Foundation staff attorneys will offer free legal representation to West Virginia workers seeking to exercise new Right to Work protections
Springfield, VA (February 16, 2016) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation announced today the creation of a special task force to defend and enforce West Virginia’s newly-passed Right to Work law. Foundation staff attorneys will offer free legal advice and aid to Mountain State workers seeking to exercise their rights to refrain from union membership and union dues payment, guaranteed by the Right to Work law.
On Friday February 12, West Virginia legislators overrode Gov. Tomblin’s veto of Right to Work legislation, thereby making West Virginia the nation’s newest Right to Work state. Under the law – which applies to monopoly bargaining contracts entered into, modified, renewed or extended after July 1, 2016 – workers will no longer be required to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment once any union monopoly bargaining agreement in effect on or before June 30, 2016, is modified, renewed or extended.
The NRTW Foundation has a long history of assisting employees seeking to exercise their Right to Work rights, most recently under Right to Work provisions enacted in Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Foundation staff attorneys are prepared to defend the West Virginia Right to Work law from any spurious legal challenges brought by union officials. Big Labor, unwilling to give up their forced-dues powers, routinely challenges Right to Work laws in courts despite the fact that Right to Work laws have repeatedly been upheld.
Unfortunately, union officials also often try to stymie independent-minded workers who seek to exercise their rights under Right to Work laws. Any West Virginia worker who has questions about his or her rights, or encounters any resistance or abuse while trying to exercise his or her workplace rights, is encouraged to contact Foundation staff attorneys for free legal aid.
Staff attorneys are preparing a special legal notice to be released in the coming days to inform all West Virginia workers of their new workplace rights. Affected employees are encouraged to call the Foundation’s legal hotline toll-free at 1-800-336-3600 or contact the Foundation online at www.nrtw.org to request free legal assistance or to learn more about their new rights.
“It’s not enough to enact Right to Work protections; they must be vigorously defended and enforced,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. Union bosses will go to great lengths to keep workers in their forced-dues grasp. The National Right to Work Foundation will fight to make sure that every West Virginian’s Right to Work is protected, because no worker should ever be forced to pay union dues or fees just to get or keep a job.”
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.
