Labor Day Statement: «Union Officials Are Mounting A Billion Dollar Campaign to Reelect President Barack Obama»

Forced-dues funded billion dollar machine enables union officials to wield immense political clout, even though voluntary union membership continues to steadily decline

Washington, DC (August 31, 2012) – Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and National Right to Work Committee, released the following statement regarding this year’s Labor Day holiday.

«This Labor Day, many workers will enjoy a well-deserved long weekend. But as we celebrate with friends and family, union officials are mounting a billion dollar campaign to reelect President Barack Obama and elect more pro-forced unionism allies in Congress.

«Throughout the United States, tens of millions of American workers are already compelled to pay dues or fees to union officials as a condition of getting or keeping a job. And millions more workers are required by law to accept a union’s so-called ‘representation,’ even if they would rather negotiate with their employer themselves on their own merits.

«Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that Big Labor spends about four times on politics and lobbying than what was previously thought. This forced-dues funded billion dollar machine enables union officials to wield immense political clout, even though voluntary union membership continues to steadily decline.»

Click here to read the full statement.

Washington, DC (August 31, 2012) – Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and National Right to Work Committee, released the following statement regarding this year’s Labor Day holiday.

«This Labor Day, many workers will enjoy a well-deserved long weekend. But as we celebrate with friends and family, union officials are mounting a billion dollar campaign to reelect President Barack Obama and elect more pro-forced unionism allies in Congress.

«Throughout the United States, tens of millions of American workers are already compelled to pay dues or fees to union officials as a condition of getting or keeping a job. And millions more workers are required by law to accept a union’s so-called ‘representation,’ even if they would rather negotiate with their employer themselves on their own merits.

«Recently, the Wall Street Journal reported that Big Labor spends about four times on politics and lobbying than what was previously thought. This forced-dues funded billion dollar machine enables union officials to wield immense political clout, even though voluntary union membership continues to steadily decline.

«Today, union officials are going all out to obtain even more special privileges to further expand their forced-dues-paying ranks. Meanwhile, many workers feel they have little choice but to pay for Big Labor’s election campaigning, and many workers are unaware of their right to object.

«That’s why the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is providing free legal aid to thousands of employees nationwide seeking to get their money back. In fact, Foundation attorneys recently won a precedent-setting victory at the U.S. Supreme Court establishing for the first time that union officials must obtain affirmative consent from workers before using workers’ forced union fees for union politicking.

«This victory is an important step in the right direction and underscores the importance of holding politicians accountable on the issue of forced unionism in the coming national elections. The National Right to Work Committee is mobilizing its 2.6 million members to call on candidates to support greater workplace freedoms, including supporting the National Right to Work Act.»

South Carolina Boeing Employees Appeal Federal Machinist Union Discrimination Case

Union bosses abused process to force Boeing to locate production in union facility in non-Right to Work Washington State

Washington, DC (August 21, 2012) – Two Charleston, South Carolina, Boeing company (NYSE: BA) employees filed a federal appeal in their high-profile case against the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union.

The employees filed the appeal with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Washington, D.C., with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

The NLRB regional office in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, dismissed the workers’ federal charges in late July.

The workers were denied participation in the hearing that concluded the case even though they were granted intervenor status by the NLRB in Washington, D.C. The workers then filed a federal charge against the IAM and its Local 751 union alleging that union officials had abused the NLRB’s adjudicative process by bullying Boeing into contract concessions and guaranteeing production of the company’s 737 Max and future airplane production in Washington State, which does not have a Right to Work law.

Click here to read the full release.

Washington, DC (August 21, 2012) – Two Charleston, South Carolina, Boeing company (NYSE: BA) employees filed a federal appeal in their high-profile case against the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union.

The employees filed the appeal with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Washington, D.C., with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

The NLRB regional office in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, dismissed the workers’ federal charges in late July.

The workers were denied participation in the hearing that concluded the case even though they were granted intervenor status by the NLRB in Washington, D.C. The workers then filed a federal charge against the IAM and its Local 751 union alleging that union officials had abused the NLRB’s adjudicative process by bullying Boeing into contract concessions and guaranteeing production of the company’s 737 Max and future airplane production in Washington State, which does not have a Right to Work law.

The employees also alleged that the IAM union bosses’ strong-arming of Boeing had a chilling effect on Boeing and other companies, deterring them from locating work in South Carolina and other Right to Work states where workers cannot be forced to join or pay fees to a union as a job condition.

Another of the workers’ charges detailed how IAM union bosses retaliated against the Charleston workers after the workers at the Boeing Dreamliner plant expelled the IAM from their workplace before the production line was located there.

The charges pointed out that if the IAM union hierarchy still had a presence in the South Carolina plant, then the South Carolina workers’ jobs would not have been at risk. Even NLRB Acting General Counsel Lafe Solomon – who issued the NLRB’s complaint against Boeing – admitted in Congressional testimony that it was inconceivable that IAM union officials would have pursued charges against Boeing if workers had not removed the union from their workplace.

«The IAM union bosses’ dangerous abuse of federal labor law, which is supposedly intended to protect the rights of individual workers, has set a devastating precedent to discourage job providers from locating work in states with Right to Work laws on the books – the very states luring job providers and independent-minded workers alike,» said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work.

Mechanic Challenges Obama Recess Appointments in Federal Court

Right to Work Foundation attorneys argue purported recess appointments are invalid because Senate was not in actual recess

Columbus, OH (August 17, 2012) – A Columbus-area Center City International Trucks mechanic is challenging in federal court President Barack Obama’s recent purported recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Kyle Chilton filed his legal challenge with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on Friday.

Chilton’s case stems from a battle over a petition he and his coworkers signed asking for a vote to remove the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union from his workplace. A three-member panel of the NLRB dismissed Chilton’s petition. The decision means that Chilton and his coworkers cannot submit another petition for at least three years. Two of Obama’s three purported recess appointments to the Board participated on the panel.

Click here to read the full release.

Columbus, OH (August 17, 2012) – A Columbus-area Center City International Trucks mechanic is challenging in federal court President Barack Obama’s recent purported recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Kyle Chilton filed his legal challenge with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on Friday.

Chilton’s case stems from a battle over a petition he and his coworkers signed asking for a vote to remove the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union from his workplace. A three-member panel of the NLRB dismissed Chilton’s petition. The decision means that Chilton and his coworkers cannot submit another petition for at least three years. Two of Obama’s three purported recess appointments to the Board participated on the panel.

Foundation staff attorneys argue in their complaint 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.

If Foundation attorneys’ argument that the Obama’s NLRB appointments are unconstitutional prevails, then the Board has only two valid members. The Board would then lack a quorum to enact rules or enforce federal labor law under a U.S. Supreme Court precedent established in 2010.

Foundation attorneys also filed a brief on Monday in the case Center for Social Change, Inc. v. NLRB, pending now before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Another important legal challenge to the Obama recess appointments is a Foundation case pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago. That case is among the first in the nation to reach the appellate courts challenging the Obama recess appointments and will help set the standard for all further challenges.

«Barack Obama’s so-called recess appointments to the Labor Board clearly violate the U.S. Constitution,» said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. «Because the Board does not have a legitimate quorum, it must cease handing down rulings until a legitimate quorum is established.»

Minneapolis, MN (August 16, 2012) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, a New Brighton Ford journeyman technician has filed a federal appeal with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Washington, D.C.

Dylan McHenry of Hammond, Wisconsin, filed the appeal after the NLRB Regional Office in Minneapolis partially dismissed his federal charge that the Teamsters Local 974 union illegally confiscated union dues payments from his paychecks for political activism and refused to follow federal disclosure requirements.

Because Minnesota does not have Right to Work protections making union affiliation completely voluntary, McHenry is still forced to pay fees to the union to keep his job. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Foundation’s Communication Workers of America v. Beck case that workers are not required to pay union dues or fees for union boss political activities, lobbying, and member-only events.

Union officials must also provide workers with an independently-audited financial breakdown of all forced-dues union expenditures. This procedural safeguard helps inform workers of how their forced union dues are being spent and makes it less difficult for workers to hold union officials accountable.

After McHenry resigned from formal union membership, Teamster union officials provided him with an incomplete breakdown of union expenditures. The union was taking money from McHenry’s paychecks for the Teamster hierarchy’s political action committee – a clear violation of federal law.

The NLRB Regional Director dismissed the charge after Local 974 union officials claimed the illegal dues payments were a «mistake.» The regional office refused to direct the union to refund the illegally-seized union dues or impose any other punishment against the union, even though the illegal extractions continue.

«Teamster union officials were caught red-handed illegally taking workers’ hard-earned money for the union bosses’ political agenda. Yet, the NLRB regional office in Minneapolis is allowing them to get away with it,» said Mark Mix, National Right to Work President. «To prevent these types of forced unionism abuses in the future, Minnesota needs to pass a Right to Work law making union affiliation and dues payments completely voluntary.

Twenty-three states have Right to Work protections for their workers. Recent public polling shows that 80 percent of Americans and union members support the Right to Work principle of voluntary unionism.

Ready-Mix Concrete Worker Seeks to Break Free of Teamster Union Dues Scheme

Teamsters refuse to follow federal disclosure requirements

Goshen, IN (August 15, 2012) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, an Eagle Ready Mix concrete worker has filed a federal charge against a local Teamster union for violating his rights.

Edward Chupp of Goshen filed the charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) earlier this month.

Chauffeurs, Teamsters and Helpers Local 364 union officials never informed workers of their rights, including their right to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership as upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Foundation-won Communications Workers v. Beck case.

Click here to read the full release.

Goshen, IN (August 15, 2012) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, an Eagle Ready Mix concrete worker has filed a federal charge against a local Teamster union for violating his rights.

Edward Chupp of Goshen filed the charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) earlier this month.

Chauffeurs, Teamsters and Helpers Local 364 union officials never informed workers of their rights, including their right to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership as upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Foundation-won Communications Workers v. Beck case.

In May, Chupp informed the union that he was exercising his right under Beck to refrain from formal, full-dues-paying union membership.

Although Indiana’s recently-enacted Right to Work law states that no employee can be required to pay union dues as a condition of employment, forced dues contracts between unions and employers entered into prior to the effective date of the law remain in force throughout the state. Therefore, Chupp still must pay a portion of union dues to keep his job until a new contract goes into effect. However, Chupp cannot be compelled to pay the portion of union dues used for political, lobbying, and member-only activities.

Despite his resignation, Teamsters Local 364 union officials continue to confiscate full union dues from his paychecks.

Additionally, union officials refuse to provide Chupp the financial disclosure required by federal law to ensure that workers are not illegally paying for union boss political activities and union member-only events.

«Teamster union officials are extracting full union dues from workers who want to exercise their rights to refrain from formal union membership,» said Patrick Semmens, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. «This illegal action must stop.»

Wisconsin Civil Servants Defend Governor’s Public-Sector Unionism Reforms in Federal Court

Workers ask court to uphold reform measure protecting most Badger State public workers from forced unionism

Chicago, IL (August 14, 2012) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, three Wisconsin public employees asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit to uphold all of Governor Scott Walker’s public-sector unionism reform measures, known as «Act 10.»

Pleasant Prairie teacher Kristi Lacroix, Waukesha high school teacher Nathan Berish, and trust fund specialist at the Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds Ricardo Cruz filed their reply brief Monday.

The workers, who are forced to accept the «representation» of union officials, want instead the freedom to represent themselves with their employers. The workers are challenging a lower court judge’s ruling striking down Wisconsin’s new union recertification requirements and the ban on the use of taxpayer funded-payroll systems to collect union dues for general employees, as well as excluding them from the case.

Click here to read the full release.