WVUH Employee’s Persistence Finally Forces Union Bosses to Abide by Federal Settlement

Case shows why West Virginia’s workers need Right to Work protections

Morgantown, WV (February 28, 2013) – A West Virginia University Hospital employee has finally received justice under a federal settlement after union officials failed to abide by the settlement for months.

With aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, Kimberly Wright filed a series of federal charges against a local union for refusing to honor her resignation from formal union membership, forcing her to pay full union dues against her will, and failing to provide the legally-required disclosure of how her forced dues are being spent.

Click here to read the full release.

Morgantown, WV (February 28, 2013) – A West Virginia University Hospital employee has finally received justice under a federal settlement after union officials failed to abide by the settlement for months.

With aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, Kimberly Wright filed a series of federal charges against a local union for refusing to honor her resignation from formal union membership, forcing her to pay full union dues against her will, and failing to provide the legally-required disclosure of how her forced dues are being spent.

Wright initially resigned formal union membership from the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 814 in December 2010. Wright exercised her rights under the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court precedent in Communications Workers v. Beck, which allows workers to refrain from full dues paying union membership.

Because West Virginia does not have a Right to Work law on the books, workers can still be compelled to pay a part of union dues despite refraining from formal union membership. For months following her resignation, LIUNA Local 814 union bosses continued to collect full union dues from Wright’s paychecks and refused to provide her with a breakdown of how her forced dues are being spent.

After Wright filed a charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Board reached a settlement with the union officials. However, LIUNA Local 814 union officials continued to collect full union dues from Wright’s paychecks despite the settlement, forcing her to file another charge with the NLRB. The second charge was settled in September 2012.

The union again failed to abide by the settlement for months and continued to collect full union dues. Finally, after Wright and her Foundation staff attorneys requested that the Board revoke the settlement and issue a complaint due to the union bosses’ non-compliance, union officials relented, refunding 26 months of overcharges to Wright and providing audits of the union’s books and records.

«Despite two federal settlements, LIUNA Local 814 union officials ignored Kimberly Wright’s rights for months on end, but they still have the power to compel her to pay union dues or fees as a condition of her employment,» said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work. «This case shows that workers need Right to Work protections 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.

Workers File Suit After Company and Union Violate Utah’s Right to Work Law

Union officials confiscate nearly $10,000 in illegal union dues

Salt Lake City, UT (February 25, 2013) – Four Progress Rail Services Corporation workers have filed a lawsuit alleging the company and a local union violated their rights under Utah’s popular Right to Work law and illegally coerced them into paying thousands of dollars in union dues.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, the four workers – Bryan Rees, James Rogers, Richard Simone, and Jason Wilson – filed the lawsuit against Progress Rail and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen/International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local 6601 union in the Third Judicial District Court in Salt Lake County.

IAM Local 6601 union officials enjoy monopoly bargaining powers over the workplace. In about May 2006, Local 6601 union officials and Progress Rail, which repairs railroad cars, negotiated a contract that contained a forced dues clause that requires all covered employees to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. However, under Utah’s Right to Work law, workers cannot be compelled to pay union dues or fees to get or keep a job.

Click here to read the full release.

Salt Lake City, UT (February 25, 2013) – Four Progress Rail Services Corporation workers have filed a lawsuit alleging the company and a local union violated their rights under Utah’s popular Right to Work law and illegally coerced them into paying thousands of dollars in union dues.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, the four workers – Bryan Rees, James Rogers, Richard Simone, and Jason Wilson – filed the lawsuit against Progress Rail and the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen/International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local 6601 union in the Third Judicial District Court in Salt Lake County.

IAM Local 6601 union officials enjoy monopoly bargaining powers over the workplace. In about May 2006, Local 6601 union officials and Progress Rail, which repairs railroad cars, negotiated a contract that contained a forced dues clause that requires all covered employees to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. However, under Utah’s Right to Work law, workers cannot be compelled to pay union dues or fees to get or keep a job.

All four workers allege in the suit that when they started working at Progress Rail at various dates between December of 2005 and August 2011, union officials informed them that union membership and full dues payments were a condition of their employment. As a result, union officials confiscated up to nearly $10,000 in illegal union dues payments from the workers’ paychecks until October 2012, months after the workers found out about their rights under Utah’s Right to Work law.

Under Utah’s Right to Work law, workers have the unconditional right refrain from union membership and dues payments.

«For years, IAM Local 6601 union bosses kept workers in the dark about their rights and took thousands of dollars of their hard-earned money in violation of Utah’s popular Right to Work law,» said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. «The union’s careless disregard for these workers’ rights underscores the need for more states to pass Right to Work protections for their workers.»

Utah enacted its Right to Work law in 1955. 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.

Teacher Wins Settlement after Union Bosses Violate Her Constitutional Rights

Case shows why Act 10 is needed to protect state workers

Madison, WI (February 21, 2013) – A former Greenwood, Wisconsin teacher has won a settlement from a local teacher union and the school district for refusing to honor her rights under Act 10, and for failing to follow constitutional disclosure requirements.

In September, Amy Anaya filed two complaints with the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

Anaya was a School District of Greenwood teacher for a year, beginning in August 2011, after Act 10 was enacted. In September 2011, Greenwood Education Association (GEA) union officials approached Anaya and illegally told her that she «had to» sign the union’s membership form. Anaya informed them that she had no desire to become a member of the union.

Click here to read the full release.

Madison, WI (February 21, 2013) – A former Greenwood, Wisconsin teacher has won a settlement from a local teacher union and the school district for refusing to honor her rights under Act 10, and for failing to follow constitutional disclosure requirements.

In September, Amy Anaya filed two complaints with the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

Anaya was a School District of Greenwood teacher for a year, beginning in August 2011, after Act 10 was enacted. In September 2011, Greenwood Education Association (GEA) union officials approached Anaya and illegally told her that she «had to» sign the union’s membership form. Anaya informed them that she had no desire to become a member of the union.

In December 2011, GEA union officials again demanded that Anaya join the union, and Anaya again informed them that she was not interested in joining. Under Wisconsin’s Act 10 public-sector unionism reforms, a nonmember has the right to refrain from paying any union dues or fees as a condition of their employment.

Moreover, the U.S. Supreme Court has long held that a worker has a First Amendment right to refrain from formal union membership at any time. With passage of Act 10, no Wisconsin teacher can be forced to pay any union dues or fees as a job condition.

The union failed to provide Anaya with her U.S. Supreme Court-mandated constitutional protections and the school district deducted full union dues from her paychecks for the entire year.

Under the settlement, Anaya received a refund of most of the illegally-seized union dues.

«Teacher union bosses and school officials ignored state law and U.S. Supreme Court precedent to illegally coerce this teacher into full dues paying union ranks against her will,» said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work. «This case underscores just how important Act 10 is in protecting Wisconsin public employees from forced unionism abuses such as this.»

«No worker should ever be forced to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment,» added Mix. «We hope that the Governor and the legislature will work quickly to provide these protections to Wisconsin’s private sector workforce, too.»

Toledo, OH (February 13, 2013) – With the help of National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, a Nova Services employee has filed unfair labor practice charges against the Ironworkers Local 55 union for attempting to bribe and threaten him and his coworkers into supporting a recent union organizing drive.

Fifteen other Nova Services employees have also retained a Foundation staff attorney to represent them.

Ironworkers Local 55 is currently engaged in an aggressive organizing campaign at Nova Services facilities. In August 2012, a union official told employees at an organizing meeting that he could provide them with legal immigration status in exchange for supporting the union. Union operatives also made similar offers individually to at least six employees.

Later that month, union officials threatened to report their employer’s immigration violations if employees failed to support the Ironworkers’ organizing drive. Union officials have continued to make similar threats and offers over the past six months.

The charge details how union organizers also resorted to outright bribery to obtain employee support. In August, one union organizer offered a worker $50,000 in exchange for supporting the union’s campaign. Another worker was offered $3,000 to back the union. Other employees were offered weekly payments and waivers for union initiation fees.

The charges will now be investigated by the National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency responsible for administering private-sector labor law.

“Instead of making a straightforward case to employees for their union, Ironworker operatives resorted to threats and outright bribery,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “The union’s underhanded strategy once again emphasizes the importance of secret ballot elections in the workplace, which ensure that employees are free from threats, bribery, or coercion when making their decision about whether or not to support a union.”

Local Cleaning Service Union Forced to Clean Up Its Act in Ongoing Federal Labor Dispute

Case underscores need for Massachusetts Right to Work law

Boston, MA (February 14, 2013) – Workers caught in a battle between a local union and Lynn-based Complete Cleaning, Inc. have won a federal settlement from the union after union officials illegally claimed to have monopoly bargaining privileges over the workers.

The settlement stems from federal unfair labor practice charges filed by Complete Cleaning worker Jairo Hernandez of Lynn against Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 615. Hernandez filed the charges with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

SEIU Local 615 officials tried to claim monopoly bargaining privileges over Complete Cleaning’s workers even though workers nearly unanimously oppose the union hierarchy in their workplace. Under federal law, it is illegal for a union to claim monopoly bargaining powers over a workplace without support of the employees.

Click here to read the full release.

Boston, MA (February 14, 2013) – Workers caught in a battle between a local union and Lynn-based Complete Cleaning, Inc. have won a federal settlement from the union after union officials illegally claimed to have monopoly bargaining privileges over the workers.

The settlement stems from federal unfair labor practice charges filed by Complete Cleaning worker Jairo Hernandez of Lynn against Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 615. Hernandez filed the charges with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

SEIU Local 615 officials tried to claim monopoly bargaining privileges over Complete Cleaning’s workers even though workers nearly unanimously oppose the union hierarchy in their workplace. Under federal law, it is illegal for a union to claim monopoly bargaining powers over a workplace without support of the employees.

Furthermore, the SEIU filed federal charges against Complete Cleaning in an attempt to force the employer to negotiate a contract with the union. The workers feared that, because Massachusetts does not have a Right to Work law making union dues payments strictly voluntary, SEIU officials would have demanded a contract that would force Complete Cleaning’s workers into union dues payments against their will.

Hernandez filed the charges for himself and his coworkers with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office in Boston. The settlement requires the SEIU union hierarchy to stop trying to claim monopoly bargaining powers over the workers unless and until it can show that it has majority employee support.

«“SEIU officials attempted to exploit their special government-granted privilege to clean these Complete Cleaning workers’ pockets of forced union dues,» said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. «Massachusetts needs a Right to Work law to make it less difficult for workers to keep predatory union bosses in check.»

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

Washington, DC (February 13, 2013) – Ray LaJeunesse, Vice President and Legal Director of the National Right to Work Foundation, testified today before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce about the need to more vigorously enforce employees’ rights to refrain from funding union politics.

LaJeunesse, who has over 40 years of experience on the Foundation’s legal staff and has argued four cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, repeatedly criticized the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for its lax enforcement of the rights of workers who wish to refrain from union affiliation. Under the Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent Communication Workers v. Beck, private sector employees have the right to refrain from paying for union activities unrelated to workplace bargaining, such as members-only events and union political activism.

However, LaJeunesse pointed out that the Board has permitted union officials to erect a number of bureaucratic hurdles that discourage independent-minded employees from asserting their Beck rights. LaJeunesse noted that many unions now require employees to annually renew their objections to union political spending during a designated “window period,” a practice that allows union officials to continue extracting full dues from nonunion employees if they miss an arbitrary filing deadline.

Moreover, the Board has recently held that nonunion employees can be charged for organizing activities and political lobbying for “goals that are germane to collective bargaining.” This elastic interpretation of the Supreme Court’s Beck standard undermines the ability of nonunion employees to refrain from funding ideological and organizing activities they may disagree with.

“In sum, the problem is systemic,” concluded LaJeunesse. “The Board has dismally failed to protect workers’ Beck rights. Indeed, the current Board seems bent on totally eviscerating those rights.”

“As our Legal Director noted in his testimony before Congress, the Board has shown a total disregard for the rights of independent-minded employees,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “We hope this testimony will serve as a wake-up call to concerned citizens worried about the Board’s pro-forced unionism bias.”

The full testimony can be found here.