Washington, D.C. (June 22, 2018) – In a decision issued Wednesday, the National Labor Relations Board has found that Teamsters union officials violated workers’ rights by “repeatedly and deliberately” failing to honor the workers’ requests that deduction of union dues from their wages stop. The ruling affects thousands of workers whose rights were similarly violated by Teamsters officials.

The case was brought by several employees at Walt Disney World and United Parcel Service (UPS) in Florida. These workers each resigned from their membership in Teamsters Local 385 and revoked their authorization for union officials to charge dues.

However, Teamsters Local 385 union officials ignored the workers’ requests to stop collecting dues. Instead, union officials delayed months, until the window periods for withdrawing dues deduction authorization had expired, before responding that the workers had to continue to pay dues until the next window period.

The workers sought free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation in filing charges. The NLRB has ruled that Teamsters Local 385 officials violated the employees’ rights by failing to honor their requests to resign membership and stop paying union dues, and ordered the union to refund the union dues that were illegally charged during the period the Teamsters had ignored the workers’ requests.

Moreover, the Board majority recognized that the workers who were affected by the union officials’ practice of delaying action on requests to stop dues deductions “number in the thousands and are spread across central Florida.” Consequently, Teamsters Local 385 was ordered to notify all represented Disney and UPS employees of the Board’s decision by mail as well as by a posted notice.

National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens issued the following statement about today’s decision:

“This ruling is an important victory for workers over scofflaw Teamsters officials who, as the Board found, repeatedly and deliberately violated the rights of the very workers they purport to ‘represent.’ Despite what union bosses may wish, federal labor law permits workers to resign from union membership and Florida’s Right to Work law means that workers in the state have the right to cut off financial support for a union completely. That the Board majority agreed with the Administrative Law Judge that the union be required to notify the thousands of affected employees through a mailing, rather than just a notice posting, is further evidence of the widespread infringement of workers’ rights by these Teamsters officials.

To read about other cases in which Teamsters Local 385 union officials ignored requests to withdraw union membership and cease paying union dues until the workers turned to Foundation staff attorneys for free legal aid, see the following Foundation news releases:

• Walt Disney World Employees Win Ruling Against Teamsters Union for Illegally Blocking Workers from Resigning
• Teamster Union Faces Another Federal Charge for Violating a Disney Company Driver’s Rights
• Disney Company Driver Files Federal Charge Against Teamsters Union Officials for Ignoring His Rights

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.