Decertification Election

After Second Vote to Oust Union, Judge Rules Workers Still Forced to Accept Unwanted Union 'Representation'

Anthony Riedel — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:49:29 -0400

Last month, a California Agricultural Relations Board Administrative Law Judge threw out the result of a 2007 E&J Gallo’s Sonoma County vineyards employees election to oust the United Farm Workers (UFW) union as their monopoly bargaining agent.

The 2007 decertification election was the second time in less than five years the E&J Gallo's workforce voted to remove the unwanted UFW union from their workplace. The judge ruled that the company failed to provide an accurate list to the UFW union bosses in the lead up to the election. Unfortunately, the clear will of the employees and a 30-vote margin was ignored due to the scorned union bosses' exploitation of an apparent clerical error on the part of the company.

UAW Tries to Block Employee Election to Toss Out Union at JCIM Grand Rapids

Anthony Riedel — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:01:05 -0500

New Right to Work Video Report: Union Intimidation Meets Identity Theft

Will Collins — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:31:42 -0400

We've just released a mini video segment on the Foundation's ongoing efforts to hold union officials liable for a campaign of intimidation and harassment against Patricia Pelletier, a Connecticut worker who successfully initiated a decertification election to eject an unwanted union from her workplace. Union hotheads even planted crack cocaine in her work area to try to get her fired. Check it out:

NLRB Slapped Down as District Court Backs Employees' Decision to Eject Unwanted Union

Will Collins — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 11:02:51 -0400

In early June, Foundation staff attorneys moved to block an injunction intended to force unwilling workers back into a union they'd already chosen to toss out.

Despite the fact that the vast majority of employees at a Narricot Industries facility in Norfolk, Virginia (a) did not belong to the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners Local 2316 and (b) overwhelmingly signed on to a union decertification petition, union bosses sought to retain monopoly bargaining privileges with a series of last ditch unfair labor practice charges leveled against the workers' employer. Among other things, union lawyers claimed that Narricot Industries' alleged unfair labor practices somehow incited employee opposition to the union's presence. (For the full story, check out the Foundation's press release here).

Woodman’s Grocery Workers Seek to Bag Unwanted UFCW Union

John Powell — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:20:46 -0500

In Wisconsin today, a local newspaper reported that employees at Woodman’s Food Stores in Janesville and Beloit will likely be granted a decertification vote to oust the unwanted United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1473 union.

The GazetteXtra reported:

“We’re going to do what the employees tell us to do,” [company president Phil] Woodman said. “We’re going to do what’s in the best interests of the employees.”

The secret ballot election (scheduled for next week) comes after the National Labor Relations Board held hearings on the validity of the employees’ decertification petition.

UFCW Local 1473 officials delayed the workers’ vote after they asked the grocery store chain for records and files on over 2,100 employees at the 11 Woodman’s stores.

Such “blocking” tactics are not unusual for UFCW union officials to use, as recently witnessed by grocery employees in Illinois.

There, National Right to Work Foundation attorneys helped over 300 Treasure Island grocery workers win a vote to oust the unwanted UFCW union from their workplace, after UFCW union lawyers blocked a decertification election for nearly three years.

Pomona Nurses Seeking to Kick Out Unwanted SEIU Union

Justin Hakes — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 16:29:13 -0500

Nurses at the Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center in California are today filing a decertification petition, which is a fancy way of saying they're asking for an election to kick out the unwanted SEIU Local 121RN union.

This should come as no suprise as the National Right to Work Foundation helped a nurse at the facility hit Local 121RN with federal charges for threatening nurses with arrests, jail, and fines for refusing to walk off the job during a union-ordered strike. Some union "representation."

Union operatives also distributed a threatening flier, despite a claim to the contrary by a top union official.