AT&T Mobility Employees File Federal Charges Against Union for Threats if They Should Refuse to Strike
Morristown, NJ (February 9, 2009) – Responding to employee reports across America of union intimidation, a national organization announced today that it will provide free legal assistance to AT&T Mobility employees who are threatened with fines for exercising their right to go to their jobs during an imminent national strike.
Communication Workers of America (CWA) union officials may order 20,000 AT&T employees to abandon their jobs at any moment. Numerous employees across America have contacted National Right to Work Foundation attorneys for advice after being falsely informed that they have no right to resign from formal union membership and will face hefty fines as union members if they choose to do their jobs during the strike.
Foundation attorneys have already helped two New Jersey AT&T employees file unfair labor practice charges against the Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1101 union for this misconduct.
Under the Supreme Court decision Pattern Makers v. NLRB, workers have an absolute right to resign from formal, full dues-paying membership at any time. Union officials’ attempts to block workers from resigning clearly violate this precedent. Union officials have no legal power to punish nonmember employees for honoring their commitments to their employer.
Union officials have told CWA union members in Washington, Michigan, Ohio and New Jersey that any attempt to resign from union membership is prohibited. In Ohio, CWA bosses responded to one worker’s inquiry by telling him that he was employed in a “forced union” state. Foundation attorneys anticipate filing additional unfair labor practice charges for these union-abused workers in the coming weeks.
Moreover, union officials informed workers that anyone who refuses to follow strike orders will be subject to exorbitant financial penalties. In previous Foundation cases, union strike fines have exceeded thousands of dollars per worker per day.
The charges filed by Foundation attorneys seek an immediate injunction from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to prevent CWA union bosses from stopping workers’ voluntary resignations. The charges also call for a rescission of any disciplinary action taken against workers attempting to resign, a repeal of the union’s illegal rules preventing workers from resigning union membership and a notice informing all employees of their legal right to resign from the union at any time.
“It’s particularly despicable to threaten workers with fines if they refuse to abandon their jobs in the midst of an economic crisis,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “All workers should be free to support their families, free from ugly threats by union bosses.”
“The National Right to Work Foundation stands ready to defend the rights of any AT&T employee who is being illegally threatened or coerced by CWA union bosses,” added Gleason.
Nationwide Backroom Deal between Union Bosses and Tenet Corporation Forces Philadelphia Nurses into Union Ranks
Philadelphia, PA (February 9, 2009) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a registered nurse at a Philadelphia-based Tenet Healthcare facility has filed federal charges against the California Nurses Association (CNA) union and Tenet Healthcare Corporation after union and company officials entered into a backroom deal designed to force unwilling nurses into union ranks.
The charges target a so-called “Election Procedures Agreement” (EPA) formulated by Tenet officials and CNA union bosses at Hahnemann University Hospital to bypass employees’ legal rights. So far, CNA organizers have successfully obtained monopoly bargaining privileges at a Houston-area healthcare facility under similarly controversial circumstances.
The charges list multiple violations of employee rights, all designed to make it more difficult for employees to resist the CNA’s professional union organizers.
Foundation attorneys have reason to believe that the agreement signed by Tenet and the CNA subverts the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) role in supervising unionization elections and bypasses key employee protections. Although the agreement calls for the NLRB to count ballots and “certify” the union, it circumvents all government oversight procedures during the actual election.
The unfair labor practice charges also allege that Tenet officials provided CNA operatives with unlawful organizing assistance in violation of federal statutes. Under the agreement, Tenet managers are gagged from responding to employee questions about the CNA, and nurses who oppose unionization are forbidden from using Tenet facilities to express their views. Outside union organizers, on the other hand, are given free reign to push for a union presence.
“California union militants, with the assistance of complicit Tenet officials, are attempting force unwilling nurses into union ranks,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “We’ve seen this scheme before, and it’s flat out illegal. What isn’t yet clear is exactly what Tenet received in exchange for helping union officials gain access to hundreds of thousands of dollars in union dues.”
The charges, which will now be investigated by NLRB officials, also allege that the EPA amounts to illegal pre-recognition bargaining, with union officials negotiating substantive terms of employment for nurses before they acquire the legal authority to represent them. Foundation attorneys filed similar charges against the CNA and Tenet for several Houston-area nurses in 2008.
Public Employee Union Officials Sued for Forcing Employees to Stay in Union Ranks
Union bosses’ illegal scheme violates employees’ constitutional rights
Harrisburg, PA (February 9, 2009) – Three Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA) employees filed a federal suit challenging two Pennsylvania laws that unconstitutionally prohibit workers from leaving union ranks.
National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys, providing CATA employees Brenda Hall, Karen Ilgen, and Martha Hoy with free legal aid, filed the suit today in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Union officials rebuffed the employees’ repeated requests to resign from formal union membership in the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) local affiliate 1203B and District Council 83 unions.
Local 1203B and District Council 83 union officials are using the Pennsylvania Public Employee Forced Unionism Law and the Public Employee Relations Act as justification to compel the employees into continuing formal union membership and require the CATA illegally to extract full union dues from the employees.
As well as challenging the state law, the employees are suing for their right to retroactively object to formal union membership and obtain refunds. The employees are backed by decades of case law and U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
Click here to read the rest of the Foundation’s press release.
Public Employee Union Officials Sued for Forcing Employees to Stay in Union Ranks
Harrisburg, PA (February 9, 2009) – Three Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA) employees filed a federal suit challenging two Pennsylvania laws that unconstitutionally prohibit workers from leaving union ranks.
National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys, providing CATA employees Brenda Hall, Karen Ilgen, and Martha Hoy with free legal aid, filed the suit today in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.
Union officials rebuffed the employees’ repeated requests to resign from formal union membership in the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) local affiliate 1203B and District Council 83 unions.
Local 1203B and District Council 83 union officials are using the Pennsylvania Public Employee Forced Unionism Law and the Public Employee Relations Act as justification to compel the employees into continuing formal union membership and require the CATA illegally to extract full union dues from the employees.
As well as challenging the state law, the employees are suing for their right to retroactively object to formal union membership and obtain refunds. The employees are backed by decades of case law and U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
As a result of the National Right to Work Foundation’s precedent-setting case Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that public employees can be forced to pay some union dues, but cannot be compelled to pay for politics and other union dues beyond the cost of collective bargaining. Abood thus also established that full union membership cannot constitutionally be required as a condition of employment. The Foundation’s Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson Supreme Court victory requires union officials to provide employees with an independently-audited financial breakdown of all forced-dues union expenditures. Local 1203B or District 83 union officials did not provide such a breakdown.
“These union bosses know full well what the law requires of them, but they have deliberately kept rank-and-file workers in the dark to keep the forced-dues gravy train going,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation.
“Pennsylvania needs a Right to Work law making union membership and dues payment completely voluntary,” added Gleason.
New Obama Executive Order to Squander Billions of Taxpayer Dollars, Blackball Non-Union Workers
On the heals of last week’s executive orders that began the process of turning the Department of Labor into an aggressive union organizing outfit, another Executive Order encourages federal agencies to discriminate against nonunion workers and employers by adopting so-called "Project Labor Agreements" on federal construction projects.
Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation Stefan Gleason issued the following statement regarding the Executive Order:
"This executive order encouraging all federal agencies to adopt discriminatory, union-only project labor agreements is a shameless giveaway to Big Labor which spent over a billion dollars to get Obama and pro-forced-unionism Democrats elected last year.
"The order ensures that union bosses will collect a huge slice of federal spending in the form of forced union dues paid by workers on federal contracts. With nearly a trillion dollar "stimulus" spending planned, this action not only raises the costs shouldered by the American taxpayers, but it also discriminates against the 92.5 percent of private sector employees who have chosen not to unionize."
Bombshell: Labor Nominee’s Family Business is a Tax-Evader and Blew Off Requirements Under Health and Safety Regs
Here on Freedom@Work, we’ve kept a close watch on Hilda Solis, the California Congresswoman nominated by President Obama to serve as Secretary of Labor.
We’ve told you about Solis’ secret ballot hypocrisy, her admission that she is not "qualified" to discuss Right to Work, her refusal to answer basic questions on key labor issues, and her position as treasurer (which she failed to disclose to Congress) with a Big Labor lobbying group.
Now USA Today reports that Hilda Solis is the fourth major Obama nominee to be faced with a tax scandal:
The husband of President Obama’s Labor secretary nominee paid about $6,400 Wednesday to settle tax liens that had been outstanding for as long as 16 years against his business, the Obama administration told USA TODAY this afternoon…
Personal tax problems have tripped up three of President Obama’s nominees for top administration jobs. Two nominees withdrew on Tuesday over tax issues, including Tom Daschle, Obama’s choice head the Health and Human Services Department. The other withdrawal was chief performance officer nominee Nancy Killefer, who had a $947 tax lien filed against her in Washington four years ago for not paying unemployment compensation taxes for a household employee. She paid the debt less than six months later, District of Columbia records show.
But there’s more. According to the report, some of the tax liens resulted from "unpaid county health and safety permit fees." And Solis has the gall to seek a position that enforces health and safety laws against workplaces across America?
Maybe Solis’ cozy relationship with Big Labor’s high command over the years has given her the false impression shared by so many union bosses that they are above the law. With all those special privileges such as immunity from federal prosecution for union violence and exemption from anti-monopoly laws, union bosses actually are above the law in many respects. And with Solis running the Department of Labor, union chiefs would expect Solis — who voted with the AFL-CIO 100% of the time — to cut funding to the agency which investigates union boss corruption.
Solis’ indiscretions are even more disturbing in light of President Obama’s recent executive orders which would give the Secretary of Labor unprecedented authority to fire federal contractors who don’t grease the rails for coervice card check organizing.
This hypocrite aspiring to be Labor Secretary is poised to receive virtually unchecked power over which contractors get to do work funded by the nearly trillion dollar "stimulus" plan. Perhaps Hilda Solis should withdraw herself from consideration and get her own house in order.
Podcast: Supreme Court Examines Union Scheme to Waive Employees’ Right to Sue for Discrimination
In a Federalist Society “SCOTUScast” (podcast) last month, Vice President and Legal Director of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation Ray LaJeunesse discussed the U.S. Supreme Court case 14 Penn Plaza LLC v. Pyett, in which the Foundation filed an amicus brief.
In 14 Penn Plaza, the Supreme Court was asked to consider the question of whether a union-negotiated collective bargaining agreement can waive an employee’s right to a judicial forum for discrimination. Oral arguments for the case were heard by the Court in December.
You can download and listen to the podcast here. WARNING: This audio involves a highly technical legal discussion that is not suited for all audiences!
OOPS! SEIU Union Boss Lets Cat out of the Bag
Iowa union bosses and their patsies in the state legislature are again taking aim at Iowa’s longstanding and popular Right to Work law.
Sarah Swisher, Iowa political director for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), recently told the Des Moines Register the real reason why union chiefs want to pass a repeal of Right to Work:
Unions want to be able to charge nonunion workers "reasonable" fees to help cover costs of union representation, such as when workers file grievances, Swisher said. She said the money would also be used to organize more workers, such as nurses.
"It certainly isn’t for union halls or more union staff or higher wages for union staff," she said. "It’s because we have a lot of workers in the state that need to be organized."
So there you go. Union bosses want more money so they can organize even more workers to get more money. While it is illegal for unions to charge nonmembers for any activity which union bosses cannot prove relates to collective bargaining — and courts have found organizing to be unrelated — a strong Right to Work law is the only true protection.
Teamsters Union Bosses Renege on Legal Settlement, Illegally Force Nonunion Employee to Pay Excessive Dues
Butte, MT (February 5, 2008) – National Right to Work Foundation attorneys have filed a new round of unfair labor practice charges for Michael Weller, a union-abused employee of Hanson Trucking and Resin Haulers, Inc.
As detailed in the charges, Teamsters union officials hindered Weller from opting out of payments for union activities unrelated to workplace bargaining, failed to provide him with a federally-mandated disclosure of union expenditures, and threatened to get him fired for failing to pay the union’s onerous fees.
Under the Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent Communication Workers v. Beck, nonunion employees cannot be forced to pay for union activities unrelated to workplace negotiation. Foundation attorneys originally filed charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for Michael Weller after International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 2 union officials threatened him with termination for failing to pay union dues unrelated to collective bargaining. The NLRB announced it would prosecute, but Weller withdrew his unfair labor practice charges after Teamsters officials agreed to stop threatening him and to refund all illegally-seized forced dues.
Unfortunately, Teamsters officials promptly reneged on their agreement, failing to provide adequate disclosure of union financial expenditures and imposing an onerous annual opt-out requirement on any worker who attempts to withhold payments for activities unrelated to workplace negotiations. The union bosses’ extensive and often-contradictory opt-out processes – as well as their failure to provide an adequate breakdown of what workers’ dues are actually paying for – made it nearly impossible for Weller to refrain from paying for union activities outside the workplace, as is his right.
Moreover, Teamsters bosses again threatened Weller with termination if he refused to comply with their excessive financial demands. Under protest, Weller paid the contested fees to Local 2 to keep his job.
“Teamsters bosses are frequently repeat offenders, and this incident demonstrates a profound disrespect for the rule of law and employee rights,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “The only way to protect Montana’s workers is to ensure union membership and dues payments are completely voluntary through passage of a Right to Work law. Anything less leaves the door open to continued abuse of Montana’s employees.”
State Court Refuses to Enforce Georgia’s Popular Right to Work Law
Nonmember employees forced to pay fees to Longshoreman union bosses vow appeal to state supreme court
Atlanta, GA (February 4, 2009) – National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys announced they will appeal last week’s stunning ruling by the Court of Appeals of Georgia that despite Georgia’s longstanding and popular Right to Work law, a local union may force nonmembers to pay for the privilege to work.
Georgia is one of 22 states with Right to Work protections which ensure that no worker can be forced to join or pay dues to a union in order to get or keep a job. The state law unambiguously states that “[n]o individual shall be required as a condition of employment or continuance of employment to pay any fee, assessment, or other sum of money whatsoever to a labor organization.”
Nonetheless, the Georgia Court of Appeals, affirming a lower court ruling, held that the International Longshoreman Association Local 1414 union may legally force nonmembers to pay a referral fee to the union
on jobs obtained at a union hiring hall between June 2005 and September 2006. The controversial contract between the union and the Georgia Stevedores Association requires that all employees be hired through the union hiring hall. The union forces all nonmembers to pay referral fees as a condition of employment.
Click here to read the rest of the Foundation’s press release.
