High Point, N.C. (April 14, 2004) – A Freightliner employee at the Thomas Built Bus facility filed federal charges today against his employer and local union officials for jointly coercing the plant’s workers to accept an unwanted union. Receiving free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, Thomas Built worker Jeff Ward filed the unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Bowing to pressure brought by United Auto Workers (UAW) union operatives, Thomas Built signed a so-called “neutrality agreement” that included a prohibition of the traditional and less abusive secret ballot election process in favor of a coercive “card check” campaign. Under the agreement, union organizers were given full access to employees’ personal information and company facilities to browbeat workers into signing union recognition cards that were counted as “votes” for unionization.

In addition, all employees were forced to attend multiple “captive audience” speeches akin to union rallies, held on company time, in which Thomas Built and UAW union officials had workers sign such cards. Workers were also told that efforts to revoke any previously signed cards would be disregarded.

After UAW officials claimed that a majority of workers had signed recognition cards in mid-March, the union was installed by Thomas Built as the monopoly representative of all 1,100 workers at the plant. The NLRB will now investigate the charges and decide whether to issue a formal complaint.

“Freightliner and UAW officials pulled the rug out from underneath workers by corralling them into unwanted union representation without so much as a secret ballot vote,” stated Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Since employees are increasingly rejecting union membership when given a true choice, union officials are cutting back-room deals with companies to help bully workers into compulsory unionism.”

Meanwhile, National Right to Work Foundation attorneys are currently assisting two Gaffney, South Carolina, Freightliner employees that filed charges against Freightliner, Daimler-Chrysler, and the UAW union for withholding pay raises as part of a strategy to coerce employees into ceding to unionization. Those charges are currently pending with NLRB General Counsel Arthur Rosenfeld in Washington, D.C.

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.