Montana timber trucker Michael Weller, who received free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, won an agreement that requires Teamsters Local 2 union officials to reimburse him all forced dues and initiation fees, plus interest.

The Associated Press reported:

Weller said he paid the [forced dues] charges out of fear of losing his job, and sought financial disclosure documents from the union to determine if he was paying the correct amount.

However, even though it was an encouraging victory for Weller, without a Right to Work law in Montana, there are countless more workers who are forced to pay hundreds of dollars to an unwanted union each year or lose their jobs.

The Daily Inter Lake and the Flathead Beacon also covered Weller’s victory.

Following up with 10-year veteran timber trucker Michael Weller was a statement in this article in the Flathead Beacon today that might have mislead some readers:

“As a non-union member in an industry where many of his colleagues join the union, Weller receives the benefits of increased pay when wage agreements are worked out through collective bargaining by the union.”

The Flathead Beacon misses the point. Weller, who works in a forced unionism state, is required to pay for the cost of unwanted monopoly bargaining – despite the fact he doesn’t formally belong to the union in the first place. The article did highlight, however:

“Weller paid the charges out of fear of losing his job…”

All too often, workers in states without Right to Work laws are forced to pay for monopoly bargaining.

When an employee is forced to pay dues to a union in order to get or keep a job, it’s hardly accurate to call that a “benefit.”

Right to Work attorneys helped Montana timber trucker Michael Weller file federal charges against the Teamsters Local 2 after union officials unlawfully ordered him to pay hundreds of dollars in forced dues.

When Weller exercised his rights under Beck, Teamsters union officials responded by illegally threatening to have him fired from his job.

The Daily Inter Lake quoted Weller:

“It’s the principle of the matter. What prompted this was them threatening my job. I’m not real big on people threatening me.”

Jerry Rasmussen and Carla Crandall (along with their coworkers) forced the UFCW Local 4 to sign a settlement after union officials tried to bar them from exercising their legal rights at a Safeway in Polson, Montana.

National Right to Work attorneys helped the two through their battle against illegal termination threats and forced dues seizures after union officials denied their requests to resign from formal membership.

The Associated Press covered the story:

"I got a hold of the (National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation) attorneys, and they said, 'That's absolutely not right. They have to acknowledge those Beck rights and let you be a nonmember,'" Rasmussen said.

Although the settlement requires UFCW Local 4 officials to reimburse the employees of their forced dues plus interest and to inform them of their legal right to resign from formal membership, it is an incremental victory in the broad fight against compulsory unionism in Montana.

Until Montana has a Right to Work law that makes the payment of union dues strictly volunatary, this type of intimidation will likely continue throughout the Treasure State.