Emergency workers submitted multiple petitions asking for vote to escape Teamsters union officials’ exclusive “representation” powers and demands for money

North Huntingdon Township, PA (March 10, 2026) – Following months of union-instigated delays, Shannon Martin and her coworkers at North Huntingdon EMS/Rescue unanimously voted Teamsters Local 205 union officials out of power at their workplace. Martin obtained the vote by filing a union decertification petition at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing private sector labor law, a task that includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. In response to her colleagues’ staunch opposition to the union, Martin filed a total of three union decertification petitions with Foundation legal aid, all of which either showed unanimous worker support for a union decertification vote or otherwise passed the threshold to trigger a vote under NLRB rules.

However, NLRB Region 6 in Pittsburgh blocked Martin and her colleagues from having a vote for months at Teamsters officials’ behest. Regional NLRB officials cited the so-called “voluntary recognition bar” as the justification for delaying the vote. The voluntary recognition bar stops workers from exercising their right to vote out a union for a year or more after union officials have installed themselves via “card check,” a process that bypasses the traditional secret-ballot union election process.

Under card check, union officials can demand “union authorization cards” directly from workers, which are later counted as “votes” for the union. Unsurprisingly, this process leaves workers open to threats and manipulation from union officials. Even union organizing handbooks recognize that card check is not indicative of how workers would vote in a standard union election. Martin and her coworkers were unfortunately trapped in a work unit that had been organized via card check.

To make matters even worse, Pennsylvania lacks Right to Work protections, meaning Teamsters union bosses were empowered to impose monopoly bargaining contracts that forced Martin and her colleagues to pay money to the union as a condition of employment. In contrast, in Right to Work states, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary.

Flawed NLRB Policy Let Union Bosses Stay in Power Despite Obvious Worker Opposition

In mid-February – over a year after the Teamsters union had established itself via card check in Martin’s workplace – Martin filed her third decertification petition with Foundation aid, which finally resulted in the NLRB scheduling a vote to remove the union. On March 3, Martin and her coworkers voted unanimously to dethrone Teamsters union bosses.

The Foundation has consistently advocated for the elimination of the voluntary recognition bar, as well as other NLRB policies that appear nowhere in the text of federal labor law and serve only to stifle workers’ free choice. The Foundation supported the NLRB’s promulgation of the Election Protection Rule during the first Trump Administration, which gave independent-minded workers a chance to request a secret-ballot vote to challenge union officials’ claims of majority support following a card check campaign. However, the Biden NLRB repealed the Election Protection Rule.

“Ms. Martin and her coworkers’ dedication to winning back their freedom from unwanted Teamsters officials is admirable, and we were proud to help them win,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “But her case exposes the anti-worker nature of the so-called ‘voluntary recognition bar.’ This misguided NLRB policy let Teamsters bosses stay in power long after it was clear that there was uniform opposition to them in the workplace.

“Trump’s new appointees should look to situations like Ms. Martin’s as prime examples of why NLRB policies should be reformed to prioritize secret-ballot elections and worker free choice,” 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.