Goshen, IN (December 3, 2012) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, a former Eagle Ready Mix concrete worker has won a settlement from a local Teamster union for violating his rights.

Edward Chupp of Goshen originally filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) because Teamster Local 364 union officials never informed Eagle Ready Mix 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.

In May, Chupp had informed the union that he was exercising his right under Beck to refrain from formal, full-dues-paying union membership.

Although Indiana’s recently-enacted Right to Work law states that no employee can be required to pay union dues as a condition of employment, forced dues contracts between unions and employers entered into prior to the effective date of the law remain in force throughout the state. Therefore, Chupp was forced to pay a part of union dues to keep his job at the time. However, Chupp could not be compelled to pay the part of union dues used for political, lobbying, and member-only activities.

Despite Chupp’s resignation in May, Teamsters Local 364 union officials failed to acknowledge his resignation and continued to confiscate full union dues from his paychecks. Additionally, union officials refused to provide Chupp with the financial disclosure and procedural rights required by federal law to ensure that workers are not illegally paying for union boss political activities and member-only events.

Under the terms of the settlement, Teamster Local 364 union officials agreed to refund Chupp the illegally-taken union dues from his paychecks and post a notice in the workplace informing workers of their rights to refrain from full dues-paying union membership.

“Teamster union officials were caught extracting full union dues from workers who wanted to exercise their rights,” said Patrick Semmens, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Fortunately, Indiana’s new Right to Work law breaks workers free from the shackles of affiliating and paying dues to a union hierarchy like Teamsters Local 364 that otherwise would keep workers in the dark about their rights if they could get away with it.”

Indiana became the nation’s 23rd Right to Work state earlier this year.

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.