Growing list of charges exposes how union bosses are violating workers’ rights following repeal of Michigan Right to Work law

Detroit, MI (September 10, 2024) – Nicholas Lenning, an EMT with Medstar Ambulance in Clinton Township, Michigan, has filed federal unfair labor practice charges against United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union Local 876 for illegally deducting union dues out of his paycheck in violation of federal law. Lennings filed the new unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.

Lenning filed the federal unfair labor practice charges against UFCW Local 876 after union officials deducted dues from his paycheck without having a signed dues authorization card, and without providing him with notice regarding his rights under the Supreme Court’s Communication Workers of America v. Beck precedent, which was argued and won by attorneys for the Right to Work Foundation.

Lenning’s charge notes that in nearly three years as an employee of Medstar Ambulance, Lenning was never a union member, never signed a membership card and never signed a dues authorization card. The charge further details how, despite lacking his consent, UFCW officials began deducting dues in March 2024, at times appearing to seize extra funds for back union dues. The deductions started shortly after Michigan’s Right to Work law was formally repealed in early February. Lenning even emailed union stewards requesting information about his rights under Beck, but never received any response from the union. NLRB agents will now investigate Lenning’s charges against UFCW officials.

The charges from Lenning are the most recent in a flurry of Foundation-backed cases for Michigan workers who are seeking to challenge or escape union bosses’ coercive power in the wake of Michigan’s repeal of its Right to Work law. Since the repeal became effective this February, union bosses have had the legal power to require workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. In states with Right to Work protections, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary.

However, even in states like Michigan that lack Right to Work protections and allow for forced-fee requirements, longstanding federal law prohibits union bosses from requiring workers to authorize the direct deduction of union dues from their paychecks. The Communications Workers of America v. Beck Supreme Court decision additionally forbids union bosses in non-Right to Work states from forcing workers to pay money for any activities beyond the union’s bargaining functions, such as political lobbying, and organizing.

Without Right to Work, Michigan Workers Increasingly Taking Legal Action Against Union Boss Forced Dues Abuses

In March 2023, a bare majority of Michigan legislators voted along partisan lines to repeal Right to Work at the behest of union special interests, ending workers’ ability to decide for themselves whether or not union officials deserve their dues money. The imposition of union bosses’ power to force employees to “pay up or be fired” came despite polling showing Michiganders, including those in union households, overwhelmingly opposed the elimination of workers’ Right to Work protections.

After the repeal became effective this February, workers from across the Great Lakes State sought help from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys in escaping union bosses’ forced-dues demands. The total cases that Foundation attorneys have filed for Michigan workers in 2024 is already well more than double the number for all of 2023.

“As this case and others demonstrate, within days of Michigan workers being stripped of their Right to Work protections, union bosses were attempting to use the repeal as cover to justify forced dues collections, even in violation of longstanding federal law,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “The flood of legal aid requests Foundation staff attorneys are fielding from Michigan workers since the repeal of Right to Work shows once again that union bosses’ greed for forced dues will lead them to callously and blatantly violate the rights of the very workers they claim to ‘represent.’”

“Without the clear legal line that Right to Work provides by ensuring that all union membership and financial support are strictly voluntary, there unfortunately is little reason to think these types of abuses of workers’ legal rights will not continue to spread across the Great Lake State,” added Mix.

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.