Worker effort prompted by Michigan Legislature’s Right to Work repeal, which subjects workers to pay-up-or-be-fired union threats

Grand Rapids, MI (February 28, 2024) – Security guards from government buildings across Western Michigan are backing a petition to stop union officials of the United Government Security Officers of America (UGSOA) from demanding dues from them as a condition of employment. James Reamsma, a security guard whose posts include The Law Building and the Gerald R. Ford Federal Building in Grand Rapids, submitted the petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation.

Reamsma and his colleagues work for Triple Canopy, Inc. The worker-backed petition asks the NLRB to hold a “deauthorization vote,” in which a majority of employees in a work unit can cast ballots to nullify clauses in union contracts that require employees to pay union dues or fees to keep their jobs. Reamsma’s petition contains signatures well in excess of the threshold required to trigger such a vote.

According to the petition, the requested deauthorization vote will take place among “all full-time and regular part-time security guards…performing services for the Company…in and around the cities of Alena, Cadillac, Petoskey, Traverse City, West Branch, Flint, Bay [C]ity, [Big] Rapids, Ludington, Mount Pleasant, Owosso, Saginaw, Escanaba, Houghton, Ironwood, Marquette, Sault Ste Marie, Grand Rapids, Holland and Muskegon Michigan.”

Security Guards’ Anti-Forced Dues Effort Follows MI Legislators’ Repeal of Right to Work Law

“UGSOA union officials have threatened to have everyone who does not join the union fired. Many of us are retired police officers, or military, working part time, supplementing our income by providing security for government buildings across Michigan,” Reamsma commented. “When Right to Work was in place, guards were never forced to join the union. Now part time guards are expected to pay the same high dues as full time guards and all guards must join or lose our jobs. We are thankful for the help of the National Right to Work Foundation for their assistance in navigating this complex process.”

This month Michigan legislators’ repeal of Michigan’s popular Right to Work law became effective. This permits union officials to enact and enforce requirements that force workers to pay dues or fees to the union. In a non-Right to Work state, employees’ only options to prevent their money from going toward a union agenda they oppose is to petition for a deauthorization vote (as Reamsma and his coworkers have), or to kick the union out of their workplace completely through a “decertification vote,” which involves a similar process to deauthorization.

Michigan’s Right to Work law, which took effect in 2013, made union membership and dues payment strictly voluntary for all Michigan workers. The Michigan Legislature voted in favor of the repeal in March 2023, and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed it that same month, despite polling showing that 70% of Michigan voters wanted the law to remain in place. The National Right to Work Foundation issued a legal notice this month to public and private sector Michigan workers explaining the new legal landscape.

“Within weeks of Michigan’s Right to Work repeal, we are already seeing the harm Big Labor’s coercive policy agenda inflicts on rank-and-file workers,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Mr. Reamsma and his colleagues, who will be providing security to Western Michigan’s government buildings during what is likely to be another turbulent election year, don’t deserve to be forced into financially supporting a union they disapprove of, nor does any Michigan private sector employee.

“While union boss powers have greatly expanded since the Right to Work repeal, workers still have some rights to resist union boss coercion, and Foundation attorneys stand ready to help them learn about and defend their rights,” 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.