Chicago, IL (August 1, 2012) – A State Street Macy’s Walnut Room restaurant worker has filed a federal charge against a local union for intimidating her and violating her rights.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Kathi Szkolny filed the federal charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the Chicago and Midwest Regional Joint Board, Workers United Local 2745 union on Monday.

Workers United Local 2745 union officials illegally misinformed workers that they must pay full union dues to keep their jobs. Union officials refused to inform workers of their right under Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent in Communication Workers v. Beck to refrain from full dues paying union membership.

In Beck, the Court held that workers who refrain from union membership cannot be forced to pay for union activities unrelated to workplace bargaining, such as politics and political lobbying. Additionally, union officials are required to provide audited financial disclosure of union expenditures to inform workers who refrain from union membership of how their forced dues are being spent.

Despite the union bosses’ misinformation, Szkolny exercised her right to refrain from formal union membership. However, because Illinois does not have Right to Work protections making union affiliation completely voluntary, she is still forced to pay part of forced union dues to keep her job.

Union officials have refused to provide the adequate disclosure to ensure that nonmember restaurant workers are fully aware of the amount of forced union fees the union hierarchy can legally confiscate from their paychecks.

Instead, union officials are demanding that Szkolny pay nearly $1,000 in full union dues by August 1 or be fired from her job.

«Workers United Local 2745 union officials are intimidating workers and keeping workers in the dark about their rights in order to keep their forced-dues gravy train going,» said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. «Illinois desperately needs a Right to Work law to protect workers from unscrupulous union bosses.»

Hartford, CT (August 2, 2012) – A Connecticut state trooper has filed a state charge against a local union for violating his rights.

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, state police trooper Marc Lamberty of Hartford County filed the charge with the Connecticut State Board of Labor Relations.

In June 2011, Lamberty resigned from formal union membership in the Connecticut State Police Union and invoked his right to refrain from paying full union dues.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Foundation’s Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson (1986) case that union officials can collect union fees as a condition of employment, but must first provide nonmember public workers with an independently-audited financial breakdown of all forced-dues union expenditures and the opportunity to object and challenge the amount of forced union fees before an impartial decision maker. This minimal safeguard is designed to ensure that workers have an opportunity to refrain from paying for union boss political activities and union member-only events.

Union officials continue to deduct full union dues from the officer’s paychecks as if he is a union member. After Lamberty sent a letter requesting that union officials acknowledge his rights and provide him with the financial breakdown of the union’s expenditures, union bosses refunded only three months of the illegally-taken money and promised to provide the required disclosure documents.

To date, union officials refuse to return the rest of the illegally-taken union dues to the trooper, provide him with a breakdown of union expenditures and give him an opportunity to challenge the forced union fees before an independent third party.

Lamberty seeks refunds of the amount of forced union dues payments illegally taken from his paychecks and to enjoin future collection of any dues until union officials comply with the requirements the Supreme Court established in Hudson.

«Again and again union officials keep rank-and-file workers in the dark to keep their forced-dues gravy train going,» said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. «To prevent these types of forced unionism abuses in the future, Connecticut needs to pass a Right to Work law making union affiliation and dues payments completely voluntary for all of its workers.»

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

Orange, CA (August 3, 2012) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, Chapman Medical Center workers have won federal settlements that will remove unwanted Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Workers West officials’ representation from their workplace.

Chapman management and SEIU officials have signed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) settlements after Marlene Felter of Costa Mesa filed charges with the agency in response to SEIU organizers colluding with Chapman management to illegally rig a union organizing «vote» to pave the way for the union to claim to «represent» the workers. Under the settlements, SEIU must give up its «exclusive representation» and Chapman will publicly withdraw recognition of the union.

SEIU and hospital officials entered into a backroom deal, known as a so-called «neutrality agreement,» in which hospital management granted union operatives access to company facilities to conduct a coercive «card check» organizing campaign, and waived the right to have a federally-supervised secret ballot election to determine whether employees wished to be unionized. Union organizers frequently use «card check» organizing tactics to bribe, browbeat, or cajole workers into union representation and forced-union-dues payments against their will.

In response to the union’s coercive tactics, a majority of hospital workers signed cards, letters, and petitions stating that they did not want the SEIU bosses’ so-called «representation.» Instead of respecting the employees’ wishes, Chapman management accepted SEIU officials as the workers’ monopoly bargaining agents after a rigged «card count» was held. Chapman and SEIU officials were in the process of negotiating a contract which almost certainly would include a provision to force the workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment, because California does not have a Right to Work law that makes union membership and dues payment strictly voluntary.

The NLRB Regional Office subpoenaed records from SEIU and found that SEIU union bosses illegally claimed to represent the Chapman workers without majority support.

«Chapman and SEIU officials colluded to shove SEIU union bosses’ ‘representation’ – and with it forced dues payments – down workers’ throats,» said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work. «Schemes like this show that the ultimate goal of union officials is more forced dues collected from workers, even when rank-and-file employees want nothing to do with the union. This further makes the case that California desperately needs a Right to Work law on the books making union affiliation completely voluntary.»

Federal Settlement Will Force SEIU to Leave Local Hospital Workers Alone

Union organizers conspired to force healthcare workers into union ranks using coercive «card check» tactics

Orange, CA (August 3, 2012) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, Chapman Medical Center workers have won federal settlements that will remove unwanted Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Workers West officials’ representation from their workplace.

Chapman management and SEIU officials have signed National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) settlements after Marlene Felter of Costa Mesa filed charges with the agency in response to SEIU organizers colluding with Chapman management to illegally rig a union organizing «vote» to pave the way for the union to claim to «represent» the workers. Under the settlements, SEIU must give up its «exclusive representation» and Chapman will publicly withdraw recognition of the union.

Click here to read the full release.

Worker Advocate Challenges Obama Recess Appointments in Federal Court

Attorneys argue purported recess appointments are invalid because Senate was not in actual recess

Washington, DC (August 13, 2012) – National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys filed a brief in the high-profile legal battle over President Barack Obama’s recent purported recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Foundation attorneys filed the amicus curiae 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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.