Flight Attendant Receives Nearly $1,000,000 Following Ruling Against Airline and Union
Jury ruled TWU union and Southwest Airlines violated federal law in firing Charlene Carter; Fifth Circuit upheld ruling
Dallas, TX (April 28, 2026) – Following a victory at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Southwest Airlines flight attendant Charlene Carter has now received almost $1,000,000 in damages in her federal case against both Southwest and the Transport Workers Union (TWU). Her case charged both the union and airline with violating her rights by terminating her for expressing her personal and religious beliefs in opposition to TWU political activism. Carter has received free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys in her nearly decade-long case.
Carter’s case began in 2017 when she sued both the union and airline in the Northern District Court of Texas for firing her in violation of both the federal Railway Labor Act (RLA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. Through private communications, Carter had criticized the TWU Local 556 president for using union dues to send flight attendants to the 2017 “Women’s March” and also panned the union’s support for a host of divisive political positions. Title VII protects against religious discrimination in the workplace, while the RLA guards the right of workers in the air or rail industries to criticize union leadership.
Five years later, a jury found in Carter’s favor, awarding her a $5 million verdict. The District Court ordered Southwest (NYSE: LUV) and the union to give Carter the maximum amount of compensatory and punitive damages permitted under federal law, in addition to other forms of relief. The District Court also ordered that Carter be reinstated as a flight attendant at Southwest. On appeal, the Fifth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s finding that both Southwest and the union had discriminated against Carter based on her religious practice.
Now, a Satisfaction of Judgment filed with the District Court indicates that Carter was paid damages totaling $946,102.87 as her nine-year litigation comes to a close.
Southwest Attorneys May Still Be Held in Contempt
“Being a flight attendant is my livelihood and my passion, and union officials tried to manipulate company policy to upend my career simply because I spoke out about my most sincerely held beliefs,” commented Carter. “This case has been a long, hard fight, but I’ll never stop sticking up for what I know is right, and I hope that both my employer and TWU union bosses have learned that it doesn’t pay to stifle flight attendants’ freedom of religion and speech.”
The case continues at the District Court, however, with the court asking for briefs on whether a contempt order against Southwest is necessary and, if so, what form a contempt order should take. Contempt arose as an issue in Carter’s case after Southwest attorneys issued notices to flight attendants incorrectly informing them of the District Court’s holding that the company had discriminated against Carter on the basis of religion.
“Ms. Carter was courageous in standing up to protect her religious and personal beliefs from the schemes of radical union officials and a compliant employer. While she is finally receiving compensation for her struggle, no one should forget that federal law still forces workers to accept union ‘representation’ they oppose and, adding insult to injury, forces workers to pay unwanted unions,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “It is outrageous that, even though the court confirmed that the TWU union and Southwest violated Carter’s legal rights, Carter to this day is still forced to subsidize TWU union bosses or else be fired by Southwest. We hope Carter’s case will prompt a long-overdue conversation about how coercive union boss power infringes on the rights of millions of hardworking Americans.”
Find out more about Carter’s case here.
New Jersey Wells Fargo Bank Employees Formally Oust CWA Union Bosses
Branch is the latest in growing movement by Wells Fargo employees endeavoring to end union affiliation
Seaside Park, NJ (April 27, 2026) – Employees at Wells Fargo’s Seaside Park branch have successfully removed Communications Workers of America (CWA) union bosses from their workplace. The effort to remove the union was initiated when bank employee Lisa Sholtis filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking a “decertification” election to remove CWA union officials from the Seaside Park Wells Fargo location. Sholtis filed the petition for her coworkers with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, a task that includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Sholtis’ petition was signed by enough of her Wells Fargo coworkers to prompt the NLRB to schedule a union decertification vote.
The workers requested that the NLRB schedule a secret-ballot election among all full-time and regular part-time tellers and personal bankers employed by Wells Fargo at the Seaside Park branch. The workers were looking to vote on whether to remove the so-called “Wells Fargo Workers United” union (an affiliate of the CWA union).
However, shortly before the election was scheduled by the NLRB, CWA union bosses declared that they “disclaim interest” in the Seaside Park Wells Fargo employees. CWA union officials, possibly anticipating an embarrassing election loss, abandoned their status as the workers’ so-called “representatives.”
“After nearly two years with the CWA doing little to nothing for employees at the Seaside Park Branch, we finally have our branch back,” stated Sholtis.
New Jersey is one of the 24 states without Right to Work protections that make union affiliation and dues payment fully voluntary, meaning that Sholtis and her coworkers could have been forced to pay union dues or fees to union officials or else be fired once the employer entered into a union agreement with CWA.
The Seaside Park workers are the latest in a growing movement of Wells Fargo employees across the nation seeking to cast off their CWA “representatives.” Last month, Foundation-assisted Wells Fargo employees in Spring Hill, Florida, and Casper, Wyoming, filed respective petitions to remove the CWA from their branches. More requests for help continue to come in.
In Spring Hill, Florida, CWA union bosses similarly moved to “disclaim interest” in the bank workers, removing themselves as the employees’ monopoly bargaining “representatives,” rather than facing a potentially humiliating decertification vote. In Casper, Wyoming, CWA union officials are seeking to disenfranchise employees by preventing them from even holding the vote. In yet another decertification effort, last month Wells Fargo employees in Apex, North Carolina, overwhelmingly voted to remove CWA union officials from their branch.
“We are pleased to be able to support Ms. Sholtis and her coworkers as they exercise their legal right to remove unwanted CWA union bosses,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “As the movement by Wells Fargo employees to eject the CWA spreads, the Foundation is ready to assist them in exercising their rights under federal law to hold votes to remove the unwanted union.”
Reed & Perrine Lawn Products Workers Escape Union After Fighting Frivolous Union Delay Tactics
After workers requested union removal vote in 2024, union bosses blocked the vote for a year and a half using specious allegations
Manalapan Township, NJ (April 22, 2026) – After a year-and-a-half delay caused by frivolous union legal tactics, employees at Reed & Perrine Lawn Products (a division of The Andersons, Nasdaq: ANDE) have finally succeeded in removing United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 152 union officials from power at their workplace. Reed & Perrine employee Christine Bradach kicked off the effort among her coworkers to remove the UFCW union in November 2024 when she filed a decertification petition at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Bradach received free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys in filing her petition.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing private sector labor law, a task that includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Bradach’s petition contained employee signatures well in excess of the threshold required to prompt the NLRB to hold a decertification election. Bradach’s work unit includes production department and shipping department employees at Reed & Perrine Lawn Products.
Almost immediately after Bradach had filed her petition, UFCW union bosses filed so-called “blocking charges” to stop the vote from happening. Blocking charges are unproven allegations of employer misconduct that union officials file in order to delay or derail an employee-requested union decertification election. Blocking charges often have little or nothing to do with employees’ reasons for wanting to vote out a union, yet NLRB officials will frequently delay decertification elections for months or years without even holding a hearing into the charges’ veracity or connection to employee dissatisfaction.
In Bradach’s case, NLRB Region 22 blocked Bradach and her coworkers’ requested vote based on UFCW officials’ blocking charges. Almost a year and a half later, UFCW union officials withdrew the blocking charges – presumably because the NLRB communicated that it would finally dismiss them for having no merit. Immediately after NLRB Region 22 announced it would finally take up Bradach’s petition, UFCW Local 152 officials announced they were “disclaiming interest” in continuing their control over the facility – in other words, leaving the facility immediately to avoid an employee vote that would have likely ended in a lopsided loss for the union.
UFCW Union Officials Continued to Take Dues While Blocking Removal Vote
New Jersey lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector employees. This means UFCW union officials had the power to enforce contracts that required Reed & Perrine employees to pay money to the union or be fired. In contrast, in states that have Right to Work laws, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary.
“My colleagues and I had had it with the UFCW, but they stuck around in the workplace after we made it clear we no longer wanted the union,” commented Bradach. “It’s a farce for them to claim they ‘represented’ us, especially when they were actively trying to block us from just having a vote on whether we wanted to continue with the union. My colleagues and I are glad we’re finally free.”
Trump NLRB Urged to Eliminate ‘Blocking Charge’ Policy
The Foundation has pressed the NLRB for years to end its non-statutory blocking charge policy. The Foundation has instead advocated for a return to the Election Protection Rule, which prevented many aspects of blocking charge-related gamesmanship before the Biden NLRB overturned it in 2022. Under the Election Protection Rule, allegations of misconduct related to a union decertification election could not block employees from exercising their right to vote. In most cases, the Rule permitted the immediate release of the vote tally as opposed to ordering ballots to be impounded during litigation over blocking charges.
“As Ms. Bradach’s case shows all too well, the ‘blocking charge’ policy just incentivizes union officials to act cynically and opportunistically while the rights of the workers they claim to ‘represent’ suffer,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “An approach that is more protective of workers’ rights is found in the Election Protection Rule, which mandates that allegations over interference be dealt with after employees have had a chance to exercise their right to vote.
“The Trump NLRB should work quickly to protect workers’ freedom of choice from restrictive and unreasonable doctrines like the ‘blocking charge’ policy, which serve only to empower union special interests to the detriment of the rights of rank-and-file workers,” added Mix.
Estes Park Safeway Worker Slams UFCW Union with Federal Charges for Illegal Retaliatory $7,912 Strike Fine
NLRB charge: Union bosses had no legal right to impose discipline since employee resigned union membership prior to working during June 2025 strike action
Estes Park, CO (April 20, 2026) – Estes Park Safeway employee Abraham Ireland has slammed United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 union officials with federal charges, maintaining that union officials hit him with a variety of illegal disciplinary actions for not participating in a June 2025 strike. Ireland, whose charges include details about UFCW union officials demanding nearly $8,000 in unlawful fines, filed his unfair labor practice charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing private sector labor law, a task that includes adjudicating labor disputes between union officials, employers, and individual employees. Federal law forbids union officials from imposing internal discipline, including fines and union trial proceedings, on workers who have exercised their right to opt out of union membership. The Foundation-won CWA v. Beck Supreme Court decision also prohibits union officials from forcing nonmembers to pay dues for the union’s “nonchargeable” expenses, which include political or ideological activities and anything else unrelated to bargaining.
Colorado lacks Right to Work protections for its workers, meaning union officials can require every employee in a workplace to pay money to the union just to keep their jobs. However, this coercive power is limited by the Beck ruling. In contrast, in states that have Right to Work laws, such as Colorado’s neighbors Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah, union membership and all union financial support are voluntary and the choice of each individual worker.
UFCW Union Imposes Obscene Fine, Ignores Longstanding Legal Precedents
According to Ireland’s charges, on June 15, 2025, he notified the union that he resigned his membership effective immediately. Ireland also notified the union that he was exercising his Beck right to pay a reduced amount of money to the union as a nonmember from that point forward.
However, read Ireland’s charges, “on January 9, 2026, the Union refused to honor [Ireland’s] right to resign from union membership by informing him that it was processing internal union charges against him, for…crossing the picket line.” Additionally, the charges state that in March “the Union notified [Ireland] that the Union had issued a fine in the amount of $7,912.45,” despite Ireland’s valid resignation.
Ireland maintains in his charges that union officials never provided him with financial disclosures indicating how the union calculates the reduced fee amount it charges nonmembers, another requirement of the Beck Supreme Court decision.
UFCW Caught Red-Handed by Multiple Grocery Workers Around Country
Foundation-backed grocery workers in Colorado and other states have racked up a number of recent legal victories against the UFCW union, particularly challenging UFCW officials meting out strike discipline on nonmembers. In Oregon, a Fred Meyer employee’s recent federal case against UFCW Local 555 union bosses forced the union to back off a demand for nearly $1,000 in strike fines. In Centennial, Colorado, two grocery employees were similarly able to escape illegal strike fine demands (issued in connection with a King Soopers strike) this March after Foundation involvement.
“UFCW union officials are assembling an ugly track record of violating the free choice rights of grocery workers, who have the unequivocal right to end their union memberships and return to work during a union boss-ordered strike,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Luckily, Foundation attorneys have scored multiple legal victories for grocery workers, both in Colorado and beyond, who have been subjected to UFCW union officials’ illegal schemes.
“We encourage those who experienced coercion during the UFCW’s most recent wave of strikes to reach out to learn about and defend their rights with free Foundation legal aid,” added Mix.
Hundreds of Nurses at GWU Hospital Demand Vote to Remove DCNA Union From Power
Federal labor board could hold vote to remove union as soon as next month among unit of nearly 700 healthcare professionals
Washington, DC (April 17, 2026) – Hundreds of registered nurses and healthcare professionals at The George Washington University Hospital are backing a petition to remove District of Columbia Nurses Association (DCNA) union officials from power at the facility. GWU Hospital nurse Elizabeth Abraha, who is leading the effort among her colleagues, submitted a union decertification petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on April 15 with free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing private sector labor law, a task that includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Abraha’s petition was supported by hundreds of her coworkers’ signatures – well over the required threshold to prompt the NLRB to schedule a decertification vote. Abraha’s petition requests the vote take place among her work unit, which includes “[a]ll full-time, regular part-time, and PRN registered nurses” and specialists from several other departments.
The District of Columbia lacks Right to Work protections for its employees, meaning DCNA union officials can enter contracts that force Abraha and her coworkers to pay money to the union as a condition of keeping their jobs. In contrast, in Right to Work states like neighboring Virginia, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary.
The NLRB will now investigate Abraha’s petition. If a majority of those participating in the decertification election vote against the union, DCNA bosses will lose their exclusive bargaining power over a unit of nearly 700 nurses and other healthcare professionals at GWU Hospital. This power allows DCNA officials to dictate work conditions for every worker in the bargaining unit, regardless of whether they voted for or support the union.
“Two years ago, DCNA union officials made all kinds of promises to my coworkers and me. They have not only failed to deliver on them, but have driven a wedge between a lot of my coworkers,” commented Abraha. “We want to exercise our right to vote this union out, and both DCNA union officials and GWU Hospital management should respect our free choice.”
National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have a track record of successfully helping nurses and other hospital employees remove union hierarchies they oppose. Since 2022, several groups of Foundation-backed hospital employees from Minnesota have escaped union control, including nurses and support staff at Mayo Clinic’s Mankato, MN branch, nurses at Mayo Clinic’s St. James, MN branch, and nurses at Mayo Clinic’s Fairmont, MN location. The Foundation has also issued legal notices to nurses subject to high-profile union strike demands, including a recent Teamsters strike threat covering thousands of Corewell nurses in Michigan and New York City-area nurses subjected to a New York State Nurses Association strike order.
This year, Foundation attorneys also helped a unit of over 300 employees at Windham Community Memorial Hospital in Connecticut vote to remove American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union officials.
“Healthcare professionals at GWU Hospital may feel, as do many healthcare workers who are subject to union control, that union officials haven’t stood up for their interests and have only served as a distraction from providing quality patient care,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Foundation attorneys have assisted many healthcare employees in similar situations. They will fight to ensure that Ms. Abraha and hundreds of her colleagues who provide indispensable care to the DC community everyday have a free and fair opportunity to decide whether DCNA union officials deserve to remain in power at GWU Hospital.”
Oregon Fred Meyer Grocery Store Worker Prevails Over Illegal UFCW Local 555 Strike Fine
UFCW union bosses abandon attempt to collect nearly $1,000 from worker for supposedly working four hours during strike
Portland, OR (April 16, 2026) – Portland-area Fred Meyer grocery store employee Robert Wendelschafer has prevailed in his nearly two-year dispute with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 union officials. Wendelschafer filed federal charges against UFCW Local 555 after union bosses targeted him with a strike fine for exercising his right to continue working during a union boss-ordered strike action in 2024.
The charges were filed, with free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, with National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 19 in early 2025. The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the National Labor Relations Act and adjudicating disputes between employers, unions, and individual employees.
Wendelschafer exercised his legal right to resign UFCW union membership in order to continue working on August 30, 2024. However, UFCW officials claimed the resignation letter was not delivered until after he had returned to work for four hours.
UFCW bosses then apparently attempted to use this supposed four-hour delay as a technicality to justify a fine for $992, announced in a December 2024 letter, after finding him “guilty” of violating internal UFCW rules. Longstanding law says union bosses cannot impose “union discipline” against workers who are not voluntary union members. Such discipline frequently takes the form of four- or five-figure monetary fines payable to union boss-controlled funds.
Eventually, faced with pending Unfair Labor Practice charges at the NLRB, UFCW Local 555 union officials backed down and rescinded their strike fine. At that point, with the union recognizing his resignation and no longer attempting to fine Wendelschafer, the NLRB decided not to move forward with the case against the UFCW.
Wendelschafer is one of many workers who have turned to the Foundation in recent years when faced with unlawful fines and/or fine threats by UFCW officials. In Colorado, Foundation staff attorneys assisted over a dozen King Soopers and Safeway grocery store employees after UFCW Local 7 sought to retaliate against workers who resigned their union memberships to continue working during a series of union-ordered strikes.
“We are pleased to have been able to defend Mr. Wendelschafer against UFCW union bosses’ attempts to punish him for exercising his legal rights,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “That union officials even attempted to claim that a four-hour delay in the delivery of a membership resignation letter should warrant ‘union discipline’ fines that amount to over $200 per hour is yet another demonstration that union boss greed and vindictiveness against rank-and-file workers has no limit.
“All American workers wishing to continue to work to support themselves and their families should be able to do so freely without illegal retaliation from union bosses,” added Mix.
Windham Community Memorial Hospital Employees Vote Overwhelmingly to Remove AFT Union ‘Representation’
Despite last-ditch effort by teacher union lawyers to overturn vote, over 300 hospital employees are officially union free
Willimantic, CT (April 7, 2026) – Employees at Windham Community Memorial Hospital are officially free from the unwanted “representation” of American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 5099 union officials. Following an initial delay, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certified the result, after an overwhelming majority of the Hospital’s workers voted to “decertify” the union in a February secret ballot vote.
The decertification effort was spearheaded by Windham Hospital employee Sara Doner, who received free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys during the decertification process.
NLRB Region 1 certified the election results, officially ending AFT union bosses’ exclusive monopoly representation of the Windham Community Memorial Hospital employees. The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the National Labor Relations Act, a task that includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions.
Days after the landslide 168-70 vote to remove the union, AFT filed objections with the NLRB, seeking to overturn the workers’ election result. However, AFT union officials soon reversed course and dropped their objections, perhaps recognizing the futility of their efforts to maintain monopoly control of the employees after the overwhelming statement sent by the one-sided result.
Connecticut is one of 24 states that lack Right to Work protections for workers, which means that prior to the decertification, AFT union bosses were empowered to impose monopoly bargaining contracts that force employees to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. By contrast, in Right to Work states, union membership and union financial support are strictly voluntary.
“Headed by longtime top boss Randi Weingarten, the AFT is best known for the divisive role union officials have played undermining student and taxpayer interests in the classrooms of public schools nationwide,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “While lesser known, the targets of AFT union boss coercion also includes thousands of healthcare providers.
“We are pleased to have been able to assist this group of hundreds of Windham Community Memorial employees as they exercise their legal right to send AFT union bosses packing, and we encourage anyone else – whether educator or healthcare worker – trapped under AFT control they oppose to reach out for legal aid,” Mix added.
Mountain West Holding Company Traffic Safety Workers Across Montana Vote LIUNA Union Bosses Out of Power
Employees reject union by over 3-1 margin in vote to free more than 150 workers from union bosses’ forced-dues ranks
Butte, MT (April 6, 2026) – Workers at traffic safety equipment firm Mountain West Holding Company have overwhelmingly voted Laborers International Union (LIUNA) Local 1686 union officials out of power at their Montana workplaces. The final vote tally was 62-19. Employee John Fisher led his colleagues’ effort to free themselves of the union by filing a union decertification petition with the National Labor Relations Board in January. Fisher received free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing private sector labor law, a task that includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Fisher’s petition received more than the required threshold of his coworkers’ signatures to trigger the process for the NLRB to schedule a decertification vote. Pursuant to a stipulated election agreement approved by the NLRB, the decertification vote took place among employees at Mountain West Holding Company’s facilities in Billings, Butte, Bozeman, and Missoula.
Montana lacks Right to Work protections for its workers, meaning that union officials can enforce contracts that force private sector employees to pay money to the union or be fired. In contrast, in Right to Work states like Montana’s neighbors Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, and North Dakota, union membership and dues payment are strictly voluntary and the choice of each worker.
Now that Fisher and his colleagues have voted to remove the LIUNA union from their facilities, they are free of union chiefs’ forced-dues power. They are also free of the LIUNA’s exclusive “representation,” a legal privilege that lets union officials dictate work conditions for every employee in a work unit, even those who voted against or otherwise oppose the union.
“LIUNA union officials’ agenda both inside and outside the workplace didn’t resonate with me and a huge number of my coworkers. It was even worse that they could force us to pay them just to keep our jobs,” commented Fisher. “Our overwhelming vote against the union demonstrates pretty clearly that we’d had enough, and we look forward to continuing to support ourselves and our families free of the union.”
LIUNA Rejected by Mountain West Workers Twice in Handful of Years
This isn’t the first time that Mountain West employees have voted to escape the clutches of LIUNA Local 1686. In 2024, a unit of Mountain West equipment operators based in Billings, MT, led by Michael Horsman, voted to decertify the union in a near-unanimous vote. Horsman also received free Foundation legal assistance.
Foundation attorneys have noticed a marked increase in worker requests for help in decertifying unpopular unions. NLRB statistics indicate that in 2025, decertification petition filings were up almost 40 percent from 2020.
“Mr. Fisher and his colleagues sent a strong message to LIUNA union officials with their vote, as their work unit spanned well over 150 workers all across the Big Sky State,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Foundation attorneys were proud to help them exercise their right to free themselves. But it’s outrageous that, despite how heavy the opposition to the union was among his coworkers, LIUNA bosses still had the power to force them to pay dues as a condition of employment.
“Workers in Montana and across America deserve the protection of a Right to Work law, so they can freely decide whether or not union officials at their workplace have earned their financial support,” Mix added.
Florida Wells Fargo Workers Successfully Remove CWA Union
Spring Hill bank branch employees union-free as CWA union bosses decline to face federally supervised vote of employees
Spring Hill, FL (March 30, 2026) – Employees at the Lakewood Plaza location of Wells Fargo in Spring Hill, FL, have successfully forced Communications Workers of America (CWA) union officials out of power at their workplace. The effort to remove the union kicked off earlier this month, when bank employee Virginia Fenton filed a petition asking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a union decertification vote at the Spring Hill Wells Fargo branch. Fenton filed the petition with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing private sector labor law, a task that includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Fenton’s petition received more than the required threshold of her coworkers’ signatures to trigger the process for the NLRB to schedule a decertification vote. On March 12, the NLRB approved an agreement scheduling the election for March 30 among “[a]ll full-time and regular part-time tellers, personal bankers, relationship bankers, and premier bankers.”
However, shortly before the election, CWA union officials – who operate under the pseudonym “Wells Fargo Workers United” [sic] – announced they were no longer seeking to remain in power at the bank branch, presumably to avoid a lopsided loss at the ballot box. On March 27, the NLRB acknowledged the CWA union’s “disclaimer of interest,” leaving the Spring Hill Wells Fargo employees officially free of the unwanted union.
Florida is a Right to Work state, meaning union officials cannot impose contract provisions that require workers to pay money to the union as a condition of getting or keeping a job. In contrast, in non-Right to Work states, union officials can have workers fired for refusing to pay union dues or fees. However, in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work states, union bosses can still impose one-size-fits-all contracts over all employees in a workplace, even those who are opposed to the union’s presence. Following the union’s disclaimer, Spring Hill Wells Fargo employees are now free of the CWA’s exclusive representation powers.
Wells Fargo Workers Across Country Seeking Escape From CWA Union Ranks
The Spring Hill bankers are the second group of Wells Fargo employees to successfully boot out CWA officials, following union officials’ aggressive campaign in recent years to unionize the bank. Apex, NC, Wells Fargo employees voted out the union in a landslide earlier this month. Foundation staff attorneys are currently assisting Casper, WY, Wells Fargo workers in obtaining another decertification vote against the union.
“CWA union bosses’ campaign at Wells Fargo started with great fanfare, but now, when faced with the reality of the CWA’s so-called ‘representation,’ employees across the country seem to be coming to the conclusion that they would be better off without the union,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Wells Fargo workers should not hesitate to contact Foundation attorneys for free legal aid in seeking a union decertification vote if they feel CWA union officials have been incompetent, unresponsive, or just haven’t served their interests.
“More broadly, the NLRB should push forward on reforming labor regulations to ensure that workers can freely exercise their right to vote out union officials who act opportunistically or coercively,” Mix added.
Overwhelming Majority of Wyoming Wells Fargo Bank Branch Employees Back Petition for Vote to Remove CWA Union Bosses
Wells Fargo employees across the country moving to terminate union affiliation
Casper, WY (March 25, 2026) – Employees at Wells Fargo’s Casper branch have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking a “decertification” election to remove the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union bosses from their workplace. The workers’ efforts are spearheaded by Megan Wright, who filed the petition with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, a task that includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Wright’s petition was signed by the vast majority of her Wells Fargo coworkers, easily surpassing the required threshold of signatures needed for the NLRB to schedule a decertification vote.
The workers’ petition requests the NLRB schedule a secret ballot election among all full-time and regular part-time tellers, personal bankers, relationship bankers, and branch operations coordinators employed by Wells Fargo at a Casper, WY branch. The workers will vote on whether to remove the so-called “Wells Fargo Workers United” union (an affiliate of the CWA union).
“CWA union officials have not made our workplace better and we are confident we would be better off without them,” stated Wright. “At this point we simply want an election so we can vote to take back our branch.”
Wyoming is one of the 26 states with Right to Work protections that safeguard workers from being forced to pay union dues or fees under threat of termination. However, even under Right to Work, union bosses can impose monopoly bargaining control over all employees in a workplace, including those who are opposed to the union’s representation. A successful decertification would end union officials’ monopoly bargaining powers.
The Casper, WY workers’ decertification effort comes almost a week after the Foundation assisted Wells Fargo employees in Spring Hill, FL, file a petition to remove CWA from their branch. The NLRB has scheduled the Spring Hill election for March 30. In yet another decertification effort, last week Wells Fargo employees in Apex, NC, overwhelmingly voted to remove the CWA union from their branch.
“Despite the headlines generated by CWA’s campaign to gain control over Wells Fargo employees, it is increasingly becoming clear to rank-and-file bank employees that they are better off without the CWA’s so-called ‘representation,’” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “The Foundation is proud to be a resource for Ms. Wright and other Wells Fargo employees seeking to exercise their right to free themselves from unwanted unions.
“These Wells Fargo employees are just the latest in an ongoing trend, with NLRB statistics showing a nearly 40% rise in filed decertification petitions over the past five years,” Mix added.
