Denver, Colo. (January 26, 2005) – Qwest Communications (Qwest) announced late yesterday that it and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union will drop their recent attempt to force mandatory union affiliation on approximately 1,000 Qwest employees nationwide.

The announcement comes after attorneys with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation helped roughly a dozen Qwest employees file unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) opposing their forced unionization.

In October 2004, Qwest unlawfully recognized the CWA union as the monopoly bargaining representative of Qwest’s National Network Service employees simply by “accreting” them into a previously existing unionized bargaining unit. Foundation attorneys aided National Network Service workers from across the country in filing unfair labor practice charges in December 2004, citing that these workers had historically been excluded from the bargaining unit, and that union officials had never proven that the union enjoyed a majority of support among those workers as required by law.

Despite these facts, Qwest ceded CWA union officials monopoly bargaining power over the terms and conditions of employment of National Network Service workers. And, Qwest also gave them authorization to seize forced union dues from the paychecks of workers in states that do not have Right to Work laws. A Right to Work law secures the right of employees to decide for themselves whether or not to join or financially support a union. So far, 22 states have enacted such protections.

The workers also charged their employer and the union with unlawfully imposing a wage cut on them as a result of the CWA union’s unlawful recognition.

“No one should be forced to join or pay dues to a union, especially when union officials abuse that government-granted special privilege,” stated Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “While this is an encouraging victory for Qwest workers, it’s an outrage that their employer conspired with CWA officials to deny them the freedom to decide their own representation in the first place.”

Although Qwest’s National Network Service workers are spread throughout the country, most of the workers that filed charges hail from the Northeast and Northwest regions.

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.