Jacksonville, FL (November 22, 2004) – Local United Parcel Service (UPS) workers filed federal unfair labor practice charges against Teamsters Union Local 385 today after union officials repeatedly failed to accept their resignations from the union and continued to deduct full union dues from their paychecks.

Johnny Bass, Kenneth Johnson, James Jones, Tina Kelly, Michael Ellis, and Diane Jeppson obtained free legal assistance from attorneys with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and filed the charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after union officials repeatedly refused to honor the employees’ freedom of association rights.

The employees allege that the Teamsters union practices are part of a pattern of discrimination against similarly situated employees who wish to exercise their rights to refrain from union affiliation. A prosecution would likely force union officials to honor the resignations of all dissenting employees at the Jacksonville facility and refund any unlawfully seized dues. The NLRB will now investigate the charges and decide whether to issue a formal complaint in the case.

“Union officials want workers like these to simply shut up and pay up,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Rather than offering employees services to compete for representation rights, union officials are unlawfully corralling workers into union collectives.”

The actions of Teamsters officials violated employee rights explicitly recognized under the U.S. Supreme Court Pattern Makers v. NLRB decision. Under Pattern Makers and subsequent NLRB rulings, union officials are obligated to honor the resignation of employees from a union at any time.

Additionally, Teamsters officials violated the spirit of Florida’s highly-popular Right to Work law, on the books since 1968, which prevents workers from having to join or pay dues to an unwanted union.

“Unfortunately, even in states like Florida where Right to Work protections exist, workers continue to face the heavy-handed tactics of union officials,” said Gleason.

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.