Springfield, Va. (April 15, 2005) – The following is a statement of Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, in response to the preliminary upholding of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union’s “neutrality agreement” with Dana Corporation by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

“The ALJ’s wrongheaded ruling will allow us swiftly to bring this case before an NLRB that has already indicated that it has a dim view of ‘card check’ agreements and the attendant violation of the principle of employee free choice.

“We are extremely confident our forthcoming appeal will succeed, because the ALJ’s decision ignores 40 years of established Board precedent. It is simply unlawful for UAW officials to bargain over the wages and working conditions of workers when a majority of workers have not selected the union.

“In the Dana agreement, the UAW hierarchy made explicit concessions as to workers’ wages and benefits in exchange for active company assistance in coercing employees to unionize. And then they kept the pact secret from the employees those concessions would hurt.

“This case presents a classic example of an employer choosing the union it wants to represent its employees, working with union officials to coerce employee support for it, and negotiating basic contract terms in advance.

“In their rush to establish the UAW as the monopoly representative of the employees at Dana in St. Johns, Michigan, UAW and Dana officials trampled upon fundamental employee rights guaranteed by federal labor law.”

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.