Cincinnati, OH (May 19, 2005) – The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a formal complaint to prosecute a local union for unlawfully coercing local caregivers into paying union dues even though they had voted to ban forced union dues from their workplace. National Right to Work Foundation attorneys last month filed unfair labor practice charges on behalf of ResCare, Inc. (Camelot Lake) employee Larry Richardson and all similarly situated coworkers employed at the company, which provides healthcare to the mentally disabled. The charges pointed out that union officials unlawfully refused to allow caregivers to revoke their “dues check-off cards.” So-called “dues check-off cards” allow the automatic deduction of forced union dues from workers’ paychecks. Camelot Lake is a Fairfield, Ohio-based intermediate healthcare facility providing services to the mentally disabled. “UFCW union officials want employees to simply shut up and pay up,” said Foundation Vice President Stefan Gleason. “Union bosses just want the money.” The health care workers at Camelot Lake voted to deauthorize the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), Local 1099 in an election held by the NLRB in March 2005. A successful deauthorization election simply removes the forced union dues clause from a contract and ensures that no one can be legally forced to pay any dues or fees to the union in order to get or keep their job. A few weeks after the election, UFCW officials misinformed the employees at Camelot Lake that they could not revoke their “dues-check off cards” until the window period stated on the signed card. This window period is unique to each employee and is based on the date they signed their individual card. In the charges filed for Richardson, Foundation attorneys argue that the actions of UFCW officials clearly violate past rulings of the NLRB, that workers can revoke their dues check-off cards at any time after deauthorization, even if the revocation occurs outside a stated window period. Unless union officials cease and desist in their unlawful actions they will face a trial before an administrative law judge in Cincinnati next month.

Anchorage, Alaska (March 31, 2005) – Workers have once again voted to remove Teamsters Union Local 959 as the “exclusive bargaining representative” of more than 200 Anchorage-area school bus drivers and attendants. Employees voted 109-78 this week to vote out the unwanted union. The new election result comes on the heels of a December 2004 election in which workers voted to decertify the union 105-83. This week’s election was held after union officials filed objections to the results of the December 2004 vote. The drivers’ employer, First Student, Inc., provides school bus services to the Anchorage School District. With free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, school bus driver Jayne Larrassey filed objections to a May 2004 decertification election in which the Teamsters union narrowly maintained its status as the workers’ monopoly representative after company officials stifled worker free speech. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 19 office ordered a new election in July 2004, but union officials appealed the decision to the full NLRB in Washington, delaying the new election. However, a three-member panel of the NLRB ordered in November that results from the tainted May union decertification election be set aside and that a new election be held because of the actions of company officials. The federal labor agency’s order affirmed the findings in a report issued by a hearing officer of the NLRB’s Region 19 office. That report found “serious and extensive” company interference by enforcing an “overly broad rule” limiting employees’ rights to distribute pro-decertification literature leading up to the election. The objections originated when Larrassey exercised her right to oppose the union hierarchy by distributing flyers in the company parking lot promoting the May 2004 decertification of the Teamsters union as the drivers’ monopoly bargaining agent. However, union activists quickly seized the flyers from the vehicles and turned them over to the union steward, who then reported Larrassey to company officials. Larrassey was then given a “verbal warning” by a company official and told that any further attempt to circulate pro-decertification literature would result in disciplinary action. Larrassey was reprimanded a second time on the day of the election when she simply stood in a non-work area and reminded people to vote. “Despite the best efforts of Teamsters officials to stifle dissent, First Student bus drivers will now determine their own future in an atmosphere free from coercion,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. As a result of the decertification victory, First Student employees will now be free to negotiate their own terms and conditions of employment, and be rewarded on their individual merit.

Copyright 2005 Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Inc. TELEGRAM & GAZETTE (Massachusetts)UAW ousted at Saint-Gobain; Workers vote 350-309 to decertify union at Greendale plant Bob Kievra; TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFFWORCESTER - Workers at Saint-Gobain Abrasives Inc. yesterday voted to decertify the United Auto Workers union, rejecting the union as their bargaining agent after a tumultuous 3-1/2-year tenure that featured a strike, unfair labor practice charges and a stalemate over an initial contract. Voting to decertify UAW Region 9A were 350 employees; voting to retain union representation were 309 employees. There were 715 employees eligible to vote. Nine ballots were challenged and one was voided. The UAW bucked a 100-year tradition in August 2001 when, in a 406-386 vote, the union mounted a successful organizing drive that drew on widespread discontent with management at the sprawling Greendale manufacturing complex. But two groups of employees and the company mounted decertification efforts in recent years, citing the closeness of the initial election and a lack of progress toward a first contract. Union officials last night said they were evaluating their options and would decide next week whether to file objections. Election objections must be submitted by Friday to the National Labor Relations Board. Robert L. Madore, assistant director of UAW Region 9A, said he was disappointed, but had no regrets about the union's negotiating tactics, an eight-day strike in 2003, or the decision to cease filing objections that would have delayed the election. Saint-Gobain and decertification proponents succeeded, in part, because they raised the possibility of layoffs and plant closings, a powerful weapon that played on the economic hopes and fears of abrasives workers, he said. "The workers were intimidated and coerced and threatened. We're evaluating our options, but those types of threats can be grounds to file objections," Mr. Madore said while sipping coffee at a West Boylston Street Dunkin' Donuts. Employees who lobbied for decertification were pleased with the outcome, but said healing the pro- and anti-union factions will be difficult. Top management at Saint-Gobain must address some of the discontent that first gave rise to the union effort, they said. "We overcame a lot of roadblocks," said decertification proponent William Damato Jr., an 18-year employee. "I'm glad we succeeded, but I'm not going to do this again. I hope management takes notice, takes actions and fixes some things." Saint-Gobain came to Worcester in 1990 when it bought the former Norton Co., which had a long nonunion tradition. Saint-Gobain had easily fended off four previous efforts prior to the UAW victory. The UAW and Saint-Gobain never enjoyed good relations, sparring with one another over proposed benefit changes, the pace of negotiations, and what role politicians and other civic officials should play in brokering an initial contract. Saint-Gobain lobbied for decertification in recent weeks and officials said last night they were pleased to put an end to the "turmoil throughout our operations caused by the union." The union represented about 45 percent of the total work force at Saint-Gobain's Greendale operations. While happy that the union was decertified, Saint-Gobain executives struck a conciliatory tone, acknowledging that mistakes had been made, errors that may have fostered union organizing efforts. "I'm confident that there's enough people in this organization who want to make this place work and succeed," said Stephen A. Stockman, vice president of bonded abrasives in North America and site manager of Greendale operations. "It's going to take time. Some healing will be needed, but I think everyone is interested in the long-term success of Saint-Gobain in Worcester." The union's inability to deliver on many of its promises worked against it, said Mr. Stockman. He said the union, in some instances, negotiated contract provisions that gave workers less attractive benefits than they had prior to the union. "The difference in the election was really what the union did not accomplish," he said. Mr. Stockman came to Greendale in January 2001 and said he was attempting to open up lines of communication in the months prior to the August 2001 vote. Those efforts were mothballed once the union was organized, but will begin anew over the next few weeks, he said. Decertification proponents enlisted the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a nonprofit group critical of compulsory union dues. Last night, those who lobbied for decertification said they hope to form a new, nonthreatening atmosphere with management. "We would like the opportunity to mend the wounds caused by the UAW," said James W. Mitchell, a 26-year veteran of Saint-Gobain who filed a decertification petition in September 2004. "We hold no grudges and would like the opportunity to become a unified company again." Mr. Mitchell's petition was the second of three decertification petitions. Wayne W. Gregoire filed the first petition in 2003, and Saint-Gobain sought decertification in October 2004. Mr. Mitchell, Mr. Gregoire and others operated a pro-decertification employees group known as the Grass Roots Coalition Against the Union. Members of the group noted that Saint-Gobain is a large, multinational company that could easily shift operations to other parts of the world. Mr. Madore said the coalition acted as "agents of the company" by mouthing doom-and-gloom assertions that federal labor laws precluded Saint-Gobain from uttering. Saint-Gobain and the decertification proponents have repeatedly said they operated independent of one another. "We're not sorry we came to Worcester," Mr. Madore said. "We're proud of what we've done. But this was an undemocratic process because the coalition was really working on behalf of the company." Gary N. Chaison, a professor of labor relations at Clark University, said yesterday's vote is a dramatic reversal from 2001, when the UAW's success made national headlines. The UAW had every right to be proud in 2001 because unionizing manufacturing workers is a difficult task, Mr. Chaison said. But having it fall apart less than four years later is also significant, he said. "They may have pushed too hard and too fast instead of just getting an agreement and establishing a relationship," he said. In the end, workers on both sides of the issue may get what they want, because Saint-Gobain will treat the union as a shot across the bow, he said. Workers have shown their dissatisfaction with Saint-Gobain in a strong, impressive manner, he said. "Saint-Gobain is probably saying to themselves, 'How can we avoid this from happening again?'" Mr. Chaison said. "In that respect, the workers may come out ahead in the end." Business Reporter Bob Kievra can be reached at bkievra@telegram.com.

Columbus, OH (January 19, 2005) – A local Delille Oxygens worker filed federal unfair labor practice charges against Teamsters Union Local 284 after union officials unlawfully negotiated over workers’ terms of employment with company officials even though a dissenting majority of employees have signed a “decertification petition” seeking to rid their workplace of the unwanted union. Delille Oxygens provides welding and industrial gas services within the Columbus metro area. Delille Oxygens employee Michael Whetstone obtained free legal assistance from attorneys with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and filed the class-action charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for the more than one dozen employees in the bargaining unit. Whetstone alleges that Teamsters officials unlawfully ignored a decertification petition that he and other employees filed with the NLRB after the employer and the Teamsters had been negotiating for over a year. The petition demonstrated that a majority of employees rejected Teamsters union monopoly representation. Under the National Labor Relations Act, if a union has actual knowledge that 50% or more of the employees in a bargaining unit have signed a petition stating that they no longer want to be represented by a union, the union must cease negotiating for the employees. The NLRB will now investigate the charges and decide whether to issue a formal complaint in the case. “Union officials want workers like these to simply shut up and pay up,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Rather than have their will stifled by union officials, these workers ought to be free to choose their own representation.” The actions of Teamsters officials violated employee rights recognized by the National Labor Relations Act and affirmed by the NLRB in such cases as Maramont Corp. Under Maramont, union officials are prohibited from negotiating terms of employment as monopoly representative if they know they do not have the support of a majority of employees within the bargaining unit. “Most employees prefer a workplace where they are free to discuss their terms and conditions of employment directly with the employer, without intervention by a third party,” said Gleason.