Independent-Minded Employees Slap Teamster Bosses with Federal Labor Charges For Illegal Threats

Right to Work Foundation aids courageous employees who union bosses threatened to have fired

Auburn, Washington (November 17, 2009) – Two Alan Ritchey Incorporated employees have hit local Teamster union officials with unfair labor practice charges after the union brass illegally threatened them with imminent termination.

Gayle May and Patricia Allen, employees of the transportation, storage, and mail delivery manufacturer and supplier, contacted the National Right to Work Foundation after they received a letter from Teamster Local 117 union officials giving them only days to exercise their legal rights to refrain from paying union dues spent for non-bargaining activities like political activism, lobbying, and member-only events, even though they had already exercised these rights.

With help from Foundation attorneys, the employees – on behalf of dozens of other similarly-situated Alan Ritchey employees – filed the charges with the National Labor Relations Board regional office in Seattle.

(Read the full press release)

Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona (November 12, 2009) – America’s preeminent workers’ rights advocacy organization which helps victims of union coercion is offering free legal aid to workers whose rights are abused during the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) union-ordered strike scheduled to begin tomorrow.

Union officials apparently intend to impose fines upon union members who wish to continue to go to their jobs in opposition to the union’s militant approach.

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has received numerous calls from Arizona Safeway Stores, Inc. and Kroger-owned Fry’s Food Stores employees who want to continue providing for themselves and their families during the UFCW union-ordered strike.  The Foundation encourages workers to learn about their rights from independent sources and posted a special legal notice for workers on its website at https://www.nrtw.org.

"Not long ago, UFCW union bosses ordered an unpopular strike in Southern California, and for five months employees were out of work," said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation.  "Now the union brass wants to replicate that situation in Arizona, and concerned workers are contacting the Foundation seeking help."

"The National Right to Work Foundation stands ready to defend the rights of employees who want to continue supporting themselves and their families, and those who are illegally threatened or coerced by UFCW union bosses for doing so," added Gleason.

Under Supreme Court precedent and under the protections guaranteed by Arizona’s popular Right to Work law:

• Workers have the right to resign from union membership.

• Workers have the right to go to work even if the union is on strike. If a worker chooses to work during a strike, they must first resign from union membership to avoid oppressive union disciplinary actions and fines.

• Workers have the right to revoke their dues check-off authorization and stop allowing union officials to collect money from their paycheck. Now that there is no longer a collective bargaining agreement in effect between UFCW union bosses and Safeway/Fry’s, employees can revoke their dues deduction authorizations at any time.

• Workers have the right to sign a decertification petition to hold a secret ballot election to remove the union hierarchy from the workplace.

The full notice can be found at www.nrtw.org/ufcwaz

Auburn, Washington (November 17, 2009) – Two Alan Ritchey Incorporated employees have hit local Teamster union officials with unfair labor practice charges after the union brass illegally threatened them with imminent termination.

Gayle May and Patricia Allen, employees of the transportation, storage, and mail delivery manufacturer and supplier, contacted the National Right to Work Foundation after they received a letter from Teamster Local 117 union officials giving them only days to exercise their legal rights to refrain from paying union dues spent for non-bargaining activities like political activism, lobbying, and member-only events, even though they had already exercised these rights.

With help from Foundation attorneys, the employees – on behalf of dozens of other similarly-situated Alan Ritchey employees – filed the charges with the National Labor Relations Board regional office in Seattle.

May and Allen held a clear and longstanding objection to formal, dues paying union membership exercising their rights under the Foundation-won Communication Workers of America v. Beck (1988) U.S. Supreme Court victory. In Beck, the Court held that union officials can lawfully compel nonmembers to pay some union dues as a job condition, but they cannot forcibly extract dues spent for union electioneering and other non-bargaining activities.

Over the years, May and Allen have filed several charges against Teamsters 117 over its campaign of retaliation and harassment against independent-minded employees who exercise their Beck rights.

In a new twist, Teamster Local 117 union bosses – citing a new contract between the union and the employer – bullied May and Allen with threats of fines and termination unless they “reiterate” their intentions to exercise their rights under Beck. Employees who exercise their right to refrain from full dues paying union membership are not required to “reiterate” or “renew” their status. Regardless, Local 117 officials sent the employees the letter giving them only a few days to do so (without detailing how) or they would be fired from their jobs.

"It is clear that Local 117 union bosses are employing a new form of illegal harassment aimed at purging independent-minded employees from the workplace," said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. "Incidents like this reinforces why Washington needs to pass a state Right to Work law to protect independent-minded employees from shameful union boss threats and intimidation."

Employee Lawsuit Pushes Teacher Union Bosses to Refund Dues, Allow Educators to Resign

Despite a partial victory, Right to Work Foundation presses forward with
lawsuit to ensure all public educators’ rights are protected

Louisville, KY (November 18, 2009) – Facing an embarrassing legal setback from rank-and-file teachers, Jefferson County Teacher Association (JCTA union officials announced their intention to refund several educators’ forced dues and allow public school employees to resign from union membership during a new window period and terminate certain forced dues payments.

This announcement comes on the heels of a class-action lawsuit filed by Jefferson County educators with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation. The lawsuit, filed against the JCTA union and its national affiliate, the National Education Association (NEA) union, in U.S. District Court, seeks the return of illegally seized dues, a modification of the union’s contract to allow employees to resign from union membership at any time, and a regular notice from the union brass informing public school employees of their right to refrain from formal union membership . . .

(Read more here)

Louisville, KY (November 18, 2009) – Facing an embarrassing legal setback from rank-and-file teachers, Jefferson County Teacher Association (JCTA) union officials announced their intention to refund several educators’ forced dues and allow public school employees to resign from union membership during a new window period and terminate certain forced dues payments.

This announcement comes on the heels of a class-action lawsuit filed by Jefferson County educators with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation. The lawsuit, filed against the JCTA union and its national affiliate, the National Education Association (NEA) union, in U.S. District Court, seeks the return of illegally seized dues, a modification of the union’s contract to allow employees to resign from union membership at any time, and a regular notice from the union brass informing public school employees of their right to refrain from formal union membership.

Currently, teachers employed in Jefferson County are automatically enrolled as union members and forced to pay full union dues unless they explicitly register an objection to JCTA union officials. Before union officials announced their new policy, teachers were only permitted to resign from formal union membership during a ten day-window period after an individual teacher’s contract was signed or after the union hierarchy agreed to a new contract with the local school board. If a teacher failed to register an objection to union membership within either period, he or she was forced to remain a full dues-paying union member until the expiration of the union’s five-year contract with the local school board.

The suit has already prompted union officials to announce their intention to refund over $1,100 of confiscated union dues to each of the lawsuit’s named plaintiffs, but apparently not to the hundreds of other educators represented in the class action lawsuit. Union officials have also unveiled a new opt-out period for educators seeking to leave the union that lasts until December 31.

However, Foundation attorneys believe that these changes do not address several core concerns raised in the educators’ lawsuit. Under the new policy, Jefferson County educators can still be automatically enrolled in the union without their consent and dissatisfied union members will still be forced to wait for an unconstitutional, union-designated window period to resign. Moreover, JCTA officials retain the option of reversing these policy changes without a binding legal precedent.

“Union bosses know that their illegal policy won’t hold up under the scrutiny of a federal class-action lawsuit, and this belated concession is a desperate attempt to avoid issuing refunds to literally hundreds of educators whose rights have been violated,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “JCTA bosses must get rid of their coercive membership policy in its entirety, and we intend to pursue all legal remedies available to the Kentucky educators whose rights are being violated.”

Washington, DC (November 19, 2009) – Because the Obama Administration has stonewalled a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request submitted last April, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation filed a lawsuit today to compel the Department of Labor (DOL) to release information related to high-ranking officials’ contact with union operatives.

“The Administration’s apparent involvement with union officials fatally undermines the integrity of the Department of Labor’s rule-making and administrative oversight,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “The public deserves to know the extent of the close ties between this Administration and organized labor bosses.”

National Right to Work originally lodged a FOIA request last spring, seeking disclosure on high-ranking DOL officials’ connections to powerful union lobbying interests. The FOIA submission cited concerns about Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, who previously held a key leadership position at the Big Labor-front group “American Rights at Work,” and Deborah Greenfield, a DOL appointee who previously worked with the AFL-CIO to overturn the same union disclosure guidelines she now oversees.

As of today, the DOL has refused to honor President Obama’s widely touted promise of transparency and has failed to follow federal laws requiring the timely disclosure of public information. As a result, Right to Work attorneys concluded that a federal lawsuit was the only way to compel the level of transparency promised by President Obama and guaranteed under the Freedom of Information Act.

“It’s absolutely vital that this information is made available to the public to dispel real concerns about conflicts of interest at the Department of Labor,” continued Mix. “On the campaign trail, Obama said that ‘the way to hold government accountable is to make it transparent so that the American people can know exactly what decisions are being made [and] how they’re being made.’ We intend to hold him to that promise.”

Washington, D.C. (December 2, 2009) – The National Right to Work Foundation has filed new disclosure demands on the heels of its lawsuit to compel the Department of Labor (DOL) to release information related to high-ranking officials’ connections to powerful union lobbying interests.

A media report indicates DOL officials have deliberately ignored disclosure laws, and Right to Work attorneys are seeking internal DOL records backing up the report.

National Right to Work originally lodged a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request last April citing concerns about Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, who previously held a key leadership position at the Big Labor-front group “American Rights at Work,” and Deborah Greenfield, who was a lawyer for the AFL-CIO involved in a lawsuit challenging DOL union disclosure regulations that she now oversees as an administration appointee.

For the last seven months, the Obama Administration has stonewalled the Foundation’s FOIA request seeking disclosure of the high-ranking DOL officials’ contacts with union operatives. Late last month, Right to Work attorneys filed suit in federal court to force the Obama Administration to fulfill its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act.

Subsequent media coverage has revealed DOL officials apparently decided to ignore the Foundation’s FOIA request, but facing the lawsuit and negative publicity is now reconsidering. Additionally, one media report cited a high-placed source stating that panicked DOL officials “are in a tizzy and freaking out” because of the Foundation’s lawsuit.

Today, Foundation attorneys filed another FOIA request this time for the DOL’s search plan and interoffice communications – including emails, meeting minutes, notes, and other interoffice correspondence – relating to the initial FOIA request.

“President Obama’s widely-touted promise of unparalleled transparency has been met with unparalleled secrecy,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “The Department of Labor’s deliberate stonewalling is unsettling. It suggests the administration is hiding damaging information about whether Hilda Solis and Deborah Greenfield are coordinating their activities with pro-compulsory unionism extremists.”

“Giving Big Labor undue influence over the Department’s rule-making and administrative oversight is a slap in the face of America’s independent-minded workers. The public deserves to know about any collusion between this administration and Big Labor bosses.”

Michigan Worker Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Halt UAW Policy of Religious Discrimination

Right to Work attorneys challenge union officials’ violation of worker’s civil rights

Washington, DC (December 15, 2009) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a western Michigan auto worker is asking the U.S. Supreme Court today to review a United Auto Workers (UAW) union policy intended to stymie workers’ religious objections to the union bosses’ agenda.

Jeffrey Reed, a resident of Bridgman, Michigan, assembles vehicles for AM General. Because his workplace is unionized, he works under a monopoly bargaining agreement which forces him either to join the UAW or pay compulsory union fees to it in order to keep his job. However, Reed, a devout Catholic, believes financially supporting the UAW union violates his sincerely-held religious beliefs due to the union hierarchy’s support for special rights for homosexuals and abortion-on-demand.

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, union officials may not force any employee to financially support a union if doing so violates the worker’s sincerely-held religious beliefs. The statute requires union officials to attempt to accommodate the worker – most often by redirecting the mandatory union fees to a mutually agreed upon charity – to avoid the conflict between an employee’s faith and a requirement to pay fees to a union he or she believes to be immoral.

However, because Reed is refraining from full dues paying union membership based on his faith, UAW union bosses forced him to pay a $100 premium and continue to pay 22 percent more than the amount workers who object on non-religious grounds must pay. Both full UAW members and secular objectors are allowed to pay an amount less than full dues if they wish to cut off the use of their union dues for political activities.

(Read the full press release)

Employees Slap Teamster Union Officials with Federal Charges over Illegal Forced Dues Policy

Union officials fail to provide adequate disclosure to nonunion employees, then threaten the workers with termination

Philadelphia, PA and Baltimore, MD (December 16, 2009) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, four workers forced to pay fees to a regional Teamsters union council have filed unfair labor practice charges against the union for providing inadequate financial disclosure and illegally threatening to have workers who didn’t pay fired.

Under the Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent Communication Workers v. Beck, nonmember employees can be forced to pay certain union dues as a condition of employment, but they cannot be compelled to pay for politics, lobbying, and member-only events. Union officials are also legally obligated to inform workers of these rights and to provide workers with an independently verified audit of chargeable and non-chargeable expenses.

Graphic Communications Conference/International Brotherhood of Teamsters, District Council 9, union bosses have exclusive representation power over employees at Perfecseal, Inc. in Philadelphia, PA, and Standard Register in Salisbury, MD, but have not provided nonmember employees with the level of disclosure Beck requires. Nonmembers’ “agency fees” paid to the union council have increased by a greater percentage than corresponding increases in dues amounts for union members, and union bosses are demanding that the nonmembers pay the increased fees or be fired without providing an adequate breakdown of expenditures.

Click here to read the full release.

Philadelphia, PA and Baltimore, MD (December 16, 2009) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, four workers forced to pay fees to a regional Teamsters union council have filed unfair labor practice charges against the union for providing inadequate financial disclosure and illegally threatening to have workers who didn’t pay fired.

Under the Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent Communication Workers v. Beck, nonmember employees can be forced to pay certain union dues as a condition of employment, but they cannot be compelled to pay for politics, lobbying, and member-only events. Union officials are also legally obligated to inform workers of these rights and to provide workers with an independently verified audit of chargeable and non-chargeable expenses.

Graphic Communications Conference/International Brotherhood of Teamsters, District Council 9, union bosses have exclusive representation power over employees at Perfecseal, Inc. in Philadelphia, PA, and Standard Register in Salisbury, MD, but have not provided nonmember employees with the level of disclosure Beck requires. Nonmembers’ “agency fees” paid to the union council have increased by a greater percentage than corresponding increases in dues amounts for union members, and union bosses are demanding that the nonmembers pay the increased fees or be fired without providing an adequate breakdown of expenditures.

Additionally, the union maintains an illegal policy requiring nonmembers to renew their objection annually or be converted to full union member status and thus be forced to pay full union dues. The National Labor Relations Board Regional Directors in Philadelphia and Baltimore will now investigate the charges and decide whether to prosecute the union before an administrative law judge.

“If Pennsylvania and Maryland adopted Right to Work laws banning forced unionism, independent-minded employees would be able to defend their freedom of association,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “The only way to stop future abuse is to make all union dues voluntary.”

The charging parties are Michael Lee Jones at Standard Register and Awa Ereforokuma, Huan Tang, and Thomas Wells at Perfecseal for themselves and other similarly situated employees.