Winston-Salem, N.C. (June 30, 2004) ¯ In a potentially precedent setting action, the Regional Director of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has decided to prosecute the nation’s largest automotive union and Freightliner for illegally coercing workers to sign union recognition cards at the Thomas Built Bus facility in High Point, N.C., during a recent union organizing drive. Upon learning of the NLRB’s decision, Freightliner officials initially announced that they «suspended recognition» of the union — but quickly backpedalled, stating that they would merely «put everything on hold.»

The NLRB’s decision to issue a formal complaint comes in response to unfair labor practice charges filed by National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys on behalf of Thomas Built employee Jeff Ward after his employer granted United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials wide access to company facilities. The employer and UAW officials jointly conducted mandatory pro-union “captive audience speeches” to coerce the plant’s workers to sign union recognition cards pursuant to the so-called “neutrality agreement.”

The decision to prosecute the union and Freightliner for unfair labor practices comes shortly after roughly 400 Thomas Built workers filed a petition demanding a secret ballot decertification election to strip UAW union officials of their newly granted “exclusive representation” power over roughly 1,100 of the company’s employees.

The illegal actions come after UAW union operatives pressured Freightliner, Thomas Built’s parent company, to sign a so-called “neutrality agreement” that prohibits a traditional and less abusive secret ballot election process in favor of a coercive “card check” campaign. Under the agreement, union organizers were given full access to employees’ personal information and company facilities to browbeat workers into signing union recognition cards that were counted as “votes” for unionization. Employees complained of “captive audience” speeches during which UAW officials coerced employees to sign cards.

The NLRB will prosecute the UAW for use of these coercive “captive audience” speeches, and Freightliner for granting UAW operatives sweeping access to Thomas Built facilities during work hours for the purposes of browbeating workers into signing union recognition cards. These actions rendered the so-called “card check” coercive and invalid.

“Until today, the NLRB’s general counsel and subordinate offices have failed to take action addressing the abuses under ‘neutrality agreements’ and ‘card check’ drives. This a small but encouraging first step towards protecting the rights of thousands of workers across the country facing this coercive union organizing tactic,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Workers ought to be able to decide their own representation in an atmosphere free of coercion from their employer and union officials.”

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in more than 250 cases nationwide per year.