Workers Victimized by Coercive Card Check Campaigns Ask Federal Labor Board to Protect Important Secret Ballot Precedent
Washington, DC (November 1, 2010) – National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys filed briefs today with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), urging the federal labor board to uphold a landmark 2007 decision which gave new protections to workers swept into union ranks through the abusive card check organizing process.
In Dana Corporation, Foundation attorneys won new employee rights intended to counteract the employee intimidation and harassment waged by aggressive union operatives that frequently occurs during card check organizing campaigns. The Dana decision granted employees the ability to file a decertification petition for a secret ballot election to toss out union officials from their workplace within 45 days after an employer gives notice that it recognized a union as monopoly bargaining agent by card check.
At the request of union lawyers seeking to deny workers access to a secret ballot vote, the NLRB ruled in August to revisit Dana over the strenuous objections of dissenting members Peter Schaumber, whose term has since expired, and Brian Hayes.
In Lamons Gasket, now before the NLRB, Foundation attorneys are providing free legal aid to Mike Lopez, a worker who filed a decertification petition with the support of at least 30 percent of his fellow employees challenging the card check recognition of the United Steelworkers (USW) union as their monopoly bargaining agent. The decertification election occurred in August, but the ballots have been impounded pending the review of Dana.
Foundation attorneys filed a merit brief for Lopez and an amicus brief on behalf of the Foundation. The latter cites the Foundation’s unparalleled experience representing employees victimized by coercive card check organizing drives. The two briefs argue that Dana elections are working as intended, providing workers the ability to remove an unwanted union from their workplaces.
Foundation attorneys have also renewed their request that Member Craig Becker recuse himself from the case because he co-authored a union brief in the original Dana case.
"Although no worker should ever be compelled to join or pay dues to a union to get or keep a job, the secret ballot provides at least a limited protection to ensure that union recognition enjoys the uncoerced support of a majority of employees," explained Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation.
In addition to the Lamons Gasket briefs, Foundation attorneys also filed a brief in UGL-UNICCO Service Company, a case in which the NLRB is reconsidering the "successorship doctrine," which determines what opportunities workers have to remove a union after a company is sold or merged. In the brief filed today, Foundation staff attorneys argue that union monopoly bargaining privileges should not automatically be extended in such cases, and employees should be free to decertify a union when there are such drastic changes in their relationship with their employer.
Union Officials Attempt to Have Hotel Worker Fired for Exercising Workplace Rights
Honolulu, HI (November 8, 2010) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a Hawaii Hilton Village Hotel employee has filed another round of federal unfair labor practice charges against UNITE HERE Local 5 union officials for attempting to have him fired for resigning from the union, refusing to pay dues for union politics, and informing his coworkers of their workplace rights.
Grant Suzuki has repeatedly clashed with union officials, filing successful unfair labor practice charges in 2008 to force UNITE HERE operatives to return illegally-seized union dues. Suzuki has since been targeted for harassment for informing his coworkers of their rights to opt-out of union dues, resign from union membership, and work during a union-instigated strike.
Because Hawaii lacks a Right to Work law, union officials can require nonmember employees to pay certain dues as a condition of employment. However, the Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent Communication Workers v. Beck holds that nonunion workers may not be charged for activities unrelated to union monopoly bargaining, including dues collected for union political activism and members-only activities. In 2009, UNITE HERE officials agreed to a settlement with Suzuki that refunded all dues collected for activities unrelated to workplace bargaining and required the union to post public notices informing hotel employees of their rights.
Instead of amending their workplace practices, however, union officials harassed Suzuki and attempted to have him fired from Hilton Village.
Suzuki’s charges will now be investigated by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
“Grant Suzuki had the temerity to stand up for his rights at work and union officials responded by trying to get him fired,” said Patrick Semmens, Legal Information Director for the National Right to Work Foundation. “If union officials can get away with intimidation, other employees will be discouraged from standing up for their workplace rights, which is why it’s vital the NLRB act immediately to punish UNITE HERE operatives for their thuggish behavior.”
Security Union Officials Hit With Federal Labor Board Charges for Forcing Employees into Union
Flint, MI (November 9, 2010) – A group of eight Securitas Security Services employees filed federal charges against a local union and their employer earlier this week for illegally forcing union monopoly representation and mandatory union fees on the employees without a showing of majority support for the union.
With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, the employees – who are employed by Securitas in Grand Blanc – recently learned that their employer has recognized the Security, Police, and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA) union hierarchy as their monopoly bargaining agent. The employees were unaware of any union organizing campaign occurring in their workplace and a vote never took place.
Federal labor law requires that union officials must show majority support within a workplace before company officials can recognize the union.
The employees were forced to sign union dues deduction authorizations – used by union officials to automatically withhold dues from employee paychecks – and are currently paying dues to the union in order to keep their jobs.
The NLRB regional office in Detroit will now investigate the charges and decide whether to issue a formal complaint and prosecute the union and company.
“Michigan desperately needs a Right to Work law to prevent union organizing abuses such as this woeful act of collusion between union and company officials,” said Patrick Semmens, legal information director of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Folks trying to make a living should not be conscripted and forced to pay tribute to a union in order to get or keep a job.”
New Study Shows Right to Work States Enjoy Higher Growth, More Purchasing Power for Workers
The primary goal of any Right to Work law is to safeguard employee rights by ensuring that no worker is forced to join or pay tribute to a union against his or her will. But it’s nice to know that Right to Work states also enjoy faster growth and higher real purchasing power than their forced unionism counterparts. Here’s an excerpt from the National Institute for Labor Relations Research’s latest fact sheet on the issue:
Percentage Growth in Real Personal Income (1999-2009)
Right to Work States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28.3%
Forced-Unionism States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.7%
National Average . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.5%Cost of Living-Adjusted Per Capita Disposable Personal Income (2009)
Right to Work States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35,543
Forced-Unionism States . . . . . . . . . . . . . $33,389
National Average . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $34,256
Click here for the rest of NILRR’s findings. For more on the economic benefits of Right to Work laws, check out these blog posts.
Pasco Tyson Plant Workers Force Secret Ballot Vote to Remove Unwanted Union from Workplace
Pasco Tyson Plant Workers Force Secret Ballot Vote to Remove Unwanted Union from Workplace
Union bosses conspired to block employee vote after cutting backroom deal
Wallula, WA (November 16, 2010) – After receiving free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a group of Wallula-based Tyson Foods Inc. employees prevailed in a protracted legal battle to have a secret ballot vote to remove a local union from their workplace.
Last year, Tyson (NYSE: TSN) recognized the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1439 union as the employees’ monopoly bargaining agent after a controversial “card check” union organizing campaign. Union officials then gave employees only 24 hours to vote on whether or not to ratify the union’s contract with the company. They also required employees to sign union dues deduction authorizations in order to vote – discouraging many employees from voting. Only 61 of the facility’s 1,177 employees actually voted.
In response, a group of independent-minded employees attempted to file a decertification petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking a secret ballot election to determine the fate of their bargaining status. Tyson company officials reprimanded the employees and confiscated the employees’ petition. Another group of employees then successfully filed a second petition with the NLRB to obtain a vote.
Renegade Lame Duck Congress Votes on Police/Fire Union Bargaining Mandate
Today, Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work was published in the Washington Times regarding today’s U.S. Senate vote on Senator Harry Reid’s Police and Firefighter Monopoly Bargaining Bill (S. 3991). Despite voters sending a clear message to Washington last month, it appears some pro-forced unionism senators didn’t quite get the message:
If Mr. Reid cared one whit for what ordinary Americans think, he would respond to such electoral drubbings for his fellow Big Labor Democrats and GOP fellow travelers by backing away from federally mandated union-boss control over public-safety officers. Instead, he announced over the weekend that he will file for cloture and force a vote on this draconian bill on Wednesday. Among those voting will be 14 defeated or retiring senators who won’t be back in January.
Federalizing union monopoly bargaining over public-safety employees would be ill-advised under any circumstances, but at a time when taxes are already poised to skyrocket and cities and towns across America are already struggling to get through the worst fiscal crisis in decades, Congress would have to be incredibly reckless to enact this harmful legislation.
By tipping the scales even further in favor of government employment growth over job growth, S. 3991 could damage the hopes of reviving America’s private-sector economy. Moreover, as former Service Employees International Union second-in-command Anna Burger boasted, a federal public-safety union mandate would "create a national collective," i.e. monopoly, "bargaining standard for all [state and local] public workers."
Meanwhile, the Washington Post came out with a hard-hitting editorial against the bill:
…the Senate is about to take up a measure that might compound the financial predicament of state and local governments. Pushed by Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act would require all states to give police and fire unions "adequate" collective bargaining rights – as determined by the Federal Labor Relations Authority. Unions could sue states deemed "inadequate" in federal court. Mr. Reid is trying to get this measure through the lame-duck Congress as a reward to the firefighters’ union, which backed his reelection campaign. But it also enjoys support from several key Republicans.
We share the sponsors’ high regard for first responders. But this measure would trample long-standing state autonomy in public-sector labor relations, to no obvious national purpose. Of the 10 states with the lowest violent crime rates in 2008, three did not require collective bargaining for police and one, Virginia, forbids it for all public employees.
The bill could disrupt the law in both Virginia and Maryland, the latter of which lets counties decide whether and how to bargain with employees. The predictable result would be higher costs for employee contracts or legal bills – or both – at precisely the moment when cash-strapped states and localities can least afford them.
It’s no wonder that the Fort Worth Star-Telegram declared today that "The Senate would do taxpayers a big favor by killing this bill."
New Foundation Podcast: Right to Work President Mark Mix Warns of Lame Duck Big Labor Power Grabs
Right to Work President Mark Mix sat down with nationally-syndicated radio host Lars Larson yesterday to discuss the Police and Firefighter Monopoly Bargaining Bill, a Big Labor power grab that is poised to pass during the "lame duck" congressional session. Click here to listen or use the embedded player below:
As always, you can also listen to the Foundation’s podcast via iTunes or manually subscribe to the feed.
Delta Flight Attendants Picket Posh Union Boss HQ for Freedom of Choice
For decades, Delta Air Lines flight attendants have repeatedly rebuked Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) union organizers’ efforts to take monopoly bargaining control over their workplaces.
Despite a recent intense union organizing campaign, AFA union officials have lost yet another union organizing election, but true to form, AFA union bosses refuse to leave this independent-minded group of employees alone due to their blind lust for more forced union dues dollars.
So yesterday, more than thirty flight attendants from across the country met outside the AFA union headquarters on their day off to send them a message: "Leave us alone!"
From one participating flight attendant:
Flight attendants [from] more than seven bases spent three hours in the wind and bitter cold. The bundled-up group marched in front of the Communications Workers of America building, the posh home of AFA… Each flight attendant carried homemade signs with messages, ranging from “Respect Our Choice,” to “No Means No” and “No Union, No Dues, No Problem.”
Hats (and beanies) off to this courageous group of independent-minded employees as they take a stand for their workplace rights.
Read more about how fed-up Delta flight attendants are taking the fight to AFA union bosses in the July/August 2010 edition (pdf) of National Right to Work’s newsletter, Foundation Action.
Union Bosses Forced to Drop $200,000 Lawsuit against Unemployed Carpenter
Union Bosses Forced to Drop $200,000 Lawsuit against Unemployed Carpenter
Union officials failed to find work for carpenter, then retaliated against him for working to support his family without paying tribute to union bosses
Chicago, IL (December 10, 2010) – Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters (CRCC) union bosses have dropped a lawsuit against an unemployed carpenter for working to provide for himself and his family after union officials had no work for him.
After he lost his full-time job, Richard Crenshaw – who specializes in door carpentry – was hired by a friend who was a contractor. Up until then, Crenshaw was working as a handyman to make ends meet.
A CRCC union official discovered Crenshaw was working at his friend’s jobsite and union officials initiated internal disciplinary proceedings against him. The union hierarchy levied a fine of $201,250 and filed a civil lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Cook County.
Home-Care Providers Take Case Challenging State Unionization Scheme to Federal Appeals Court
Home-Care Providers Take Case Challenging State Unionization Scheme to Federal Appeals Court
Right to Work Foundation assists home-based personal care providers pushed into union ranks against their will
Chicago, IL (December 13, 2010) – A group of home-based personal care providers have filed a federal appeal against Governor Pat Quinn and union officials for their agreement to force Illinois’s home-based personal care providers under unwanted union boss control.
With free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, the personal care providers filed their appeal with the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals after a district court judge ruled against them.
The appeal stems from a class-action lawsuit filed by the providers after Quinn signed an executive order designating 4,500 home-based personal care providers who care for individuals with disabilities as “public employees” and susceptible to unwanted union boss political “representation.”
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union bosses have been competing to force their monopoly control over the workers, even having out-of-state union organizers making “home visits” attempting to organize the providers through coercive “card check” unionization tactics. Not coincidentally, Quinn received the SEIU union bosses’ political endorsement and support during his closely-contested primary campaign earlier this year.
