Charter school employees increasingly are targets for forced unionization

Springfield, VA (December 9, 2016) – The National Right to Work Foundation is stepping up its efforts to inform charter school teachers and other employees of the legal rights they have to refrain from compulsory unionism. As part of the effort, Foundation staff attorneys are attending charter school conferences in Ohio and Louisiana this month.

Sending Foundation attorneys to these charter school conferences is part of a growing initiative of the Foundation’s legal information program to ensure charter school employees are fully aware of their rights and are able to make an informed decision in regards to unionization.

Union bosses have historically been steadfastly opposed to the existence of charter schools because they see them as a threat to their monopoly over students and teachers. However, as the popularity of charter schools has continued to grow, union officials have been increasingly targeting charter school employees as new sources of forced dues to fill their depleting coffers.

“Teachers and students alike are flocking to charter schools in part because they are largely free of the teacher union monopoly that puts union boss power ahead of what is best for teachers, students and their communities,” National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix commented. “Sending Foundation staff attorneys to these conferences is a crucial part of our charter school initiative to ensure charter school employees are able to make informed decisions about union representation in an atmosphere free from union boss threats, harassment, coercion, or misrepresentation.”

To learn more about the Foundation’s charter school initiative and the legal rights charter school employees have, please visit www.nrtw.org/your-rights-charter.

Charter school teachers, or any other employee who finds themselves the victim of compulsory unionism abuses can contact the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation to request free legal assistance at anytime by calling 1-800-336-3600 or by going to www.nrtw.org/free-legal-aid/

Union bosses continue to seize forced dues from over 50 workers

Washington, D.C. (December 6, 2016) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, two local workers have filed unfair labor practice charges against the International Union of Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA) and its Local 247.

The charges state that union officials continue to seize union dues from their and other employees’ paychecks despite a deauthorization election that eliminated the forced dues clause from the workplace bargaining agreement. Dues check off revocation letters sent to the union by the two workers and many others were ignored.

Troy Golson and Yasir Maatoug work as security guards in the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington, D.C. In November 2015 employees in their company, Coastal International Security, successfully won a deauthorization election against the SPFPA union. A deauthorization election can be called by employees to remove the forced-unionism clause that allows union bosses to have a worker fired for refusing to pay the union dues or fees.

After the vote, nearly 100 Coastal employees sent union officials a dues check off revocation letter, which legally stops the collection of forced dues by the union from their paychecks. However, union officials ignored some of the letters and continued seizing dues from at least 50 employees’ paychecks, erroneously claiming workers could not stop payment except in a union-determined “window period.”

Under current National Labor Relations Board law, workers who win a deauthorization election have the right to halt automatic deductions from their paychecks immediately simply by sending the union a revocation letter.

“This is yet another example of union bosses trying to get every last penny in forced dues they can from the workers they claim to ‘represent,’” observed National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “No worker should have to jump through all these hoops just to exercise their legal right. The District of Columbia needs to adopt a Right to Work law to ensure that the right to refrain from union membership or fees is guaranteed for all workers.

Right to Work Foundation attorneys filed a motion to intervene for pro-Right to Work Greenbrier hotel employee who opposes mandatory union dues

Charleston, WV (December 5, 2016) – With the help of National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, an employee at the Greenbrier Hotel in West Virginia has filed a motion to intervene in the ongoing lawsuit concerning the recently passed West Virginia Right to Work Law.

Reginald Gibbs, a slot machine technician at the Greenbrier, seeks to intervene in the court case AFL-CIO v. Tomblin that is currently before the Kanawha County Circuit court. The unions’ complaint challenges the West Virginia Right to Work law enacted in February 2016.

Gibbs’ motion argues that, if the law is overturned or blocked by a judicial order, it would force Gibbs to continue to pay fees to a union with which he does not wish to associate. Mr. Gibbs wishes to intervene to support the law because he believes that it is his right to be free from compulsory unionism, and as a worker currently employed at a location with a compulsory unionism agreement, he will suffer from direct harm if union lawyers win their case.

Although the State of West Virginia is already defending the law in the case, the motion notes that Gibbs has a special interest in defending Right to Work and his attorneys can offer legal arguments distinct from those raised by state lawyers.

“Big Labor’s latest attack on the Right to Work comes in a state where there is overwhelmingly support for the measure,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “That’s why we’re committed to defend the rights of workers against any attempt to delay or overturn West Virginia’s law making union membership and dues payment strictly voluntary.”

Foundation attorneys have already filed two amicus briefs defending the law in this court battle. Foundation attorneys argue that West Virginia’s law is fully constitutional as are the 25 similar state Right to Work laws that are currently in force.

“This lawsuit is very similar to the cases now pending in Wisconsin and Idaho,” continued Mix. “Big Labor’s lawyers are pushing to find any possible loophole they can use to attack worker freedom to protect the union bosses’ forced dues cash flow.”

Union officials forced to settle case involving illegal strike fine threats against nurse who refused to abandon patients

Minneapolis, MN (December 2, 2016) – After months of waiting, Minnesota nurse Crystal Rehbein has finally won her battle against the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) union officials who tried to discipline her for resigning from the union and continuing to take care of her patients in defiance of a union boss-ordered walkout.

In early June of this year, Rehbein sent a certified letter resigning her membership in the MNA, shortly before the MNA hierarchy announced a weeklong strike at Allina Health Hospitals. As a non-member, Rehbein then exercised her right to continue working and take care of her patients. Following the strike, she was notified by the union brass that her resignation had been rejected, and the MNA continued forcing her to pay dues.

In early August, MNA officials informed Rehbein that internal charges had been brought against her for continuing to work during the strike, and threatened her with fines, reprimand, or censure. Consequently, Rehbein, with the assistance of National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys, then filed federal unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, stating that the union charges and continued collection of dues were unlawful.

Finding merit to Rehbein’s filing, the NLRB Region 18 office arranged a settlement in the case. Under the settlement, MNA officials must post a notice for 60 days in the hospitals where Rehbein and two other charging parties work, notifying all MNA members of their rights. Those rights include, but are not limited to, the right to resign at any time without any specific form, the right to pay dues on a monthly basis if they so choose, and most importantly the right of non-members to continue working during a strike without penalties and threats from the union representatives.

“This is a victory for a brave nurse who chose to exercise her right to continue to work and provide for her family, and to continue providing medical care to her patients,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Sadly, cases like this just emphasize how much Minnesota needs a Right to Work law to protect its workers from these kinds of tactics used by Big Labor operatives.”

Chicago, IL (November 28, 2016) – According to reports, workers at O’Hare International Airport have been ordered by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) union bosses to strike beginning November 29.

Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation, issued the following statement to these workers:

“All too often union officials initiate strikes to further their own power even if striking is not in the best interest of rank-and-file workers, or of the public at large. Affected workers need to know that federal labor law is clear: any worker has the right to remain on the job during a strike if the business remains open. Further, all workers have the right to resign from union membership before crossing a picket line and thus avoid fines and other internal union discipline for going to work.”

To learn more about your rights and how to exercise those rights please click here.

Workers may contact the Foundation through its website www.NRTW.org or by calling the Foundation’s toll-free hotline: 1-800-336-3600. It is very important that affected workers understand their rights, and that they may turn to the Foundation for free legal aid if they encounter union boss resistance when trying to exercise those rights.”

American Postal Workers union officials forced to disgorge funds after being caught red-handed skimming back pay settlement intended for rank-and-file workers they claim to ‘represent’

Washington, DC (November 22, 2016) – In a significant victory for workers, the American Postal Workers Union (APWU) has chosen to avoid going to trial and instead turn over more than a million dollars that union bosses diverted from the very postal workers they claimed to “represent.”

In December 2014, over seven thousand USPS workers were awarded a lump sum of back pay in an arbitration award. As part of an under the table agreement with the Postal Service, the APWU removed more than 1 million dollars from the award for its own use. In an effort to retrieve the missing money, two of the employees, Louis Mazurek and Scott Fontaine, filed unfair labor practice charges. Worried that the NLRB wasn’t taking their claims seriously, the workers turned to National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys for free legal assistance. The trial was scheduled for Wednesday November 9.

The day before the trial however, the workers were informed that the NLRB had agreed to a settlement with the union. Under the settlement, the APWU is forced to disgorge the money that they had withheld from the arbitration award. The settlement orders $770,804.58, or about 70 percent of the stolen money, to be divided among postal employees, just as the arbiter had originally ordered.

The remaining $330,326.70 is to be placed in a separate escrow account, with spending oversight provided by the NLRB Regional director for the next three years. After the three years any remaining funds will automatically go to the workers.

“It is appalling that the officials of the APWU could so casually take such a large sum from the workers whom they claim to represent.” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “When union officials were caught pocketing over a million dollars from the very workers they claim to represent, merely returning the money taken is a light punishment indeed. The lead union official stated, in a case document available to the public, that they ‘could have taken the whole award,’ but were afraid how embezzling the whole sum would look. ”

“The only thing more troubling is that had Foundation staff attorneys not been there to represent the interests of the rank-and-file workers, the NLRB may have allowed union bosses to keep all or part of the monies that the union bosses embezzled, with no hope of recovery.” continued Mix.

Right to Work Foundation brief argues NLRB is harming workers by imposing union over their objections

Hope, Arkansas (November 11, 2016) – National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, in St. Louis, opposing an NLRB ruling that forces workers at an Arkansas bakery into unwanted union representation. The brief was filed by the Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation on behalf of John Hankins.

Hankins is an employee of Southern Bakeries in Hope, Arkansas, and has been the leader of several efforts to remove Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers & Grain Millers International Local 111 from his workplace. After the NLRB Regional Director refused to process multiple petitions from the workers at this facility to remove Local 111 as their exclusive bargaining representative, Hankins collected signatures from two-thirds of the employees asking that Southern Bakeries withdraw recognition of Local 111 as it “does not enjoy the support of a majority of employees in the bargaining unit.” Southern Bakeries complied with his request in July 2013.

Local 111 officials responded by filing unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB challenging Southern Bakeries’ withdrawal of recognition. The NLRB obtained an injunction to force the workers back into the union, but the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed. Now, at a later stage of the process, the NLRB is again asking that same court to reinstate the rejected union.

The Foundation’s brief argues that the NLRB order reinstating Local 111 as the monopoly bargaining agent grievously harms the workers of Southern Bakeries. Two-thirds of the employees signed the petition rejecting Local 111 officials’ representation, but the NRLB has completely ignored the employees’ wishes. The NLRB also tramples on the workers’ rights laid out in the First Amendment, the right to associate with whomever the workers choose, by forcing them into a monopoly bargaining situation without hope of relief. The brief asks the court of appeals to vacate the NLRB order and restore the workers’ freedom of association.

“It is outrageous that the Obama NLRB is using a federal court to stop employees from getting rid of a union that is overwhelmingly opposed, when the workers are simply trying to exercise their basic right to the freedom of association,” Foundation President Mark Mix said. “This is just the latest example of workers rights being trampled on by union officials and non-elected government bureaucrats, despite the protections offered by Arkansas’ Right to Work law.

National Right to Work Foundation-backed lawsuit for homecare workers seeks to stop SEIU from blocking them from exercising First Amendment rights

Salem, OR (November 3, 2016 – Staff attorneys from the National Right to Work Foundation and the Freedom Foundation have filed a lawsuit for several homecare workers against the State of Oregon and SEIU Local 503 in Federal court in Eugene, Oregon.

The lawsuit comes after both the state and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 503 refused to stop deducting union dues and fees from homecare workers who either resigned or objected to union membership, refusing to accept dues ‘opt-out’ forms submitted by homecare workers.

The lawsuit also hits the state and union for deliberately obfuscating the resignation process, notably restricting homecare providers to only being allowed to choose to opt out of paying dues during an annual 15 day period that is different for each worker and unknown to the caregivers.

The Right to Work Foundation-won Harris v. Quinn Supreme Court case explicitly held that it is unconstitutional under the First Amendment to compel objecting nonunion providers to pay any union dues or fees.

The suit asks for an injunction to force union officials to honor the rights of home healthcare providers who exercise their constitutional right to cease financial support of a union. It also seeks refund of any dues and fees collected by SEIU 503 after providers objected to union forced dues payments.

National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix commented, “Union bosses feel no shame in taking money from family members who are providing care to loved ones. It is outrageous that these forced dues schemes continue to be forced on workers whom the union hierarchy claims to defend, even after the Supreme Court said these schemes are clearly unconstitutional.”

Foundation staff attorneys are helping home or childcare providers challenge similar schemes in Minnesota, Illinois, New York, and neighboring Washington State.