Federal Charge: East Bay-Area Construction Materials Worker Illegally Fired for Refusing to Join Union
NLRB investigating IUOE union bosses for retaliatory termination and seizing dues from employee’s paycheck in violation of longstanding law
Pleasanton, CA (October 17, 2023) – Alexandra Le, an employee of Pleasanton-based materials testing company Construction Testing Services (CTS), has hit International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) officials and CTS with federal charges. The charges state IUOE bosses illegally demanded she join the union as a condition of keeping her job and instigated her firing by CTS when she refused to join. Additionally, Le’s charges maintain that company and union officials violated the law by deducting union dues directly from her paycheck without her permission.
Le, a firestop inspector, filed the charges at National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 32 in Oakland, CA, with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. She notes in her charges that IUOE officials not only failed to inform her of her right to abstain from union membership, but also never notified her of her right to pay a reduced amount of union dues as a nonmember.
Because California lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, Le and her coworkers can be forced to pay some dues to the union as a condition of keeping their jobs, even if they’ve abstained from formal union membership. However, as per the Foundation-won CWA v. Beck Supreme Court decision, even in non-Right to Work states union officials can’t force nonmember employees to pay for union expenses beyond what the union claims goes to bargaining, such as union politics. Other Supreme Court precedents and federal labor laws protect workers’ right to refrain from formal union membership and require union bosses to seek workers’ express consent before deducting dues directly from their paychecks.
In Right to Work states, union membership and all union financial support are fully voluntary.
“It’s outrageous that IUOE union officials believe they can get me fired simply because I don’t agree with their organization and don’t want to support or affiliate with them,” Le said. “IUOE union officials have been far more concerned with consolidating power in the workplace and collecting dues than caring about me and my coworkers, and I hope the NLRB will hold them responsible for their illegal actions.”
Worker Demands NLRB Step in to Reverse Union-Instigated Firing, Illegal Demands
Le’s charge against the IUOE union states that, after she refused to affiliate with the union, IUOE bosses “caused Charging Party to be removed from the work schedule by her Employer as of October 2nd.” The NLRB v. General Motors Corp. U.S. Supreme Court decision protects the right of workers to refuse formal union membership, even in a non-Right to Work state.
As a remedy, the charge asks the NLRB Regional Director in Oakland to “invoke its authority under Section 10(j)” of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which empowers the Board to seek an injunction from a federal court to stop IUOE and CTS management from committing the unfair labor practices.
“Le’s charges show that IUOE union officials, in their apparent greed for forced dues, have ignored numerous longstanding legal protections for workers opposed to union affiliation,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “While the union’s anti-worker actions would be wildly unlawful in any state in the country, they reveal the importance of state Right to Work protections: No worker should be forced to give any amount of their hard-earned paycheck to union officials who threaten and misinform the employees they claim to ‘represent,’ or simply haven’t earned workers’ support.”
Oklahoma City Starbucks Employees Latest to Demand Vote to Remove SBWU Union from Workplace
One year after highly publicized unionization efforts, workers from coffee shops in at least seven different states move to remove SBWU
Oklahoma City, OK (October 10, 2023) – An employee of a Starbucks store in the Nichols Hills neighborhood of Oklahoma City has submitted a petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) asking the federal agency to hold a vote among her colleagues to remove the Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) union from the workplace. The employee, Amy Smith, is receiving free legal representation from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
Smith’s petition contains signatures from enough of her coworkers to prompt a union decertification election under the NLRB’s rules. While Oklahoma is a Right to Work state, meaning SBWU bosses cannot compel Smith or her coworkers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of staying employed, SBWU is still empowered by federal law to impose a union contract on all employees of the coffee shop, including those who oppose the union. A successful decertification vote would strip union officials of that power.
Oklahoma City Starbucks Workers Join Burgeoning Worker Movement Against SBWU
Smith and her coworkers’ effort is the latest in a chain of SBWU decertification pushes across the country. Since May, Starbucks employees in Manhattan, NY; Buffalo, NY; Pittsburgh, PA; Bloomington, MN; Salt Lake City, UT; and Greenville, SC, have all sought free Foundation legal aid in pursuing their decertification petitions at the NLRB. Last month, workers at Good Karma Café, an independent coffee shop in Philadelphia, successfully voted out the SBWU union with Foundation help.
The flurry of decertification attempts is occurring roughly one year after SBWU union agents engaged in an aggressive unionization campaign against Starbucks employees. Federal labor law forbids workers from decertifying a union for a year after its installation, meaning many workers are seizing on the earliest possible opportunity to rid themselves of the SBWU union’s “representation.”
Outside of Starbucks, union decertification efforts are becoming much more common. Currently, the NLRB’s data shows two consecutive years of increased decertification efforts, with a nearly 30% increase in decertification petitions last year versus 2021.
However, union officials have many ways to manipulate federal labor law to prevent workers from voting them out, including by filing unrelated or unverified charges against management. Foundation attorneys are assisting workers who have been targeted with such tactics by union officials.
“SBWU union officials are leveraging their legal privileges and the deep pockets of their affiliate, the Service Employees International Union, to try to install union control over as many Starbucks employees as they can as quickly as they can,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “But as Starbucks and other coffee employees across the country continue to try to flee the union’s power, it’s becoming clearer that the SBWU’s campaign is rooted more in generating political buzz and expanding union power than actually standing up for workers’ interests.”
“Such union behavior is precisely why workers’ right to vote to remove unwanted union officials is so vital, and Foundation attorneys will continue to fight alongside Ms. Smith and numerous other coffee employees across the country to defend this right,” Mix added.
Employee Advocate Issues Legal Notice After Labor Board Fast-Tracks Union Control Over Workers Without Secret Ballot Votes
“Employees who are the targets of union organizing campaigns, and who do not want to be subject to monopoly union representation, must be vigilant about their rights after Cemex.”
Washington, DC (October 6, 2023) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has released a special legal notice informing workers across the country about the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) significant rollback of workers’ right to vote in secret ballot elections to determine whether or not to unionize. The Biden NLRB’s August ruling in the Cemex Construction Materials Pacific case effectively mandates the “card check” method of union installation, which lets union officials seize power in a workplace without winning an election, or even after workers vote against union affiliation in a secret ballot vote.
“Employees who are the targets of union organizing campaigns, and who do not want to be subject to monopoly union representation, must be vigilant about their rights after Cemex,” the notice warns. “Under Cemex, unions can impose their mandatory representation on employees quickly and without employees being able to vote on whether they want union representation.”
The card check process is a union organizing tactic in which a union becomes the monopoly representative of all employees in a unit—including employees who want nothing to do with the union—by collecting union authorization cards directly from a majority of workers. The lack of privacy during a card check exposes workers to coercive tactics from union officials, including misinformation about the true purpose of the cards or threats made against workers who refuse to sign.
The notice emphasizes that the Cemex ruling forces employers to make a decision after union bosses simply claim majority support that will often result in the union gaining power without a worker vote. Under Cemex, if a union claims a majority of workers signed union cards, within two weeks the employer must either “[r]ecognize the union as the monopoly representative of its employees without allowing employees to vote,” or petition the board to hold an election – though the NLRB can strip workers of their right to vote under this option if it believes the employer has committed an unfair labor practice, even if the employees themselves have done nothing wrong.
The full notice is available at: www.nrtw.org/Cemex
Workers Have Right to Campaign Against Unwanted Unions and Can Refuse to Sign Union Cards
The notice explains that all employees have the right to refuse to sign a union authorization card, and to revoke any union authorization card they previously signed. It also reminds workers that “it is a good practice to inform both the union and your employer in writing that you revoked the card so that the union and your employer do not wrongfully count you as a supporter of union representation during a card check.”
Workers also have the right to “sign and circulate cards or petitions against union representation, on non-work time and in non-work areas,” the notice states. Such petitions or cards can be used later to request the NLRB hold an election at the workplace to remove (or “decertify”) the union, and can also be provided to the employer as evidence to contest union claims of majority support.
The notice provides links to sample letters revoking union authorization cards and sample union decertification petitions. “If you have questions about your rights during a union organizing campaign, you can contact Foundation staff attorneys for more information and assistance with exercising your rights,” the notice concludes.
“Not that long ago, bipartisan opposition in Congress blocked legislation to mandate coercive card check unionization. In an unprecedented move, the Biden NLRB is bypassing Congress to mandate this abuse-prone process all on its own by federal fiat,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Make no mistake, this is not about the rights or freedom of rank-and-file workers, but empowering union bosses to the detriment of regular workers and their freedom of choice.”
“While this is a significant blow to the rights of independent-minded workers, they still have options to oppose unwanted union representation. It’s vital that they know those rights going into this new legal landscape, and National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys stand ready to defend their rights,” added Mix. “Foundation staff attorneys have a long history of helping employees challenge union card check schemes, and workers should not hesitate to contact the Foundation for free legal aid if they believe union organizers are attempting to use Cemex to impose a union in their workplace.”
Buffalo Starbucks Worker Files Groundbreaking Lawsuit Challenging Constitutionality of NLRB Structure
Regional NLRB blocked employee and her coworkers from voting out union majority disapproved of, new lawsuit challenges agency’s authority
Buffalo, NY (October 4, 2023) – Buffalo “Del-Chip” Starbucks employee Ariana Cortes has hit the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with a federal lawsuit, arguing that the federal agency’s current structure violates the separation of powers. The lawsuit, filed with the District Court for the District of Columbia, follows Cortes’ challenge to an NLRB Regional Director’s dismissal of her and her coworkers’ petition seeking a vote to remove Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) union officials from their store.
Cortes is receiving free legal aid in both proceedings from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. The lawsuit contends that, because NLRB Board Members cannot be removed at-will by the President, the NLRB’s structure violates Article II of the Constitution.
The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the law which established the Board, restricts a president’s ability to remove Board members except for neglect of duty or malfeasance. The complaint argues that “[t]hese restrictions are impermissible limitations on the President’s ability to remove Board members and violates the Constitution’s separation of powers. Thus, the Board, as currently constituted, is unconstitutional.”
“The Supreme Court made clear in Seila Law LLC v. CFPB, 140 S. Ct. 2183 (2020) and Collins v. Yellen, 141 S. Ct. 1761 (2021) that under Article II of the Constitution, the President must be able to remove federal officials who exercise substantial executive power,” the complaint states. “The five-member NLRB exercises substantial executive power because it issues binding rules, adjudicates unfair labor practices and representation disputes, issues subpoenas, and decides whether and how to direct and conduct elections in representation cases.”
Regional NLRB Dismisses Starbucks Employees’ Request to Vote Out Union
On April 28, Cortes filed a petition, backed by the majority of her coworkers, that requests the NLRB conduct a decertification election at her workplace to end the monopoly bargaining power of SBWU union officials. NLRB Region 3 dismissed Cortes’ petition based on unfair labor practice charges SBWU union officials filed against Starbucks, despite there being no proven connection between those allegations and the decertification petition.
Cortes’ Foundation-provided attorneys filed a Request for Review with the Board challenging this dismissal order. That appeal contrasted the standard the NLRB often applies to petitions to certify unions, which usually proceed with little to no delay, with the standard the NLRB applies to petitions to decertify unions, which are often hamstrung and delayed.
New Federal Lawsuit Seeks to Temporarily Enjoin Unconstitutional Proceedings
Cortes’ new federal lawsuit seeks a declaration from the District Court that the structure of the NLRB as it currently exists is unconstitutional, and an injunction halting the NLRB from proceeding with her decertification case until her federal lawsuit is resolved.
“For too long the NLRB, especially the current Board, has operated as a union boss-friendly kangaroo court, complete with powerful bureaucrats who exercise unaccountable power in violation of the Constitution,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “As the story of Ms. Cortes shows, the NLRB’s unchecked power creates real harms for workers’ rights, especially when workers seek to free themselves from the control of union bosses they disagree with.”
National Right to Work Foundation Files SCOTUS Brief Defending Alaska’s Protections Against Forced Union Dues
Alaska facing ASEA union lawsuit over arrangement which requires union bosses to obtain affirmative consent from employees before deducting dues
Washington, DC (September 29, 2023) – Today, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Alaska v. Alaska State Employees Association. The brief supports the State of Alaska’s attempt to safeguard public sector workers’ First Amendment right to refrain from paying dues to a union they disapprove of. This right was first recognized in the Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision, which was successfully argued at the High Court by Foundation Legal Director William Messenger.
In the 2018 Janus decision, the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment protects public sector employees from being forced to pay union dues as a condition of getting or keeping a job. The High Court further recognized that unions must obtain a worker’s freely given waiver of his or her Janus rights before deducting union dues or fees from his or her paycheck.
In an attempt to ensure his state wasn’t violating its employees’ constitutional rights, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued an executive order to protect workers’ Janus rights: The order requires the state to obtain consent from workers each year to deduct union dues from their paychecks. This arrangement ensures that the “freely given consent” element of Janus is satisfied, while also preventing union bosses from continuing to deduct money from a worker’s wages based on a “yes” given years ago.
However, Alaska State Employees Association (ASEA) union bosses sued the State of Alaska over its Janus protections, and were able to get the state’s highest court to block the arrangement. Even worse, as Foundation staff attorneys point out in the amicus brief, “five Circuit Courts have now held that states and unions can constitutionally seize payments for union speech from dissenting employees without proof they waived their constitutional rights.”
Amicus Brief: Lower Courts and States Are Letting Unions Seize Dues Without Workers’ Consent
The Foundation’s amicus brief maintains that, after the Janus decision, at least seventeen states either “amended their dues deduction laws…to require government employers to enforce restrictions on when employees can stop payroll deductions of union dues,” or “enforced restrictions on stopping payroll deductions under preexisting state laws.” Both lead to unacceptable restraints on public sector workers’ Janus rights, the amicus brief argues.
The amicus brief further contends that lower courts, especially the Ninth Circuit, have misinterpreted Janus to not require public employers to notify public workers of their Janus rights before collecting dues, which dips below the “waiver” standard mandated by the decision. Additionally, the amicus brief points out that the Ninth Circuit has issued decisions that free public employers from any obligation to prove that union bosses obtained authentic consent from workers before dues are taken from their wages.
“Unless the Court grants review and breathes new life into Janus’ waiver requirement, unions and their government allies will continue to severely restrict the right of millions of employees to stop subsidizing union speech,” the amicus brief concludes. “The Court should not tolerate this resistance to its holding in Janus.”
“Public sector union bosses, who prize their own dues-funded political influence far above the individual rights of the employees they claim to ‘represent,’ have tried everything in their power to dodge the Janus ruling and keep siphoning money from workers,” commented National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens. “The Supreme Court has an opportunity in the State of Alaska’s case to set the record straight and ensure that workers’ free association rights can’t simply be molded according to their own schemes.”
NJ Medieval Times Employees Appeal to National Labor Relations Board in Ongoing Joust with Union Officials
Majority of Lyndhurst Medieval Times cast members signed petition asking Labor Board for election to remove union, but union is stalling vote
Newark, NJ (September 21, 2023) – Artemisia Morley, a cast member at the Lyndhurst, NJ, location of Medieval Times, has submitted a Request for Review to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Washington, D.C., defending her and her coworkers’ right to vote unwanted officials of the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA) union out of the workplace. Morley is receiving free legal representation from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.
Morley’s Request for Review challenges NLRB Region 22’s hurried dismissal of a petition she filed on behalf of her coworkers seeking an election to remove the AGVA union (also known as a “decertification election”). Her petition contained the signatures of a strong majority of her coworkers, but the Regional Director dismissed it “without any hearing, and without citing any evidence that there was a ‘causal nexus’ between the Employees’ disaffection from the Union” and unproven allegations that union officials had levied against the employer.
Because New Jersey lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, AGVA union officials have the power to force Morley and her coworkers to pay union fees as a condition of keeping their jobs. In contrast, in states with Right to Work laws, union bosses can’t enter agreements with employers that force employees to fork over a portion of their paychecks to the union just to get or keep a job.
“Secretive” and “Self-Interested” AGVA Union Officials Tried to Stifle Worker-Requested Vote
The Request for Review notes that AGVA union officials were “secretive, self-interested, and divisive,” and “regularly advocated that the [Medieval Times] employees go on strike, something that had no support among the unit employees.” After waiting out the statutory one-year bar on union elections that follows a union’s certification, Morley filed the petition requesting a union decertification vote.
According to the Request for Review, instead of processing the petition as NLRB rules dictate, NLRB Region 22 issued a complaint against the employer and dismissed Morley’s petition based on unproven “blocking charges” AGVA union officials filed against Medieval Times management. The Request for Review argues that the hasty dismissal violated NLRB election rules, the Administrative Procedure Act, and well-established NLRB precedent requiring a hearing to demonstrate whether union allegations of employer misconduct actually caused employee discontent with the union.
“None of the alleged unfair labor practice allegations…concern the Employees’ collection of the decertification signatures or the Employer’s domination of the Union. Thus…an election should be held and the votes immediately counted,” the Request for Review contends. “Even if the Board determined the allegations warranted consideration under [NLRB rules], its plain terms prohibit dismissing a petition prior to an election.”
Case May Be Used to Push Radical Agenda of Biden-Appointed NLRB General Counsel
In 2020, the NLRB adopted Foundation-backed reforms that made it less difficult for workers to eliminate an unwanted union. One reform pared back union officials’ ability to use “blocking charges” to stop worker-requested decertification elections from happening. The reform instead created a process in which charges surrounding an election are litigated after employees have gotten to exercise their right to vote. Instead of applying this rule, NLRB Region 22 dismissed Morley and her coworkers’ requested election.
The Request for Review notes that NLRB Region 22’s complaint, which incorporated AGVA union officials’ unproven allegations against the employer, does not appear designed to help workers “but rather to twist the law and facts beyond recognition in order to aid the current [NLRB] General Counsel’s ideological crusade to overturn decades of settled Board law about bargaining obligations and employer free speech.” Biden-appointed NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, a former union lawyer, has thrown her weight behind other recent cases to uproot longstanding NLRB precedent, often to give more power to union bosses at the expense of workers’ freedom.
“Aided by regional NLRB officials, AGVA union officials seem determined to send the individual rights of Medieval Times workers back to the Dark Ages,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “NLRB election rules clearly forbid union officials from using completely unproven charges of employer misconduct to derail workers’ ability to have a vote on whether they want continued union representation.”
“Federal labor law is supposed to protect the fundamental right of workers to freely decide who will speak for them in workplace matters, and Foundation staff attorneys will fight for Morley and her coworkers as AGVA bosses try to turn this commonsense principle on its head,” Mix added.
Piscataway L’Oreal Employees Demand Vote to Remove RWDSU Union Officials from Facility
RWDSU rejected twice by Alabama Amazon workers; union may soon also lose power over large unit of beauty company employees
Piscataway, NJ (September 19, 2023) – Employees of L’Oreal USA Products’ facility in Piscataway, NJ, have just filed a petition requesting a vote to remove Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU-UFCW) Local 262 officials from power at their workplace. L’Oreal employee Ana Maria Hoyos Lopez submitted the petition to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 22 in Newark with free legal representation from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
Hoyos Lopez’s petition contains signatures from the required number of her coworkers to prompt the NLRB to hold a union decertification vote at the Piscataway facility. The work unit under the control of the RWDSU union is large (over 100 employees) and includes production workers, maintenance workers, truck drivers, and warehouse workers.
Because New Jersey lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, RWDSU union officials have the power to force Hoyos Lopez and her coworkers to pay union fees as a condition of keeping their jobs. In contrast, in states with Right to Work laws, union bosses can’t enter agreements with employers that force employees to fork over a portion of their paychecks to the union just to get or keep a job.
“RWDSU union officials have spent a lot of time campaigning around our workplace, but they have not been standing up for me and my coworkers,” commented Hoyos Lopez. “My coworkers and I deserve a chance to exercise our right to vote the union out, and I’m confident we will decide to kick them out.”
Biden NLRB Planning New Restrictions on Workers’ Right to Vote Out Unwanted Union Officials
Hoyos Lopez and her colleagues’ effort comes as the Biden NLRB in Washington, D.C., is attempting to make it more difficult for employees to obtain votes to remove unwanted unions, while giving union officials more tools to gain power in a workplace without even a vote. The NLRB will soon issue a final rule overturning the Election Protection Rule, a Foundation-backed 2020 reform which made commonsense improvements to the decertification process.
The Election Protection Rule’s repeal, among other things, will grant union officials greater power to use so-called “blocking charges” to stop union decertification elections from happening. “Blocking charges” are often unverified allegations of employer misconduct that frequently have no relation or connection to workers’ desire to oust a union.
The repeal will also likely block workers from seeking a union decertification vote for a year after union bosses attempt to install themselves in a workplace via “card check.” The card check process lets union officials bypass the NLRB’s traditional secret ballot vote procedures and instead allege majority support by collecting union authorization cards directly from workers – often using coercive or intimidating tactics.
“It’s not particularly surprising that L’Oreal employees are seeking to oust RWDSU union bosses, who seem to have a penchant for ignoring workers’ will,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “RWDSU is still trying to impose itself on workers at the large Amazon facility in Bessemer, Alabama, despite those workers voting not once, but twice to reject the union’s presence.”
“Unfortunately, the Biden NLRB is trying to make it easier for union officials who seek to undermine worker votes to cling onto power, but Foundation attorneys will continue to defend Ms. Hoyos Lopez and any other employee who seeks to exercise their individual right to vote out unwanted union officials,” Mix added.
Wisconsin Spartek Workers Successfully Force Out UE Union Officials as Labor Board’s Policy Shift Looms
United Electrical union flees Spartek after majority of workers petition against union
Sparta, WI (September 14, 2023) – Employees from metal manufacturing company Spartek have prevailed in their effort to oust United Electrical Workers (UE) Local 1161 union officials from their facility. Following the workers’ submission of a petition asking National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 18 to hold an election in the workplace on whether the union should be removed, UE union bosses sent a letter to Spartek management disclaiming interest in continuing their control over the workplace.
Spartek employee Carl Berg filed the petition with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. The petition, which contained signatures from the majority of Berg’s coworkers, exceeded the 30% threshold NLRB rules require to trigger a union decertification vote in a workplace.
Because Wisconsin is a state with Right to Work protections, union officials can’t force private sector employees like those at Spartek to join the union or pay union dues as a condition of getting or keeping a job. In contrast, non-Right to Work states like neighboring Illinois and Minnesota let union officials enter into agreements with employers that compel workers to pay dues as a condition of employment.
But even in Right to Work states, federal law grants union officials the power to impose their “representation” on all workers in a unit, even those who oppose the union or voted against its presence. However, workers can choose to exercise their right to decertify a union they disapprove of.
“UE union officials hadn’t really done anything for us. After making a bunch of promises, they barely showed their faces around the workplace,” commented Berg. “I filed the decertification petition because a majority of my coworkers wanted to remove the UE union, and the fact that the union disclaimed interest so fast probably speaks to the fact that the union officials knew they hadn’t been doing a good job.”
Biden NLRB Seeks to Further Burden Workers’ Right to Decertify Unwanted Unions
In 2020, the NLRB adopted Foundation-backed policy reforms that made the union decertification process less difficult for workers. The reforms, among other things, pared back union officials’ ability to use unverified allegations of employer wrongdoing (also known as “blocking charges”) to stall a worker-requested decertification vote. However, the Biden NLRB has announced that it will soon issue a rule overturning these commonsense reforms.
The repeal of the Election Protection Rule will also let union officials shut down worker attempts to obtain a secret ballot decertification vote for a year after union officials install themselves in a workplace via the so-called “card check” process. This move will be particularly dangerous to workers’ rights now that the Biden-appointed majority on the NLRB has voted to mandate card check recognition. Under the abuse-prone card check process, union officials bypass the NLRB’s traditional secret ballot vote procedures and instead use cards collected directly from workers – often through coercive or intimidating tactics – as “votes” for unionization.
“Workers across the country are successfully exercising their right to kick out unwanted union officials, especially with Foundation aid,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “This trend is a threat to the Biden Administration’s union boss political allies, and the Administration has been pursuing a radical agenda to trap workers under unions’ so-called ‘representation’ and increase the influence and dues revenue of its favorite special interest.”
“This agenda is toxic to workers’ individual rights, and Foundation staff attorneys will continue to assist workers in defending their right to decertify a union even amidst this legal and regulatory assault,” Mix added.
National Right to Work Foundation Issues Special Legal Notice to Employees of Big Three Automakers as UAW Brass Orders Strike
Foundation notifies employees that those wishing to continue working during a strike should resign their memberships before returning to work
Detroit, MI (September 12, 2023) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has released a special legal notice to the thousands of autoworkers who may be impacted if United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials issue a strike order this week. UAW President Shawn Fain has threatened to order workers from Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis – the “Big 3” unionized American automakers – off the job if new contracts aren’t struck by Thursday, September 14.
The Foundation’s legal notice informs autoworkers of their rights, including their right to rebuff the strike order and to keep working to support their families as the strike is ongoing. The notice discusses why workers across the country frequently turn to the National Right to Work Foundation for free legal aid in such situations.
“This situation raises serious concerns for autoworkers who may believe there is much to lose from a strike and who do not want to abandon their jobs,” the notice reads. “Autoworkers have the legal right to rebuff union officials’ strike demands, but it is important for them to know their rights before they do so.”
The full notice is available at https://www.nrtw.org/uaw/.
The notice outlines the process that autoworkers should follow if they want to exercise their right to return to work during the strike and avoid punishment by union bosses, complete with sample union membership resignation letters. The notice reminds workers that UAW union officials have no disciplinary power over workers who are not union members, and advises employees who wish to work during a strike to resign their memberships at least one day before returning to work.
“The reason is that union officials can (and often do) levy heavy fines against union members who work during a strike,” the notice says.
Further, the notice reminds employees of their rights to cut off all union dues payments in the absence of a monopoly bargaining contract between UAW union officials and company management. The notice encourages employees to seek free legal aid from the Foundation if they experience union resistance as they attempt to exercise any of these rights.
“UAW union bosses have a long history of throwing workers under the bus while pursuing their own interests, something made clear by the federal corruption and embezzlement probe that resulted in many of the UAW’s top brass going to prison,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Rank-and-file workers have good reason to wonder if Shawn Fain’s combative stance and apparent eagerness to initiate a strike is really what is best for them, their careers, and their families, or rather is yet another example of UAW bosses looking out for themselves and their personal ambitions to the detriment of those they claim to represent.”
“National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have successfully aided many UAW-controlled employees throughout the years, and are prepared to defend autoworkers from the union boss demands that often accompany a strike order,” added Mix.
Passaic, NJ, Woodworking Employees Win Two-Year Legal Battle to Oust Unwanted Carpenters Union Officials
Patella employees’ ordeal shows how union officials trap workers in unions they oppose, yet Biden NLRB is moving to make union decertification even harder
Passaic, NJ (September 8, 2023) – Following the third attempt by employees of Passaic-based woodworking firm Patella to obtain a vote to remove them, Carpenters Local 252 union officials have backed down and abandoned the facility. The union’s disclaimer of interest, received last week by National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 22, caps off a years-long legal battle between Patella employees and recalcitrant Carpenters union officials. The workers ousted the union with free legal aid from staff attorneys at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
Patella employee Steve Urso led the effort to vote out the union, which began in July 2021 with the filing of a petition requesting an NLRB-administered vote to decertify the Carpenters union. Union officials used unverified allegations of employer misconduct, also known as “blocking charges,” to derail attempts by Urso and his colleagues to oust the union. Urso filed the most recent decertification petition near the end of August 2023, and instead of seeking to continue their control over the clearly dissatisfied Patella workers, Carpenters union officials finally moved to leave the facility.
Because New Jersey lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, Carpenters union officials had the power to force Urso and his coworkers to pay at least some union dues as a condition of keeping their jobs. In contrast, in states with Right to Work laws, union bosses can’t enter agreements with employers that force employees to fork over a portion of their paychecks to the union just to get or keep a job.
Carpenters Union Used Unproven Allegations Against Management to Block Employees from Voting
“Carpenters union bosses completely ignored our wishes for years, and apparently thought violating our rights and continuing to collect dues was better than simply letting us vote on whether we thought they deserved to stay,” Urso commented. “It’s extremely unfair that Carpenters officials were able to manipulate NLRB rules and processes for as long as they did to keep us trapped under union ‘representation’ that we opposed, but we didn’t give up and we’re glad we’re finally out.”
After Urso submitted the first employee-backed decertification petition in July 2021, an election did occur, but the ballots were never tallied after Carpenters officials filed “blocking charges” against the employer. Carpenters union bosses stopped a vote from occurring at all after Urso’s second attempt, again using “blocking charges.” Patella management settled the charges in February, but afterward Carpenters union officials did not request any bargaining sessions with the employer.
The Carpenters union’s disclaimer of interest followed Urso’s third petition. Now that the NLRB has certified the disclaimer, Urso and his colleagues are finally free of the unwanted union.
Biden NLRB Seeks to Empower Union Officials While Undermining Workers Who Seek Votes
Urso and his colleagues’ hard-fought victory comes as the Biden NLRB in Washington, D.C., is attempting to make it even more difficult for workers to obtain votes to remove unwanted unions, while giving union officials more tools to gain power in a workplace without a vote. The NLRB will soon issue a final rule overturning the Election Protection Rule, a Foundation-backed 2020 reform which made commonsense improvements to the decertification process.
The Rule’s repeal will grant union officials even greater power to use “blocking charges” to stop union decertification elections from happening. The repeal will also block workers from seeking a union decertification vote for a year after union bosses attempt to impose unionization by “card check.”
The card check process lets union officials bypass the NLRB’s traditional secret ballot vote procedures and instead allege majority support by collecting union authorization cards directly from workers – often using coercive or intimidating tactics. Foundation attorneys are currently aiding a group of paramedics and EMTs in Sonora and Groveland, California, who were unionized by card check only to vote to remove Steelworkers union bosses a few months later.
“Instead of defending the individual rights of workers across the country who are seeking to vote out union officials they oppose, the Biden NLRB is instead trying to make it harder than ever for workers to obtain an election,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “As Mr. Urso, his colleagues, and countless other workers can attest, the NLRB process for workers to remove a union they oppose is already far too difficult.”
“The Biden NLRB’s continued moves to stifle worker decertification efforts demonstrate yet again that they and their union boss allies are focused on gaining greater control over workers and their pocketbooks – not on employees’ freedom of association,” added Mix.
