15 Jun 2009

Union Watchdog Files Disclosure Request after Virginia Turns Over Private Citizens’ Personal Information to Union Operatives

Posted in News Releases

Richmond, VA (June 15, 2009) – The National Right to Work Foundation has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) seeking any records related to the department’s decision to provide union bosses with the personal contact information of in-home service providers.

The Foundation fears employees will face intimidation at the hands of union organizers.

On May 27, DMAS director Patrick Finnerty sent a letter to personal care attendants “providing in-home services through any consumer-directed Medicaid home and community-based waiver program” informing them that DMAS has provided the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) with their names, telephone numbers, and addresses.

DMAS turned over the personal information after SEIU union officials filed their own FOIA request seeking information to be used by a union entity called Virginia Association of Personal Care Assistants (VAPCA). The SEIU and VAPCA are attempting to unionize Virginia home-care providers.

In today’s FOIA request, National Right to Work Foundation Vice President and Legal Director Raymond LaJeunesse asks DMAS to release any records related to the SEIU’s request, including the original request, any correspondence between SEIU and Commonwealth personnel, any internal or interagency communication related to the request, any communication to or from Governor Tim Kaine’s office, any DMAS or other agency communication related to SEIU or VAPCA attempts to become monopoly bargaining agents of Virginia home-care providers, any documents or communication pertaining to Commonwealth policies regarding in-home service providers, and any DMAS or other Commonwealth agency documents pertaining to the employment classification of in-home service providers.

Union organizers often use such personal contact information to badger workers into joining union ranks.

“Virginians have a right to know if the Commonwealth is preparing to impose the SEIU on in-home care providers,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Thanks to the state government, those workers now have to worry about union organizers knocking on their doors to browbeat them to join the union.”

4 Jun 2009

Worker’s Unfair Labor Practice Charges Force Verizon and Its Unions to End Illegal Discrimination Scheme

Posted in News Releases

Tampa, FL (June 4, 2009) – Today, National Right to Work Foundation attorneys announced they have reached a settlement for a Verizon Communications employee who was discriminated against by the company and union bosses because she exercised her right to refrain from union membership.

Angela Leitzel works as a field technician for Verizon in Tampa, Florida. Because Florida is one of 22 Right to Work states, Leitzel may not be compelled to pay any union dues, although she must accept unwanted “representation” of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 824 union bosses.

In February, Verizon assembled a team of Florida-based technicians, including Leitzel, for a work assignment in California out of a facility “represented” by Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 9588 and affiliates CWA International and CWA District 9. On February 17, Verizon removed Leitzel from the project, and a company representative informed her that she could not work on the project, because she was not a member of IBEW Local 824.

On March 9, Leitzel was again barred from another team going to California to perform work for Verizon. The company informed her that CWA officials would not permit her to work at the California facility because she was not a member of IBEW Local 824.

With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, Leitzel filed unfair labor practice charges against Verizon and the unions. Federal labor law forbids employers to discriminate against employees on the basis of non-membership in a union. Moreover, CWA officials committed unfair labor practices by encouraging Verizon to discriminate against her and failing to inform her of her rights in California, which has no Right to Work law, to refrain from union membership and pay reduced fees, rights established in the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court precedent CWA v. Beck (1988).

The NLRB Regional Director in Tampa agreed with the charges and threatened to issue a complaint against the unions and the company, so they sought to settle the case to avoid a costly and embarrassing legal battle. The settlement guarantees Leitzel full compensation for lost income related to her removal from work, and the company and unions agreed to cease all illegal discrimination on account of union affiliation. A notice to be posted at Verizon workplaces in Tampa and Bradenton, Florida, and in Rancho Cucamonga, San Bernardino, and San Fernando, California, will inform other Verizon employees that such union discrimination is illegal.

“California should take a lesson from Florida: no employee should ever be forced to join or pay fees to an unwanted union,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “The only way to eliminate collusion between Big Business and Big Labor to discriminate against independent-minded employees is to eliminate forced unionism altogether.”

1 Jun 2009

New Foundation Press Release: Los Angeles Times Employees Illegally Threatened with Lawsuit for Refusing to Pay Union Dues

Posted in News Releases

Here’s the latest from the Foundation’s press room:

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a Los Angeles Times employee has filed unfair labor practice charges against newspaper and union officials for threatening him with an illegal lawsuit.

Over the past six months, union officials from the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (GCC/IBT) Local 140-N have repeatedly ordered Leon Carey, Jr. and similarly situated employees to join the union and pay full dues or face a lawsuit in California civil court, citing a clause in the union’s contract with the Los Angeles Times. Carey’s charges allege that these actions violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which prohibits union officials from restraining or coercing workers who refrain from formal, full dues-paying union membership.

Click here to read the whole thing. For more on the Foundation’s frequent courtroom clashes with the notoriously-corrupt Teamster union, click here

1 Jun 2009

Los Angeles Times Employees Illegally Threatened with Lawsuit for Refusing to Pay Union Dues

Posted in News Releases

Los Angeles, CA (June 1, 2009) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a Los Angeles Times employee has filed unfair labor practice charges against newspaper and union officials for threatening him with an illegal lawsuit.

Over the past six months, union officials from the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (GCC/IBT) Local 140-N have repeatedly ordered Leon Carey, Jr. and similarly situated employees to join the union and pay full dues or face a lawsuit in California civil court, citing a clause in the union’s contract with the Los Angeles Times. Carey’s charges allege that these actions violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which prohibits union officials from restraining or coercing workers who refrain from formal, full dues-paying union membership.

Because California is not a Right to Work state, employees can be obligated to pay union dues related to collective bargaining as a condition of employment. However, employees are not obligated to formally join a union or pay dues for activities other than workplace negotiations, such as lobbying and electioneering.

Moreover, union officials must provide nonunion workers with an independently-audited breakdown of all union expenditures, which is required to allow nonunion employees to opt out of dues unrelated to collective bargaining. In addition to threatening nonunion employees with an illegal lawsuit, Teamster officials also failed to provide them with sufficient information on the union’s financial outlays.

The charges will now be investigated by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

“It’s bad enough that employees can be forced to pay union dues just to keep a job, but these thuggish tactics are completely uncalled for,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Making union membership and dues-payment completely voluntary is the only way to prevent this type of abuse in the future, which is why California desperately needs a Right to Work law.”

29 May 2009

Seven Employees Force Settlement with Teamster Local Union Brass

Posted in News Releases

Chicago, IL (May 29, 2009) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, seven employees who refused to abandon their jobs during a strike forced a settlement with a local union after union officials levied exorbitant and illegal retaliatory fines against them.

The employees, truck drivers for industrial laundry company Lechner and Sons, filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Teamsters Local Union 731, an affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union, after Local 731 union officials hit the employees with fines ranging from $13,946 to $40,000 each for not abandoning their jobs during a strike. None of the employees were truly voluntary members of the union during the strike.

In July 2006, Local 731 union bosses ordered the employees to abandon their jobs during a so-called “sympathy strike” involving a different bargaining unit of workers at the plant where the strike occurred. After the strike ended in June 2007, union brass claimed the power to use fines to discipline non-striking employees.

Union officials never informed any of the employees of their right to refrain from formal union membership and pay a reduced amount of forced dues. Instead, union officials mislead the employees into believing that formal, full-dues-paying union membership was a condition of employment.

The union hierarchy also claimed the power to discipline two employees for working during the strike even though they were not union members during the strike. The union bosses illegally threatened one employee that if he did not pay the fine, he would never again work in a “union shop.”

With help from Foundation attorneys, the employees forced Local 731 union officials to drop the fines against the seven workers and refund part of their forced dues.

“It is unconscionable for union bosses to mislead employees into union membership and then attempt to drive them into the poorhouse in vicious retaliation for working,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Confiscatory fines and kangaroo courts are just some of the disturbing, yet increasingly-used tactics of union boss intimidation that are all too common in states like Illinois where there is no Right to Work law on the books.”

The employees at the workplace have since decertified the Teamster union as their monopoly bargaining agent.

(Click here to see a copy of a Teamsters Local 731 strike fines notice in which Teamster union bosses claimed the power to use $40,000 worth of fines to discipline one of the non-striking employees.)

19 May 2009

Union Settles Lawsuit Alleging Identity Theft in Retaliation Campaign against Independent Worker

Posted in News Releases

Hartford, Connecticut (May 19, 2009) – National Right to Work Foundation attorneys have successfully negotiated a settlement with the Communication Workers of America (CWA) Local 1103 union for Patricia Pelletier, a worker who was targeted by CWA operatives for a vicious campaign of retaliation after she attempted to remove the union from her workplace.

Connecticut’s lack of a Right to Work law compelled Pelletier, a Hartford-based employee of the Connecticut Student Loan Foundation, to pay union dues as a condition of employment. Dissatisfied with the union’s presence in her workplace, Pelletier exercised her legal right to circulate a decertification petition to eject the union. Her co-workers ultimately voted to remove the unpopular union, but CWA operatives responded by allegedly forging Pelletier’s signature on numerous magazine subscriptions and consumer product solicitations.

In her lawsuit, Pelletier also alleged that union officials planted cocaine in her office in an effort to have her fired.

Pelletier’s home was then flooded with hundreds of unwanted magazines and advertisements. Not only was Pelletier forced to spend several hours each day canceling individual subscriptions, she was also billed for thousands of dollars by unwitting magazine companies, jeopardizing her credit rating. Even after her lawsuit was filed, Pelletier still received excess mail from a variety of journals and magazines, and her name continued to be circulated through advertiser mailing lists across the country.

The 31-count suit brought by Foundation attorneys for Pelletier against CWA Local 1103 and four union officials alleged that CWA operatives committed identity theft, conspired to forge Pelletier’s signature, inflicted undue emotional distress on Pelletier and her family, and violated Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Practice Act by unlawfully retaliating against Pelletier for attempting to remove the union.

Although Foundation attorneys achieved a settlement that satisfies Pelletier, the terms of the settlement are confidential.

“We’re happy to report that after enduring a trying ordeal, Patricia Pelletier is finally getting a satisfactory resolution,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “No worker should be subjected to vicious union retaliation for exercising their rights in the workplace.”

15 May 2009

Houston Nurses File Decert Petition to Eject Unwanted Union

Posted in Blog, News Releases

Regular Freedom@Work readers may remember the Foundation’s ongoing efforts to help Houston nurses fight back against a coercive organizing scheme hatched by Tenet Healthcare Corporation and the California Nurses Association union bosses. We’re pleased to report that the Foundation’s charges have forced union officials to stop their illegal and coercive organizing efforts at two area hospitals. Not only that, but independent nurses have filed a union decertification petition at a third location. From the Foundation’s press release:

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, nurses at the Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center have filed a decertification petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to remove an unwanted union from their workplace.

The nurses’ decertification petition comes on the heels of the California Nurses Association (CNA) union’s decision to withdraw its controversial petitions for unionization at the Park Plaza and Houston Northwest medical centers. Hospital employees became increasingly disillusioned with union officials after many nurses raised concerns about conflict in the workplace and the quality of patient care.

For more info, check out the Foundation’s interview with two Houston nurses:

13 May 2009

Studio Teacher Hits Union with Federal Labor Board Charges After Being Fired for Not Paying Union Dues

Posted in News Releases

Los Angeles, California (May 13, 2009) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a Venice-based employee of Hesher Productions, LLC has filed unfair labor practice charges against the company and the International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 884 union for her illegal termination.

Mandy Diassellis was formerly employed as a studio teacher by Hesher Productions in Santa Monica. Thinking she had an obligation to do so, she tried to join IATSE Local 884, but she was refused membership and subsequently fired for not joining the union. The charges will now be investigated by the National Labor Relations Board.

Because California does not have a Right to Work law making union membership and dues payment voluntary, workers are routinely forced to pay union dues or lose their jobs. However, federal labor statutes do not impose a forced dues requirement until workers have been employed in the same bargaining unit for at least 30 days. Further, under federal law, when an employee is barred from union membership for a reason unrelated to nonpayment of dues, the union loses its special legal privilege to compel any dues payment whatsoever.

Diassellis was not a member of IATSE Local 884 and had not been employed by Hesher Productions for more than 30 days, and therefore could not yet be legally forced to pay union dues or join the union. However, Diassellis did attempt to join the union, not understanding that formal membership was not required by law, but was then rebuffed by IATSE union officials anyway. After rejecting her attempt to join the union, union officials ordered her employer to fire her for not having joined the union or paid dues.

The charges filed by Foundation attorneys seek the immediate reinstatement of Diassellis to her job, as well as payment of back pay owed her since the day she was fired.

“For whatever reasons, union bosses wanted Mandy Diassellis fired, and they flagrantly broke the law in doing so,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Union bosses in the entertainment industry have routinely ignored federal labor laws in an effort to maintain monopoly control of who is hired and who is fired. We intend to challenge and stop this flagrant violation of employee rights.”

13 May 2009

Taxi Drivers Force Union to End Illegal Union-Dues Scheme

Posted in News Releases

News Release

Taxi Drivers Force Union to End Illegal Union-Dues Scheme

Union bosses illegally refused to allow drivers out of union membership, despite Nevada’s popular Right to Work law

Las Vegas, Nevada (May 13, 2009) — With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a cab driver working for the largest taxi business in Las Vegas forced a local union’s bosses to back down after they refused to allow him and his coworkers to exercise their right to refrain from formal, dues-paying union membership.

Late last year, Fred Haeberle and some of his colleagues at the Nevada Yellow, Checker and Star Cab Corporations attempted to resign from formal, dues-paying union membership with the Industrial, Technical, and Professional Employees (ITPE) union – a local union of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), an AFL-CIO affiliate.

ITPE union bosses maliciously refused Haeberle’s request – saying he had “no standing” to assert his rights. Haeberle then turned to the National Right to Work Foundation for free legal aid.

(Continue reading this news release…)

13 May 2009

Taxi Drivers Force Union to End Illegal Union-Dues Scheme

Posted in News Releases

Las Vegas, Nevada (May 13, 2009) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a cab driver working for the largest taxi business in Las Vegas forced a local union’s bosses to back down after they refused to allow him and his coworkers to exercise their right to refrain from formal, dues-paying union membership.

Late last year, Fred Haeberle and some of his colleagues at the Nevada Yellow, Checker and Star Cab Corporations attempted to resign from formal, dues-paying union membership with the Industrial, Technical, and Professional Employees (ITPE) union – a local union of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), an AFL-CIO affiliate.

ITPE union bosses maliciously refused Haeberle’s request – saying he had “no standing” to assert his rights. Haeberle then turned to the National Right to Work Foundation for free legal aid.

In the Foundation-assisted Pattern Makers v. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) United States Supreme Court case, the Court held that employees have the right to resign from union membership at any time. And Nevada’s Right to Work law prohibits union officials from compelling employees to join or pay dues to a union.

After Foundation attorneys filed a federal charge with the NLRB for Haeberle (and others similarly situated), the ITPE union acknowledged that Haeberle’s request indeed had standing, but still wrongly claimed that he had to wait until a designated “window period” of time in order to resign from union membership.

Only when the NLRB Regional Office seemed poised to prosecute the violations did ITPE union officials back away from this illegal “window period” policy. The threat of prosecution forced ITPE union officials to admit Haeberle’s original union membership resignation letter was indeed effective, and they agreed to settle. ITPE union bosses must also now post a notice stating that they will no longer deny workers of their right to refrain from union membership or use “window periods” to prevent workers from exercising their right to resign from formal union membership.

“Union bosses are interested in one thing, and one thing only: money,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of National Right to Work. “Workers should not have to get an attorney, nor face ugly union intimidation and stonewalling tactics, when they try to exercise their legal rights under Nevada’s popular Right to Work law.”