YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (June 27, 2001) — A dozen hospital employees at Youngstown’s St. Elizabeth Health Center today filed federal charges against officials of the Teamsters Local 377 union for refusing to accept their resignations and for failing to properly notify them of their right to pay less than full union dues.
The employees filed the unfair labor practice charges with the assistance of National Right to Work Foundation attorneys on behalf of all bargaining unit employees with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
«Teamsters officers are shaking down these employees simply because they exercised their right not to support the union,» said Randy Wanke, Director of Legal Information for the National Right to Work Foundation, a charitable organization that provides free legal aid to victims of compulsory unionism abuse.
Officials of the Youngstown-based union refused to accept employees’ written resignations from union membership and told employees that they must pay all «back dues» before the union would even consider their resignations. The charges also state that Local Teamsters union officials used payroll deductions to collect alleged «preexisting debt arrearages» that the union could not lawfully obligate the workers to pay under its forced unionism clause.
Under the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court Communications Workers v. Beck decision, workers may resign from union membership at any time and pay only for the union’s proven collective bargaining costs.
Foundation attorneys are demanding that all illegally seized forced union dues be returned to the employees and that Teamsters Local 377 officials notify all St. Elizabeth employees of their rights.
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.
