Union officials took money for union expenditures – including union politics – without informing worker of their rights

Cincinnati, OH (February 19, 2024) – A seasonal employee of UPS’ Gest Street Hub in downtown Cincinnati, OH, has just filed federal charges against the Teamsters Local 100 union, maintaining that union bosses seized full union dues payments from their paycheck without their consent and without informing them of their rights to refrain from union membership.

The worker, who has requested anonymity, filed the charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. The worker additionally hit UPS management with federal charges for their role in funneling dues from their paycheck to the union.

As the U.S. Supreme Court held in its 1963 NLRB v. General Motors decision, all private sector employees are free to refuse formal union membership, even in non-Right to Work states like Ohio where union officials can demand dues payments from both formal union members and nonmembers. Ohio’s lack of Right to Work protections means that union officials can legally enforce contracts that mandate the firing of workers for not paying union dues.

This forced-dues power is limited, however, by the Foundation-won 1988 Communications Workers of America (CWA) v. Beck Supreme Court decision, which held that workers who refrain from union membership can only be forced to pay dues for what union bosses claim are bargaining-related expenditures – not for extraneous expenses like union political activities. In contrast, in Right to Work states like nearby Kentucky, all union financial support is strictly voluntary and the choice of each individual worker.

Teamsters Skimmed from Worker’s Salary Without Written Authorization

The worker’s charges detail that Teamsters officials never informed them of their rights under General Motors or Beck, and deducted full union dues directly from their pay without obtaining a dues “check-off” authorization from them. In general, union officials can enforce forced-dues requirements against workers by direct deduction only if they’ve obtained written consent for that method from a worker (as workers can pay dues by mail or through other methods).

“Charging Party does not believe that [they] ever signed a union membership form or a dues check-off authorization,” the charges read. “To the extent [they] did sign such documents, the Union has failed to provide Charging Party with copies of them despite [their] written request that it do so.”

Although the worker eventually discovered their Beck rights independently and requested that the union reduce their dues burden in accordance with that decision, their charges state that Teamsters officials never did so and also failed to provide certain financial disclosures that union bosses must provide objecting employees under Beck.

Workers Around Country Pushing Back Against Teamsters Control

Foundation-backed workers in Ohio and across the country are rejecting Teamsters union bosses’ control. At the end of 2024, hundreds of workers across Northern Ohio voted in favor of removing Teamsters union officials from power at their workplaces. That followed efforts to similarly boot out Teamsters bosses from trucking employees in Georgia, California, Virginia, and New Jersey.

“In case after case Teamsters union officials are being caught red-handed violating the rights of the very rank-and-file workers they claim to ‘represent,’” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “These cases show why every worker in America deserves the protection of a Right to Work law, so he or she can decide for themselves whether or not to join a union and fund union activities.

“Otherwise, as this case and others show, union bosses like Teamsters President Sean O’Brien will continue to abuse their powers to attempt to require employees to fund union expenses beyond what is legal, including by forcing employees to fund union officials’ political spending designed to expand those very coercive forced-dues powers,” Mix added.

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 about 200 cases nationwide per year.