Big Labor-stacked NLRB has blocked worker’s petition to kick out union and issued complaint against employer that heeded its workers’ voice

Springfield, VA (September 9, 2015) – The National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) General Counsel has issued a formal complaint against a nationwide company, Johnson Controls, Inc., related to its battery plant in Florence, South Carolina. The complaint alleges that Johnson Controls committed an unfair labor practice when it withdrew recognition of the workplace union, United Auto Workers (UAW) and its Local 3066.

However, the company withdrew recognition of the UAW and Local 3066 after a majority of workers submitted a withdrawal petition expressing their dissatisfaction with the unwanted union. The NLRB General Counsel then deemed the withdrawal petition invalid and demanded that the UAW be brought back into the plant.

In response to these developments, employee Brenda Lynch, who with several others helped organize the withdrawal initiative, submitted to the NLRB a decertification petition to hold a secret ballot election to formally remove the union. Rather than hold a secret ballot vote to determine employees’ true desires, the NLRB, at the UAW’s urging, has blocked the secret ballot decertification election citing the pending complaint against the company. Lynch is receiving free legal assistance from NRTW Foundation staff attorneys.

Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation released the following statement on the NLRB’s latest assault on worker freedom:

“Brenda Lynch and her colleagues in South Carolina simply sought to exercise their workplace rights, and instead have fallen victim to NLRB policies that trample the rights of employees in an effort to protect union bosses from accountability from the workers they claim to represent.

“Brenda and her coworkers remain trapped under union boss monopoly control, despite multiple attempts to remove the union. Even more absurd, the NLRB and the UAW are blocking the employees’ request for a secret ballot election on the grounds that the company violated federal labor law by respecting the wishes of the majority of its workers who want nothing to do with the union.

“The NLRB is supposed to protect the rights and choices of workers, but once again the rogue agency is colluding with union bosses to trap employees in an unwanted union.”

The National Right to Work Foundation will continue to fight on behalf of Brenda Lynch and any worker who has suffered abuse at the hands of NLRB-compelled forced unionism and Big Labor.

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.