Austin Minnesota Mayo Clinic Support Staff Vote Overwhelmingly to End Forced Union Dues Requirement
49-17 Labor Board deauthorization vote comes as employees wait for window to hold vote to finally remove unwanted Steelworkers union boss “representation”
Austin, MN (December 19, 2022) – “We are so happy with the way the election turned out,” Mayo Clinic Austin patient care specialist Erin Krulish commented. “I think it really shows that all of us came together to show the union that we don’t want to keep paying them when they are doing nothing for us.”
A group of support employees at Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin, Minnesota, overwhelmingly voted to “deauthorize” United Steelworkers (USW) Local 11-00578 union in their workplace. The workers filed the deauthorization petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 18 with free legal representation from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.
Krulish filed the deauthorization petition for her coworkers who wanted to get rid of the so-called “union security clause” that authorizes USW union bosses to have clinic employees fired for refusing to financially support union activities. The request seeking the vote to end United Steelworkers union officials’ forced dues powers at Mayo Clinic Austin was signed by 49 of the 66 workers, well over the 30% required to trigger the NLRB-supervised election.
Minnesota is not a Right to Work state, meaning all workers in a unionized workplace can be required to pay dues or fees to a union as a condition of keeping their jobs. However, although winning such a vote can often be an uphill battle as independent workers have to take on professional forced-dues-funded union organizers, federal law does allow workers to hold deauthorization votes to end union officials’ legal authority to force workers to “pay up or be fired.”
The successful deauthorization vote at Mayo Clinic Austin comes as the workers wait for the opportunity to end USW officials so-called “representation” at the facility completely, a process known as decertification. “We plan to decertify come next December when our contract is up and we are ready for another fight!” Krulish said following the deauthorization victory.
Currently the non-statutory NLRB-invented “contract bar” doctrine blocks workers from holding a decertification vote to remove a union’s monopoly representation powers for up to three years when a union boss-imposed contract is in effect, consequently, a deauthorization vote, which isn’t limited by the contract bar was the employees’ only option. If the support staff at the Austin Mayo Clinic do decertify as they plan, they will join Minnesota nurses at Mayo Clinic Mankato and Mayo Clinic St. James in voting to oust union officials from their hospitals in just the six months.
Worker interest in removing unwanted unions is up nationwide. The NLRB’s own data show that, currently, a unionized private sector worker is more than twice as likely to be involved in a decertification effort as a nonunion worker is to be involved in a unionization campaign, with one analysis finding decertification petitions up 42% this year.
“We’re pleased Ms. Krulish and her coworkers are victorious in their effort to strip Steelworkers union bosses of their power to force workers to pay union dues or else be fired,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Ultimately, Minnesota needs a state Right to Work law to ensure that every individual worker has the freedom to decide whether or not to financially support a union, even those who can’t overcome the hurdles required to successfully navigate the complicated deauthorization process.”
“This case also shows why it is time to end the NLRB-concocted ‘contract bar’ that traps workers in union ranks they oppose for years at a time,” added Mix. “No worker anywhere should be forced under so-called union ‘representation’ they oppose.”
Las Vegas Police Officer Urges Supreme Court to Hear Case Battling Union’s Unconstitutional Dues Scheme
LVMPD officer argues union officials seized her money in violation of First Amendment through restrictive arrangement to which she never consented
Washington, DC (November 21, 2022) – Las Vegas police officer Melodie DePierro has submitted a petition asking the United States Supreme Court to hear her lawsuit defending her First Amendment right to abstain from paying dues to a union she does not support. DePierro is receiving free legal representation from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.
DePierro, a Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) officer, contends in the lawsuit that officials of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association (PPA) union seized dues money from her paycheck in violation of her First Amendment rights pursuant to a so-called “window period” specified in the union contract. PPA officials’ “window period” scheme prohibits police officers from opting out of union financial support for over 90% of the year. DePierro never consented to – nor was ever informed of – this limitation.
DePierro seeks to enforce her First Amendment rights recognized by the Supreme Court in the landmark 2018 Janus v. AFSCME case, which was argued and won by Foundation attorneys. The Justices ruled in Janus that forcing public sector workers to subsidize an unwanted union as a condition of employment violates the First Amendment. They also held that union officials can only deduct dues from a public sector employee who has affirmatively waived his or her Janus rights.
“[I]f employee consent is not required, governments and unions can, and will…devise and enforce onerous restrictions on when employees can stop subsidizing union speech,” reads the brief.
PPA Union Officials Imposed on Officer Contract Provision She Never Knew About
According to DePierro’s original complaint, she began working for LVMPD in 2006 and voluntarily joined the PPA union at that time. However, in 2006 the union monopoly bargaining contract permitted employees to terminate dues deductions at any time.
In January 2020, she first tried to exercise her Janus rights, sending letters to both union officials and the LVMPD stating that she was resigning her membership. The letters demanded a stop to union dues being taken from her paycheck.
Her complaint reported that union and police department agents rejected that request because of the union-imposed “window period” restriction previously unknown to DePierro that purportedly limits when employees can exercise their Janus rights. As her brief notes, that “window period” restriction was added in the 2019 monopoly bargaining contract between union officials and the police department, despite the fact Janus had already been decided by then.
DePierro never agreed to such a restriction on the exercise of her First Amendment rights, but union agents nonetheless rebuffed her again when she renewed her demand to stop dues deductions in February 2020. When she filed her lawsuit, full union dues were still coming out of her paycheck.
DePierro’s Supreme Court petition argues that, because union officials kept seizing money from her wages under the guise of the “window period,” and never sought her consent to the restriction, they violated the First Amendment. As per Janus, union officials must obtain a worker’s waiver of their Janus rights before deducting dues or fees from their pay. DePierro asks the High Court to declare the “window period” scheme unconstitutional, forbid PPA and LVMPD from further enforcing it, and order PPA and LVMPD to refund with interest all dues unlawfully withheld from her pay since she tried to stop the deductions.
“This Court’s review is urgently needed because the Ninth Circuit’s decision is allowing governments and unions to unilaterally decide when and how to restrict employees’ right to refrain from subsidizing union speech—without the need to secure their affirmative consent to the restriction,” asserts the brief.
Officer Joins California Lifeguards in Asking Justices to Uphold Janus Ruling
DePierro’s petition comes as 21 Foundation-represented Southern California lifeguards are also urging the Supreme Court to hear their case challenging an anti-Janus dues scheme concocted by California Statewide Law Enforcement Agency (CSLEA) union officials. That scheme has trapped the lifeguards in union membership and full dues deductions until 2023, despite each of the lifeguards exercising his or her Janus right to abstain from union membership and union financial support.
As in DePierro’s case, the lifeguards were not explicitly informed of the so-called “maintenance of membership” restriction which now confines them in membership and full dues payment. Moreover, union officials never obtained voluntary waivers of Janus rights from any of the lifeguards before subjecting them to this scheme.
“Janus’ First Amendment protections are meant to ensure that workers are not being forced to subsidize union bosses of whom they disapprove, whether based on union officials’ ineffectiveness, political activities, divisive conduct in the workplace, or any other reason,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Union officials’ defense of schemes that siphon money out of unwilling workers’ paychecks sends a clear message that they value dues revenue over the constitutional rights of the workers they claim to ‘represent.’”
“Two parties, here the union and police department, cannot enter into an agreement to restrict the First Amendment rights of an American citizen, yet that is exactly what has happened here to Officer DePierro,” Mix added. “The Supreme Court must defend Janus rights against such obvious violations, and ensure that these unconstitutional schemes are not allowed to stand.”
Food Company Employees File Charges Alleging Union Dues Are Being Illegally Deducted From Their Paychecks
Buitoni Food Company aided United Steelworkers bosses by deducting dues after workers revoked authorization and resigned from the union
Danville, VA (November 3, 2022) – Employees at Buitoni Food Company have filed charges against their employer and United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9555 after union dues deductions resumed despite the workers having revoked their authorization for such payments to be taken out of their paychecks. The federal unfair labor practice charges were filed with National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 5 with free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys.
The charging workers, Steven Ricketts and Donald Hale, each hand-delivered letters to both USW union officials and to their employer formally resigning their union memberships and revoking their dues check-off authorizations. Because Virginia is one of 27 states with a Right to Work law, union membership and dues payments must be voluntary and cannot be required as a condition of employment. In states without Right to Work laws, workers can legally be fired if they refuse to pay union dues or fees.
After the workers’ letters were delivered, dues deductions briefly stopped. However, union deductions quickly resumed. In the case of Mr. Ricketts, Buitoni Food Company not only restarted union dues deductions but also deducted double the dues amount in a subsequent paycheck. Deductions from Mr. Hale’s paycheck also resumed without his authorization after a short period.
Mr. Ricketts sent an email to the company’s human resources department after the dues seizures restarted and was told to contact union officals about it. Both employees sent another letter to United Steelworkers, specifically requesting a copy of their dues check-off authorization. However, money continues to be deducted without their consent and without the union officials producing a copy of the authorizations that are legally required before any such deductions can occur.
“Living in Right to Work Virginia, it is outrageous that we need to take legal action just to stop union dues from being seized against our will,” Steven Ricketts commented. “I don’t want my money supporting the United Steelworkers union, and it is time union officials accept that no means no when a worker resigns from the union and revokes their dues authorization.”
Donald Hale echoed a similar sentiment: “I’m grateful for the National Right to Work Foundation assistance in enforcing my legal rights, but it really shouldn’t take a federal case to cease the collection of union dues.”
“As this situation shows, arrogant union officials often seize money from a worker’s pockets, despite what the law says,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Despite repeatedly telling their employer and union officials to stop taking their hard-earned money, Buitoni Food Company and United Steelworkers apparently believe they can ignore these workers’ legal rights and get away with it.”
“Foundation staff attorneys will continue to aid Mr. Ricketts and Mr. Hale as they take legal action against Buitoni Food Company and United Steelworkers,” Mix added.