Federal Court Upholds Wisconsin Governor's Public-Sector Unionism Reforms

Workers asked court to uphold reform measure protecting most Badger State public workers from forced unionism

Chicago, IL (January 18, 2013) – Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld all of Governor Scott Walker’s public-sector unionism reform measures, also known as "Act 10."

With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, three Wisconsin public employees moved to intervene in the lawsuit in favor of the law after lawyers from seven unions, led by the Wisconsin Education Association Council, challenged it in federal court. The three civil servants, Pleasant Prairie teacher Kristi Lacroix, Waukesha high school teacher Nathan Berish, and trust fund specialist at the Wisconsin Department of Employee Trust Funds Ricardo Cruz, were permitted to file amicus briefs in the district court.

Union lawyers sought to strike down the law’s annual union recertification requirements, ban on the use of taxpayer funded-payroll systems to collect union dues, new limits on the scope of what union officials can demand in contract negotiations, and a provision that granted most of Wisconsin’s public employees Right to Work protections.

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Caterpillar Workers Win Federal Settlement from Machinist Union Hierarchy for Strike Discipline Violations

Union officials demand hundreds thousands of dollars in strike fines from workers

Chicago, IL (January 17, 2013) – Two Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) workers have won a federal settlement from a local Machinist union after union brass illegally charged them full union dues and attempted to punish them for working during a highly-publicized strike against the company even though the workers were not union members.

The settlement stems from a federal unfair labor practice charge Daniel Eggleston and Steven Olsen filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office in Chicago with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys against the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union and its local District Lodge 851 affiliate.

Eggleston and Olsen have refrained from union membership in the IAM union for years and are thus exempted from the union hierarchy's constitution and bylaws. On May 1, Machinists Local 851 union bosses ordered all of the over 800 Rockdale Caterpillar workers on strike. Eggleston and Olsen, along with over a hundred other workers, continued to work despite IAM union boss demands.

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Supreme Court Asks for Solicitor General's Brief in Backroom Union Organizing Case

Right to Work legal challenge could determine if companies are allowed to hand over sensitive employee information to aggressive union organizers

Washington, DC (January 14, 2012) – Today, the United States Supreme Court requested a brief from the U.S. Solicitor General in Mulhall v. UNITE HERE, a case that could determine if companies are allowed to hand over workers' personal information to union organizers in exchange for union concessions at the employees' expense.

Patrick Semmens, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation, issued the following statement:

"We're pleased the Supreme Court wants more views on Mulhall v. UNITE HERE, a case that has important implications for worker rights. Big Labor organizers should not be able to offer secret deals for workers they have no relationship with that exchange union concessions for employees' personal information. The Labor Management Relations Act is intended to prevent backroom payoffs to union officials like the ones at issue in Mulhall, which is why the Supreme Court should take the case and make sure that law does not become an empty letter."

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Alaska State Troopers Seek to Handcuff Government Union Boss Forced Dues Powers

Relying on landmark Knox Supreme Court decision, Troopers seek to end automatic dues deduction for politics from non-member state employees

Anchorage, AK (January 8, 2013) – Five Alaska State Troopers have filed the first federal lawsuit that seeks to expand public employees’ right to refrain from paying union dues used for union politics in light of last year's U.S. Supreme Court decision in Knox v. SEIU.

Robin Benning, Patrick Johnson, Andrew Neason, Chris Terry, and Ken VanSpronsen filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska in Anchorage with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

The troopers refrain from formal union membership in the Public Safety Employees Association (PSEA) union, an affiliate of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 803. Because they are not formal union members, the troopers have a right not to pay the part of union dues used for union politics, lobbying, and member-only events.

Last year, the Supreme Court ruled in the Foundation-won Knox v. SEIU decision that California state employees who refrain from formal union membership could not be compelled to pay for union politicking via a "special assessment" for a self-described "political fight back fund." The Court's majority ruled for the first time that union officials must obtain affirmative consent from workers before using workers' forced union fees for union politicking.

The Alaskan troopers are seeking to expand that decision to apply to all instances when public employees refrain from union membership.

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Local Cold Storage Warehouse Worker Files Federal Charge against Company for Discrimination

Americold Logistics management seek to put on ice workers’ push to remove union

Rochelle, IL (December 31, 2012) – An Americold Logistics warehouse employee has filed a federal charge against the company for violating her rights.

Karen Cox of Dixon filed the federal charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

A local affiliate of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) unionized Cox's workplace in June 2012. However, union and company officials have yet to reach a contract. Cox began a campaign to remove the unwanted union from her workplace. However, Americold company management is denying her the same access it granted union organizers, preventing her from informing her coworkers of the downsides of unionization and asking them to petition the NLRB for a secret ballot election to remove the union hierarchy.

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Two El Paso Hospitals Face Federal Prosecution for Violating Nurses' Rights

Union and hospital officials entered into underhanded agreement to foist union representation on nurses

El Paso, TX (December 19, 2012) – Two local hospitals are facing a federal prosecution for denying access to nurses opposed to unionization while giving union organizers preferential access in order to unionize the nurses.

In the wake of federal charges filed by two nurses with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office in Phoenix issued formal complaints against Tenet Hospitals Ltd. and its two hospitals in El Paso, Providence Memorial Hospital and Sierra Medical Center.

California Nurses Association-affiliated National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) union officials entered into a "neutrality agreement" with Tenet designed to grease the skids for the nurses' unionization. Tenet was applying that agreement when it took its illicit action to discriminate against nurses opposed to NNOC union representation.

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