precedent is a vital protection for independent-minded workers.

«Union bosses and employers who use workers’ rights as a bargaining chip will now enter into these agreements at their own risk.»

Pro-Act 10 Settlement in Wisconsin Teachers’ Lawsuit Clears Path for Union Recertification Elections

Teachers win right to union recertification elections guaranteed under law

Waukesha, WI (December 5, 2013) – The Waukesha County Circuit Court has approved a settlement between five Wisconsin public school teachers and the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) that will allow teachers across the state to determine whether union officials can continue to claim to represent those teachers in their respective workplaces guaranteed under Wisconsin Act 10.

With the help of attorneys from the National Right to Work Foundation and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, five Wisconsin public school teachers filed a lawsuit in the state court last month against the WERC after WERC officials canceled the teachers’ recertification elections.

Click here to read the full release.

Waukesha, WI (December 5, 2013) – The Waukesha County Circuit Court has approved a settlement between five Wisconsin public school teachers and the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) that will allow teachers across the state to determine whether union officials can continue to claim to represent those teachers in their respective workplaces guaranteed under Wisconsin Act 10.

With the help of attorneys from the National Right to Work Foundation and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, five Wisconsin public school teachers filed a lawsuit in the state court last month against the WERC after WERC officials canceled the teachers’ recertification elections.

The WERC cancelled the elections, which were originally scheduled to take place in early November, after a Dane County Circuit Court judge halted implementation of the law.

All five teachers are employed in workplaces where they are subject to a union monopoly bargaining agreement, which means all five have been forced to accept the union’s so-called «representation.» The teachers work in school districts in Waukesha, Milwaukee, La Crosse, Racine, and Elmbrook.

Wisconsin Act 10 prevents government sector union officials from forcing nonmember workers to pay any union fees, restricts union monopoly bargaining to the issue of employee wages, ends the use of taxpayer funded payroll systems for the collection of union dues, and guarantees that public workers will vote on their union representation yearly.

In compliance with the court’s judgment approving the settlement, the WERC began conducting secret-ballot recertification elections on November 29, 2013.

Last week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a ruling vacating the Dane County Circuit Court judge’s order that had prohibited the WERC from conducting recertification elections.

«Many independent-minded civil servants have no interest in associating with government sector unions and they deserve to have their voices heard,» said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. «Act 10 protects those workers’ right to do so and now these civil servants will be allowed to participate in the elections that they were promised to express their interests regarding union representation.»

Indiana Regional Medical Center Nurse Files Federal Charges Against Union and Hospital

Union officials threaten worker to join union or lose her job

Indiana, PA (December 4, 2013) – An Indiana Regional Medical Center nurse has filed a federal unfair labor practice charge against her employer and a local nurse union for violating her rights.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Joanna Smith of Clymer filed the charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Starting in August 2003, Smith worked as a per diem float nurse, a position subject to the representation of the Indiana Registered Nurses Association (IRNA) Local 5120 union hierarchy. In June 2011, Smith was moved to a patient advocate position, which was not under the union monopoly bargaining control. Then, in November 2012, Smith returned to a float nurse position.

In her charge against the union, Smith alleges that in September 2013, an IRNA Local 5120 union official illegally demanded that she join the union as a condition of her employment.

Click here to read the full release.

Indiana, PA (December 4, 2013) – An Indiana Regional Medical Center nurse has filed a federal unfair labor practice charge against her employer and a local nurse union for violating her rights.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Joanna Smith of Clymer filed the charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Starting in August 2003, Smith worked as a per diem float nurse, a position subject to the representation of the Indiana Registered Nurses Association (IRNA) Local 5120 union hierarchy. In June 2011, Smith was moved to a patient advocate position, which was not under the union monopoly bargaining control. Then, in November 2012, Smith returned to a float nurse position.

In her charge against the union, Smith alleges that in September 2013, an IRNA Local 5120 union official illegally demanded that she join the union as a condition of her employment.

Under federal law, no worker can be forced to formally join a union. However, because Pennsylvania is not a Right to Work state, workers can be forced as a condition of employment to pay certain fees to a labor union.

IRNA Local 5120 union officials never informed Smith of her right to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership, a right upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Right to Work Foundation-won Communications Workers v. Beck case.

Smith also received a letter from her employer, which accompanied a union packet of IRNA Local 5120 union membership forms, which stated that she needed to return the union membership forms to her employer «ASAP.»

In her charge against the union, Smith requests that the NLRB order the IRNA Local 5120 union brass to inform all nurses under union monopoly bargaining control of their rights to refrain from union membership and retroactively allow workers to resign union membership and full dues payments.

«No worker should ever be forced to join or pay dues to an unwanted union just to get or keep a job,» said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. «This case underscores why Pennsylvania needs to pass a Right to Work law making union membership and dues payments completely voluntary.»

Twenty-four states have Right to Work protections for employees. Public polling shows that nearly 80 percent of Americans and union members support the Right to Work principle of voluntary unionism.

UAW Union Local Faces Charge for Harassing Thomas Built Buses Worker

Company management also faces charge for demanding worker join the union to get fair treatment

High Point, NC (December 4, 2013) – A local Thomas Built Buses worker has filed a federal charge against a local union for subjecting her to a campaign of harassment and intimidation because she exercised her right to refrain from union membership and inform her coworkers of their right to refrain.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Tracy McLaughlin filed the unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

United Auto Worker (UAW) Local 5287 union officials obtained monopoly bargaining powers over the workplace in 2006 after union and company officials cut a deal to force union «representation» on the workers without a secret-ballot election.

Click here to read the full release.

High Point, NC (December 4, 2013) – A local Thomas Built Buses worker has filed a federal charge against a local union for subjecting her to a campaign of harassment and intimidation because she exercised her right to refrain from union membership and inform her coworkers of their right to refrain.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Tracy McLaughlin filed the unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

United Auto Worker (UAW) Local 5287 union officials obtained monopoly bargaining powers over the workplace in 2006 after union and company officials cut a deal to force union «representation» on the workers without a secret-ballot election.

In her charge, McLaughlin states that union officials have harassed her because she has exercised her right under North Carolina’s popular Right to Work law to refrain from membership in, and dues payments to, the UAW Local 5287 union. McLaughlin states that she has also been harassed because she informs her coworkers of their right to refrain.

McLaughlin filed a charge in October 2013, against Thomas Built for turning a blind eye to the harassment. In that charge, McLaughlin recounted that in June 2013, Thomas Built management refused to address her claim that a union official falsely accused her of harassment in attempt to get her disciplined. Instead of providing her information on how to file internal company disciplinary charges, Thomas Built management instead suggested she get counseling.

McLaughlin also recounted in her charge against Thomas Built a September 2013 incident in which a union official falsely accused her of calling a union member a «terrorist» in an attempt to get her disciplined for her efforts in informing her coworkers of their rights under the state’s Right to Work law. After company management threatened to fire McLaughlin, she brought witnesses to substantiate her account of the incident. Company management ignored her account and the witnesses. When she asked why union members get to resolve their problems by presenting witnesses in a timely manner, company management told her that if she wanted representation, she would have to join the union.

«UAW union partisans are targeting a worker simply for exercising her First Amendment rights of speech and association,» said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. «These UAW union militants need to stop harassing workers who exercise their rights under North Carolina’s popular Right to Work law.»

FirstEnergy Worker Wins Federal Settlement from Local Electrical Worker Union

Union officials threatened worker to join union or lose her job

Reading, PA (December 5, 2013) – A FirstEnergy Corp. worker has won a federal settlement from a local union after she filed a charge against the union with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

The settlement comes after Deborah Adie of Orwigsburg filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In the charge, Adie stated that International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 777 union officials demanded she join the union or she would lose her job.

Click here to read the full release.

Reading, PA (December 5, 2013) – A FirstEnergy Corp. worker has won a federal settlement from a local union after she filed a charge against the union with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

The settlement comes after Deborah Adie of Orwigsburg filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). In the charge, Adie stated that International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 777 union officials demanded she join the union or she would lose her job.

Under federal law, no worker can be forced to formally join a labor union. However, because Pennsylvania is not a Right to Work state, workers can be forced, as a condition of employment, to pay certain union fees to keep their job. IBEW Local 777 union officials never informed Adie of her right to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership, a right upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Right to Work Foundation-won Communications Workers v. Beck case.

In mid-March, Adie wrote a letter to the union hierarchy in which she resigned her union membership and objected to paying full union dues. Despite her request, union officials refused to acknowledge her resignation, and they continued to collect full union dues from her paychecks.

In April, Adie was told by a union official that instead of her March resignation letter, she needed to fill out a union form in order to resign her membership. Because she failed to turn in the specific union form, she was notified that the union would not recognize her March resignation letter and would continue to take full union dues from her paychecks.

Under the terms of the settlement, union officials are required to return all illegally-seized union fees taken from Adie’s paycheck and to post a notice in the workplace notifying workers of their right to refrain from formal, full-dues-paying union membership.

«No worker should ever be forced to join or pay dues to an unwanted union just to get or keep a job,» said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. «This case underscores why Pennsylvania needs to pass a Right to Work law making union membership and dues payments completely voluntary.»

Twenty-four states have Right to Work protections for employees. Public polling shows that nearly 80 percent of Americans and union members support the Right to Work principle of voluntary unionism.

Former Rhode Island Nurse Files Brief in Obama NLRB «Recess Appointment» Supreme Court Case

Invalid Labor Board negates Supreme Court’s restrictions on union bosses’ power to force workers to pay for union politics

Washington, D.C. (November 25, 2013) – A former Warwick, Rhode Island nurse has filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the high-profile legal battle over President Barack Obama’s recent purported recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Jeanette Geary filed the amicus brief today with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

Foundation staff attorneys argue in the brief that the recess appointments are unconstitutional because the U.S. Senate was still in session per the body’s rules. Therefore the President could not make the appointments to the NLRB without Senate confirmation.

Click here to read the full release.