Conagra Brands Workers Seek to Remove Unwanted UFCW Union Officials from their Workplace
Workers file decertification petition with Labor Board to oust United Food & Commercial Worker union
St. Elmo, IL (April 14, 2022) – Production and maintenance employees at Conagra Brands in St. Elmo, Illinois, have filed a petition seeking the removal of United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 881 from their workplace. The workers’ petition was filed on April 6, 2022, at National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 14 based in St. Louis, Missouri, with free legal representation from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.
Michelle Brockett, a long time Conagra employee, filed the decertification petition for her co-workers, supported by the signatures she collected to trigger a NLRB-conducted secret ballot vote whether to remove the union. The workers have asked the NLRB to schedule an in-person secret ballot election on April 26 and 27.
Under federal law, when at least 30% of workers in a bargaining unit sign a petition seeking the removal of union officials’ monopoly bargaining powers, an NLRB-conducted secret ballot vote to remove the union is triggered. If a majority of workers casting valid ballots do not vote for the union, the union is stripped of its government-granted monopoly “representation” powers. Those powers let union officials impose contracts on all workers in the workplace, even workers who are not union members and oppose the union. In Illinois, which lacks Right to Work protections that make union financial support strictly voluntary, union officials use their monopoly powers to mandate that all workers pay money to the union or else be fired.
National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have recently assisted workers in numerous successful decertification efforts across the nation, including for workers in Illinois, Oklahoma, and Delaware. Foundation-backed reforms to the rules for decertification elections that the NLRB adopted in 2020 have curtailed union officials’ abuse of so-called “blocking charges” used to delay or block workers from exercising their right to decertify a union. Such charges are often based on unproven allegations made against an employer, completely unrelated to workers’ desire to free themselves of the union.
In a previous decertification petition filed against UFCW Local 881 in 2019, prior to the blocking charges reform, union officials used tactics to attempt to block a vote from taking place for Pinncacle Foods Group, ultimately resulting in a delay of the vote for seven months. Although on appeal to NLRB in Washington, D.C., the workers won the ruling that finally let the vote occur, the unjustified delay contributed to union officials prevailing over the workers’ original decertification attempt.
“Thanks to Foundation-backed reforms, UFCW union officials have a much harder time using blocking charges to hinder the rights of workers, so the NLRB should promptly schedule an election for workers at Conagra Brands,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “No matter the outcome of this decertification vote, the many workers at Conagra who are opposed to the union should never have been required to fund the activities of union officials with whom they want nothing to do, which is why Illinois workers deserve the protection of a Right to Work law that makes union financial support strictly voluntary.”
Kentucky Worker Hits Teamsters Union Bosses with Federal Charges for Illegally Seizing Union Dues
Georgia Pacific worker sent multiple letters to stop all payments as allowed by Right to Work law, but Teamsters continued dues collections
Lexington, KY (April 7, 2022) – Pam Ankeny, an employee in the printing department for Georgia Pacific, has filed federal unfair labor practice charges against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 651 union. Ankeny’s charges, which were filed with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, say that Teamsters union bosses illegally collected union dues after she submitted two letters of revocation.
In July of 2021, Ankeny submitted a resignation and dues check-off revocation letter to union officials. The union responded two weeks later by claiming that Ankeny had missed her “window period” for dues check-off revocation.
In response, Ankeny submitted a second letter in August again reiterating her resignation and check-off revocation. She further requested a copy of the authorization union officials were using to block her request. The union acknowledged that Ankeny’s letter constituted a valid check-off revocation and indicated it would stop dues deductions. However, it failed to provide Ankeny with the requested authorization.
Despite the union acknowledging her valid August 2021 check-off revocation, beginning in January 2022 dues deductions resumed without Ankeny’s authorization and have continued as of the filing of her charges. In addition to the charge against the union, a charge was filed against Georgia Pacific for making the illegal dues deductions.
The charges allege that both practices are unlawful under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which safeguards private sector employees’ right to abstain from any or all union activities. Further, in the 27 states with Right to Work protections, including Kentucky, union membership and dues payments are strictly voluntary.
“While Kentucky’s Right to Work law protects workers from being fired for refusing to pay union dues or fees, unless workers are vigilant, unscrupulous union bosses will still attempt to stuff their pockets with illegal forced dues,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Any worker subjected to illegal union dues seizures should not hesitate to reach out to the National Right to Work Foundation for free assistance in exercising their legal rights to cut off dues payments.”
National Right to Work Foundation in the Detroit News: Big Labor’s Latest Attack on Michigan Right to Work
A recent op-ed from National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix in the Detroit News discusses union bosses never-ending attempts to overturn or undermine Michigan’s Right To Work protections for workers.
The article explains how union officials wield their monopoly power against workers in the union-controlled “grievance process” and why the Foundation recently filed an amicus brief in a case currently at the Michigan Supreme Court in which union officials are attempting to circumvent Right to Work:
Courts have long recognized that, in unionized workplaces, union kingpins effectively own the process through which workplace grievances regarding alleged misapplications or misinterpretations of company policies are handled.
Five-and-a-half decades ago, U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan’s majority opinion in NLRB v. Allis Chalmers bluntly acknowledged that America’s national labor policy “extinguishes the individual employee’s power to order his own relations with his employer,” while “clothing” union bosses with monopoly-bargaining power.
And Justice Thurgood Marshall’s 1975 Emporium Capwell opinion resoundingly affirmed that a union controls all grievances under “exclusive” union bargaining, notwithstanding any employee attempts to redress grievances independently.
Their ironclad control over employee grievances is undoubtedly a boon for union bosses. Two current federal lawsuits filed by Michigan workers against United Auto Workers union bosses and Fiat Chrysler executives vividly illustrate why.
In one of these cases, 42 current and former employees of FCA (now known as Stellantis) charge that they were cheated out of wages and benefits they were promised by UAW bosses when their pay was cut from $28 an hour to $16 an hour after they switched from part-time to full-time jobs.
When the workers complained about the pay cut, local UAW bosses allegedly promised to file grievances on their behalf — but never did.
In the other case, 47 current and former engineers allege that FCA violated the union contract when it transferred them from a facility in Auburn Hills to another one in Trenton. Grievances they filed regarding the matter were mishandled or withdrawn without explanation by the UAW brass.
As outrageous as UAW bosses’ failure to follow up adequately on workers’ grievances in these two cases may seem to ordinary citizens, the fact is that federal law permits union bosses with monopoly-bargaining power to refuse to advance workers’ legitimate grievances simply because they don’t think it’s in the interest of the union to do so.
[…]
But even this extraordinarily privileged status isn’t enough to satisfy government union officials in Michigan. In Technical, Professional, and Officeworkers Association of MI v. Daniel Renner, a case now pending before the Michigan Supreme Court, they are brazenly contending they may vindictively refuse to process the grievances of union nonmembers to punish them for not joining and bankrolling the union, even when the union contract prohibits the individual employee from filing grievances on his or her own behalf.
Though union lawyers’ outrageous claims in Renner’s case have already been rejected at the Michigan Employment Relations Commission and at the State of Michigan Court of Appeals, there is no guarantee they will be dismissed by the Michigan Supreme Court.
That’s why the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation filed a brief Friday in the case defending Daniel Renner’s rights under Michigan’s right-to-work law.
The Michigan Supreme Court must reject this cynical attack on Wolverine State workers’ legal protections against being forced to fund a union they disapprove of.
Read the entire article on the Detroit News website.
More details on the case and the Foundation’s brief can be found here. Read the brief here (PDF).
National Right to Work Foundation Issues Special Legal Notice for California Grocery Workers Impacted by UFCW Strike Threat
Strike would affect over 47,000 workers at Albertsons, Vons, Pavilions, and Ralphs, but employees have right to rebuff union boss strike demand
Los Angeles, CA (March 31, 2022) – Today, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation issued a special legal notice for workers potentially affected by a strike being threatened by United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union officials at Albertsons, Vons, Pavilions, and Ralphs grocery store locations in Southern California.
According to news reports, the UFCW is preparing to order a strike against Albertsons, Vons, Pavilions, and Ralphs grocery stores, impacting over 47,000 employees. The Foundation’s legal notice informs these affected workers of the rights union officials often hide, including that the workers have the right to continue to work to support their families.
Importantly, the notice gives workers who want to exercise their right to work information on how to avoid fines and punishment that would likely be imposed by union officials.
“The situation raises serious concerns for employees who believe there is much to lose from a union-ordered strike,” the legal notice reads. “That is why workers confronted with strike demands frequently contact the Foundation to learn how they can avoid fines and other union imposed discipline for working during a strike to support themselves and their families.”
The Foundation’s special legal notice highlights workers’ rights to resign union membership and to revoke their union dues check-offs. The notice also provides helpful information for removing unaccountable union officials from a workplace by using a decertification petition to obtain a secret ballot vote whether to remove the union.
The National Right to Work Foundation is the nation’s premier organization exclusively dedicated to providing free legal assistance to employee victims of forced unionism abuse. The full notice can be found at https://www.nrtw.org/ufcw-ca/
“Despite what union officials may tell workers or try to pressure them into doing, workers always have the right to continue to work during a strike. However to do so, there are important steps they should follow to defend themselves from vindictive union retaliation,” National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix said. “For decades, the Foundation has provided free legal aid to workers to protect them from Big Labor’s coercive tactics, which are especially common during union boss-instigated strikes.”
Worker Wins Almost $17,000 in Federal Case Against IAM Union Officials for Illegal Firing
IAM officials had Robert Basil Buick GMC illegally terminate employee when he exercised right not to join the union and pay full dues
Buffalo, NY (March 30, 2022) – Following the filing of federal charges by car dealership employee Remmington Duk against International Association of Mechanics (IAM) Lodge 447, union officials have backed down and agreed to pay Mr. Duk $16,916.
The charges, filed with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, came after Mr. Duk was fired from his job at Robert Basil Buick GMC at the behest of IAM agents who had illegally threatened to have him fired because he exercised his right not to be a union member.
Mr. Duk’s charge against the union was filed on January 31, 2022, with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency responsible for enforcing the National Labor Relations Act and adjudicating disputes among private sector employers, unions, and individual employees. The charge stated that on October 7, 2021, an IAM official demanded Mr. Duk sign paperwork authorizing union membership, threatening that he would be fired if he declined. Mr. Duk refused to sign and Robert Basil Buick GMC then terminated him on October 12, 2021.
Because New York lacks Right to Work protections for private sector employees, unions can force individuals to pay up to 100% of union dues as a condition of keeping their jobs. However, formal union membership cannot be required, nor can payment of the part of dues used for expenditures like union political activities. In contrast, in the 27 states with Right to Work protections, union membership and financial support are strictly voluntary.
To make Mr. Duk’s federal unfair labor practice charge go away, the IAM union will pay him $16,916, post a notice in his workplace which will stay up for 60 days informing other workers of their right not to be union members, and agree to inform future new employees of that right. The check the union will write reflects the amount of money Mr. Duk would have earned through the present time had he not been fired.
Although the NLRB has signed off on the settlement agreement between Mr. Duk and union officials, an additional charge against Robert Basil Buick GMC for its role in the illegal termination remains under investigation by the NRLB.
“Once again, Foundation staff attorneys have caught union officials red-handed violating the rights of the very workers they claim to ‘represent,’” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Mr. Duk was brave to stand up to the union’s unlawful threats even though it meant losing his job, but his case highlights how workers’ less knowledgeable of their legal rights are susceptible to blatantly illegal tactics from power hungry union bosses.”
“The IAM union bosses’ willingness to violate longstanding law shows why all workers, including those in the Empire State, need the protection of a Right to Work law,” Mix added.
Dry Fork Station Workers File Petition to Remove IBEW Union from Their Workplace
Decertification election will allow plant workers to vote to free themselves from unwanted union “representation”
Gillette, WY (March 23, 2022) – David Lausen, an employee at Dry Fork Station in Gillette, Wyoming, owned by Basin Electric Power Cooperative, filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking removal of Local No. 415 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) from his workplace. National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys are providing Lausen free legal representation in the decertification petition proceedings.
Under federal law when at least 30% of workers in a bargaining unit sign a petition seeking a vote on removal of union officials’ monopoly bargaining powers it triggers an NLRB-conducted secret ballot vote. With Foundation attorneys’ assistance, Mr. Lausen filed the decertification petition on March 16, 2022, after the prior union contract expired.
Wyoming is a Right to Work state, meaning workers cannot legally be required to join or pay dues or fees to a union as a condition of keeping their jobs. However, even in Right to Work states, union officials who have obtained monopoly bargaining control in a workplace are granted by federal law the power to impose one-size-fits-all union contracts on all workers, including those who opt out of union membership and would prefer to negotiate their own terms of employment.
National Right to Work Foundation legal aid has recently assisted workers in numerous successful decertification efforts across the nation, including for workers in Kansas, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Delaware. Foundation-advocated reforms to the rules for decertification elections that the NLRB adopted in 2020 have curtailed union officials’ abuse of so-called “blocking charges.” Such charges containing unproven allegations against an employer, often completely unrelated to workers’ desire to free themselves of a union, were used to delay or block workers from exercising their right to decertify the union.
“The NLRB should schedule a decertification vote for these workers without delay,” National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation President Mark Mix said. “Workers everywhere should know they can turn to the Foundation for free legal aid to help enforce their right to free themselves from unwanted union so-called ‘representation.’”
Penske Truck Leasing Workers Free of Unwelcome Union after Teamsters Sped Off to Avoid Vote
Employees who sought to end union ‘representation’ win a swift victory
BLOOMINGTON, IN (March 9, 2022) – Mechanics and customer service employees at Penske Truck Leasing in Bloomington, Indiana have won their effort to end Teamsters union control at their workplace. Rather than contest the workers’ decertification request in a secret ballot vote, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 135 officials have filed documents with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ending their monopoly bargaining power over all workers at the Penske Truck Leasing facility in Bloomington.
Penske Truck Leasing employee Steven Stuttle and his colleagues received free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys in filing a petition for a vote to oust union officials. All but one Penske Truck Leasing employees in the bargaining unit signed the decertification petition, which was filed with the NLRB in February 2022.
“I never felt properly represented by our union. I prefer to have the ability to negotiate the value of my skills as an individual,” Stuttle remarked about the effort. “I very much appreciate the work done by National Right to Work, I could not have done it without them.”
Before an NLRB-supervised decertification election was scheduled, Teamsters officials issued a statement, disclaiming representation in an apparent attempt to spare themselves the embarrassment of an overwhelming vote by workers to reject the union’s so-called “representation.”
This is the latest in a recent series of successful worker efforts aided by National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys. In just the past few weeks, Foundation staff attorneys aided Atlantic Aviation PNE, Inc. employees with filing their decertification petition and successfully defended Kansas City, Missouri hospital workers against an SEIU union attempt to overturn their vote to remove the union.
The Foundation has also fought to break down union boss-created legal barriers to unseating unwanted union officials. In 2020, following detailed formal comments submitted by Foundation attorneys, the NLRB adopted rules eviscerating union bosses’ ability to stop a decertification effort with “blocking charges,” i.e., accusations made against an employer that are often unverified and have no connection to workers’ desire to kick out unwanted union officials.
“Workers across the country are exercising their rights to remove unwanted unions and throwing off the yoke of coercive monopoly unionism,” remarked National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “No worker anywhere should be forced under the so-called ‘representation’ of a union they oppose, and Foundation staff attorneys stand ready to assist workers wanting to hold a decertification election to oust a union they oppose and believe they would be better off without.”
Workers Who Voted Against Union Oppose Order Forcing Union on Them
The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, November/December 2021 edition. To view other editions of Foundation Action or to sign up for a free subscription, click here.
Biden NLRB seeks to overturn vote of Red Rock Casino workers against Unite Here
Red Rock Casino employees bearing the messages “We Despise Union Lies” and “Respect Their Votes” protested outside Culinary Union headquarters in Las Vegas after union bosses tried to block Red Rock Casino workers’ emphatic vote to remove the union.
LAS VEGAS, NV – A large majority of the workers at Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, voted “no” to unionization, but a federal district court judge later issued an order forcing their employer to bargain with union officials anyway.
The Casino appealed the judge’s order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys assisted Red Rock food service employee Raynell Teske for free in filing her legal brief at the Ninth Circuit, arguing the judge was wrong to impose a union monopoly on the workers after the union had already lost an election.
Judge Overrides Workers’ Election Choice
In December 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administered a secret-ballot election on whether to unionize Red Rock. A majority of those voting rejected union officials’ effort to become their monopoly bargaining “representatives.”
Nevertheless, NLRB Region 28 Director Cornele Overstreet sought a federal court injunction demanding the union be imposed over the workers’ objections. On July 20, 2021, notoriously partisan Judge Gloria Navarro, appointed by Barack Obama, granted the NLRB Director’s request. She fired off a rare “Gissel” order forcing Red Rock to bargain with union officials despite the employees’ vote against unionization. The judge based her order on union officials’ claim that a majority of workers had signed union authorization cards before the vote. Teske’s legal brief argues that those “card check” signatures are unreliable, and not reason enough to conclude the union ever had majority support. After all, the level of union support was tested by the secret-ballot election and the results were clear: union officials received only 40% support from the eligible employees’ votes. As the Supreme Court has long recognized, secret ballots are a far more reliable way of gauging worker support for a union, because workers are often pressured, harassed, or misled by union organizers into signing cards.
Union Handbook Admits: ‘Card Check’ Is Unreliable
Unions themselves know that “card check” signatures do not reliably indicate worker support. The AFL-CIO admitted in its 1989 organizing handbook that it needed at least 75% card check support before having even a 50-50 chance of winning a secret-ballot election. An earlier guidebook acknowledged that some workers sign cards just to “get the union off my back.” Teske’s brief argues the union’s possession of so-called “cards” does not give union officials permission to take over, especially after they lost a secret-ballot election.
Brief: A Judge’s Order Shouldn’t Overturn Workers’ Clear Choice
The Foundation-aided brief urges that the “Gissel” order be overturned and says that imposing the union’s monopoly power despite the workers’ vote against it treats workers “like children” who did not understand what they were doing when they voted against union affiliation.
“Ms. Teske and her coworkers chose to reject unionization at the ballot box, but Judge Navarro decided to use her power to overturn the election,” said National Right to Work Foundation Vice President and Legal Director Raymond LaJeunesse. “Time and time again, we see workers pressured, misled and even bribed to sign union cards, which is why ‘Card Check’ is widely accepted as unreliable, especially compared to an NLRB-supervised secret-ballot election.”
“The Court of Appeals should promptly overturn Judge Navarro’s coercive order, and restore the actual choice workers made at the ballot box. Federal judges and NLRB bureaucrats cannot be allowed to override workers’ choices,” added LaJeunesse.
Full Foundation Action September/October 2021 Newsletter Now Online
All articles from the September/October issue of Foundation Action are now on the website.
In this issue:
- Sixteen States Back Foundation’s Petition to High Court in Chicago Educator Case
- Foundation Assists Workers in Kicking Out Unwanted Union Bosses
- Victory: CO Worker Wins Against Union Bosses Who Demanded Illegal $21,000 Fine
- NLRB Keeps Union Bosses in Power Despite Unanimous Opposition
- University of California Lab Assistant Challenges California’s Anti-Janus Law
Recent articles can be found here. To sign up for a free copy of the newsletter via mail please see the form at the bottom of this page.
Victory: CO Worker Wins Against Union Bosses Who Demanded Illegal $21,000 Fine
The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, September/October 2021 edition. To view other editions of Foundation Action or to sign up for a free subscription, click here.
Union must back down after trying to punish worker who left union, found new job
Foundation staff ensured Russell Chacon’s frustrations with Sheet Metal union bosses’ illegal fines were covered by the Colorado Springs Gazette. Shortly after the article appeared, Sheet Metal union officials backed down from their demand.
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – Colorado metal worker Russell Chacon was angry when he received a letter from International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART) Local 9 union officials in May, demanding he pay $21,252 in disciplinary fines. Six months earlier he had resigned his union membership, and had left his job at Colorado Sheet Metal to work for Rocky Mechanical, an employer that isn’t under the control of Sheet Metal union bosses.
Union officials demanded Chacon fork over the ruinous sum to cover an alleged union “loss of funds” for a period through May 31, which included days that Chacon had not even worked yet.
Sheet Metal Union Officials Violated Established Law to Harass Worker
Chacon obtained free legal representation from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys and filed federal unfair labor practice charges against the Sheet Metal union at National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 27 in Denver. He asserted that the fines were levied against him specifically in retaliation for his leaving the union and finding new work.
Soon after the Foundation-assisted charges, Sheet Metal union officials dropped the illegal fine demands, and are now forced by a settlement to inform workers that they will not subject them to internal union discipline if they exercise their right to end union membership.
Decades-old federal law prohibits union officials from forcing internal union discipline on workers who have resigned union membership, and from restricting the exercise of that basic right to refrain.
“If union officials were really concerned about us workers they would be happy I was able to get a better opportunity, even though it was at a facility that isn’t unionized,” Chacon told the Colorado Springs Gazette in May. “Instead they are violating my rights with this outrageous fine threat and harassment, just because I did what was best for me and my family.”
Although Sheet Metal union bosses informally rescinded their fine demands soon after Chacon filed his charge, NLRB Region 27 continued to investigate Chacon’s charge that union officials had instigated the discipline specifically in retaliation for his leaving the union.
Settlement Follows NLRB Finding Merit in Worker’s Charges of Retaliation
The NLRB found merit in Chacon’s claims of retaliation in July, forcing union officials to settle in order to avoid NLRB prosecution.
The settlement requires Sheet Metal union officials to post a notice at the union office stating that they “will not fail to inform or misinform you about the proper process for resigning your membership,” “will not fail to give effect to resignations of membership from the Union,” and “will not restrain and coerce you by instituting and prosecuting disciplinary proceedings and levying fines after failing to give effect to resignations.” The notice also confirms that Chacon is no longer subject to the fine demands.
“As the conclusion of this case shows, Sheet Metal union officials were caught red-handed violating workers’ most basic right to refrain from associating with an organization to which they don’t want to belong,” commented National Right to Work Foundation Vice President and Legal Director Raymond LaJeunesse. “Although we are pleased that Mr. Chacon is no longer saddled with an outrageous fine demand, unfortunately other Colorado workers can still be forced to pay dues to union bosses because The Centennial State lacks a Right to Work law.”
LaJeunesse continued, “Right to Work protections ensure that all union financial support is strictly voluntary, and that no worker can be fired just for refusal to pay dues to unwanted union bosses.”
