Union Bosses Set Forest Fire Captain’s Religious Rights Ablaze

Union officials and state play God with firefighter’s rights

San Francisco, CA (May 21, 2012) – A California Department of Forestry fire captain has filed a religious discrimination charge against the California Department of Forestry Firefighters (CDFF) union for violating his statutory right to refrain from paying forced union dues to support a union hierarchy involved in activities he considers immoral.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, Susanville firefighter John Valentich filed the charge against the CDFF union with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission located in San Francisco.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act forbids discrimination against religious employees and requires companies and unions to attempt to reasonably accommodate employees' sincerely-held religious beliefs. The obligation to accommodate applies to the payment of compulsory union fees, as no employee should be forced to fund a union that engages in activities that offend their religious convictions.

Read the entire release here.

Security Guards Hit SEIU Local with Federal Charges

17 nonunion employees say union officials forced them to pay more dues than actual union members because they asserted their rights

San Francisco, CA (May 18, 2012) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, six security guards have filed unfair labor practice charges for themselves and 11 others against Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 24/7. The 17 nonunion employees allege that SEIU officials forced them to pay more union dues than actual SEIU members in retaliation for filing earlier charges against the union . . .

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National Workplace Advocacy Group Launches Charter School Initiative

Union bosses fail to block charter school education, now seek to make charter schools part of forced unionism empire

Washington, DC (May 16, 2012) – The nation's premier advocate on behalf of workers impacted by forced unionism across the country has launched a new initiative to assist charter school teachers and other charter school employees exercise their rights so they can make informed decisions about unionization.

Led by National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, the National Right to Work Foundation's Charter School Initiative will help charter school teachers and support personnel in the face of expanding efforts by union officials to unionize America’s charter schools.

All charter school employees are entitled to certain constitutional and statutory rights. Unfortunately, these rights are not automatically provided. To enjoy many of the benefits of these protected rights, an employee may first have to assert his or her entitlement to them.

Read the entire release here.

Court Strikes Down Obama Labor Board’s Ambush Election Rule Change

Challenged rules would allow union bosses to ambush workers into forced-dues-paying union ranks

Washington, D.C. (May 14, 2012) – Today, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has struck down the National Labor Relations Board's new rules dictating how union organizing elections are conducted, ruling that the Board did not have a quorum necessary to enact the new rules.

The National Right to Work Foundation – the nation's premier advocate for workers who suffer from the abuses of compulsory unionism – filed comments opposing the Board's proposed new guidelines which would help give union organizers the upper hand over independent-minded employees.

The new rules dramatically shortened the time frame individual workers have to share truthful information with their coworkers about the adverse effects of unionization and to hear their employer's views on the subject. In other words, the new rules were one-sided.

Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work, issued the following statement regarding the ruling:

"The Obama NLRB is determined to make union organizing campaigns as one-sided as possible and to stifle the rights of employees who may oppose bringing a union into their workplace. Today, the court's ruling demonstrates once again the biased way that the Obama Labor Board has operated – a two member majority ramming through the final pro-union boss rule change without even asking the one minority member to vote.

Read the entire release here.

To read more about the court's decision and the ambush elections rule, click here.

Verizon Employee Wins Settlement After CWA Union and Company Officials Collude to Ignore Her Rights

Worker refused to abandon job during highly-publicized strike

Newport News, VA (May 14, 2012) – A Newport News, Virginia Verizon (NYSE: VZ) worker has won a settlement from the company and the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union, and its local affiliate, for violating her rights following last year's strike that grabbed national headlines.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, Williamsburg resident Monika Cassell filed a lawsuit in federal district court in February against Verizon, the CWA and its affiliate, Local 2205, for refusing to honor her right to refrain from paying union dues.

Upset by CWA union officials' strike order and unwilling to walk off their jobs, Cassell and several other Verizon employees resigned from the union last year and revoked their dues deduction authorizations – documents used by union officials to automatically collect dues from employees' paychecks – while the union did not have a contract at their workplaces.

Read the entire release here.

The Philadelphia Daily News has the story:

MATTHEW and Michael Pestronk, two young real-estate developers who came here from Virginia to attend Drexel, are trying to shake up the city’s construction business by hiring nonunion labor at two huge apartment complexes they’re renovating.

But members of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council aren’t happy, and the heated battle of young developers vs. old-school Philadelphia union power has thrown their plans for the Goldtex Building in Callowhill into turmoil.

The Pestronks — Matt, 35, and Mike, 31 — haven’t flinched as the ugly battle has escalated with charges that union members scattered bottles of urine around the Goldtex building at 12th and Wood streets, placed loose asbestos inside another development they’re working on in Germantown and allegedly harassed Matt Pestronk’s pregnant wife and child.

Unfortunately, this isn't an isolated incident. Union operatives frequently rely on threats, intimidation, and even violence to keep independent-minded workers in line and deter businesses from using nonunion labor. The reasoning behind these thuggish tactics is simple: If nonunion contractors get work, employees might choose to refrain from union membership or work at a nonunion sites, depriving union bosses of more of their coveted forced dues revenue.

If you or someone you know has been a victim of union violence, we encourage you to contact the Foundation's free legal aid program immediately.