In rebuke to partisan Right to Work repeal, majority of guards vote against union officials’ ability to require union dues payments

Grand Rapids, MI (September 23, 2024) – A group of Michigan security guards, have voted to strip United Government Security Officers of America (UGSOA) union officials of their power to force the guards to pay union dues as a condition of keeping their jobs. A majority of the guards employed by Triple Canopy, Inc. voted overwhelmingly to remove union bosses’ forced-dues powers in the “deauthorization” election. Following months of delays, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently released the full vote count from the election that took place by mail in April and May.

Guard James Reamsma submitted the “deauthorization petition” in February on behalf of his Triple Canopy Inc. coworkers, who guard federal facilities across Michigan and who wanted to revoke forced-dues privileges from UGSOA union officials. Reamsma is receiving free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

Reamsma’s request for a deauthorization election was necessary because Michigan’s popular decade-old Right to Work law was repealed in February. Under Right to Work, union financial support is strictly voluntary. Without Right to Work, union officials have the power to demand workers pay up or be fired. Michigan’s non-Right to Work environment forces workers to either deauthorize a union or vote it out of a workplace completely (via a similar process known as “decertification”) if they want to end union officials’ forced-dues power.

In response to Reamsma’s petition, the NLRB scheduled the mail vote with ballots due in mid-May. However, rather than promptly counting the ballots and certifying the results, the results were delayed for months, with the full NLRB tally of ballots only recently being released.

Once the results are certified, union officials will no longer have the legal power to coerce Reamsma and his colleagues to pay dues or fees as a condition of employment.

UGSOA Union Bosses Still Face Federal Charges For Illegal Dues Deductions

In addition to his deauthorization petition, Reamsma filed NLRB Unfair Labor Practice charges in May against UGSOA for seizing dues money from his paycheck without providing required disclosures on how the union spends worker cash. That charge, which was also filed with legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, is still being investigated by Region 7 of the NLRB based in Detroit.

According to Reamsma’s charge, he submitted a notice to UGSOA union agents in March that requested the union reduce his dues payments in accordance with Right to Work Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court decision Communications Workers of America v Beck and provide him with the financial information required by law. In response, union officials claimed that the amount of dues chargeable to nonmembers was equal to 100% of full union dues. Reamsma’s charge states that UGSOA “failed to provide the financial disclosures for itself and its affiliated unions, and a chance to object to its alleged reduced fee.”

The charge also notes that, despite Reamsma notifying union officials in April that he prefers to pay union dues by check, UGSOA ignored this request and has continued to take money directly from his paycheck by payroll deduction. Federal labor law forbids union officials from using direct deduction to collect union dues or fees without worker consent.

After Repeal of Right to Work, Employees Across Michigan are Challenging Forced Dues

In a party-line 2023 vote, Michigan legislators repealed Right to Work at the behest of union special interests, ending workers’ ability to decide for themselves whether or not union officials deserve their money. The repeal came despite polling showing Michigan voters, including 70% of union households, overwhelmingly wanting Michigan to remain Right to Work.

After the repeal became effective in February, workers from across the Great Lakes State sought help from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys in escaping union bosses’ forced dues demand.

“This election was scheduled in May, but NLRB delayed the counting of the votes until now, all while UGSOA continued illegally collecting union dues,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “It’s tactics like this that would have been prevented, if Michigan had kept it’s Right to Work law.

“These workers’ vote to end forced dues happened months ago, and we call on the NLRB to promptly make the result official, and order the union to return all monies taken from the employees during the delay to certify the guards’ wishes.

“We are proud to help Michigan workers reclaim their freedom, but no worker should have to navigate the NLRB’s bureaucratic deauthorization process simply to ensure their hard-earned money isn’t going to union boss activities they may staunchly disagree with.”

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.