Washington, DC (April 7, 2014) – National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys filed formal comments today with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) opposing the Board’s proposed guidelines, which will help give union organizers the upper hand over independent-minded workers.

The NLRB again proposed these rules dictating how union organizing elections are conducted after a federal court struck them down in 2012. The court ruled that the Board did not have a quorum necessary to enact the new rules when it tried to do so.

The proposed rules dramatically shorten the time frame individual workers have to gather, evaluate, and share information with their coworkers about the effects of unionization. Moreover, the rules require job providers to disclose workers’ personal information (including their phone numbers, email addresses, and shift information), thus opening up dissenting or undecided workers to intimidation and harassment.

The new rules would also create a loophole which allows union organizers to claim they have support of 30 percent of employees in the workplace, the minimum number required to initiate an election, despite a dispute regarding the size of the bargaining unit in question. Then, union organizers who fear that they do not have enough support to win an election could withdraw their request for an election and use the newly-gotten personal information in later attempts to unionize the workers.

Foundation staff attorneys argue in the formal comments that this “ambush” election process would encourage the forced unionization of workers who might otherwise be opposed to unionization, and that the rule requiring job providers to hand over the employees’ personal information to union bosses violates workers’ privacy.

“The NLRB’s proposed rules make union organizing campaigns even more one-sided and stifle the rights of employees who may oppose unionization in their workplace,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This power grab reminds us once again that the Big Labor-dominated NLRB’s enforcement of federal labor law is most often used to empower union officials, not workers, with unique and damaging privileges designed to bolster their power and revenue.”

Foundation staff attorney William Messenger will also speak against the proposed rules at the NLRB’s public meetings on the changes on Friday, April 11.

Washington, DC (April 16, 2014) –The United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials’ request to exclude Chattanooga, Tennessee Volkswagen workers seeking to defend the recent unionization vote in their workplace has been rejected by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The VW employees filed the motion to intervene with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys after the UAW union filed objections to the recent highly-publicized election in their workplace.

UAW union officials filed the objections with the NLRB after Chattanooga VW workers voted against giving the UAW monopoly bargaining control over the plant via a rapid-fire unionization election.

In response, the workers filed a motion to intervene in the objection process to defend the election results. The NLRB Acting Regional Director in Atlanta ruled to allow the workers to defend the vote during the proceedings. UAW union officials then appealed the Regional Director’s decision to the Board in Washington, D.C.

Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work, issued the following statement in the wake of the NRLB’s ruling:

“The NLRB Acting Regional Director ruled that the workers are entitled to defend the election results. The decision over whether or not to unionize is supposed to lie with the workers, which makes the attempt by the UAW to shut them out of this process all the more shameful.

“And based on Volkswagen management’s actions leading up to this point, these workers are concerned that VW will not actively defend their vote to remain free from union boss control and the workers’ intervention ensures that at least one party to the process is fully invested in upholding the election results.

“The real question here is: Why are UAW officials so afraid of workers and their National Right to Work Foundation-provided attorneys being part of this process?”

Foundation staff attorneys representing the VW employees will attend the NLRB hearing on Monday, April 21.

Massachusetts Childcare Providers File Federal Lawsuit Challenging Forced Unionization Scheme

Childcare providers fight dictate to push childcare business owners into forced dues union ranks

Boston, MA (April 16, 2014) – A group of Massachusetts home-based childcare providers have filed a federal lawsuit challenging a 2012 law that seeks to forcibly unionize the state’s home-based childcare providers.

Providers Kathleen D’Agostino, Denise Boian, Jean Demers, Judith Santos, Laurie Smith, and Kelly Winship filed the suit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

D’Agostino and the other providers seek to halt implementation of a recently-passed law intended to designate Service Employees International Union (SEIU) officials as the monopoly political representative of thousands of providers in the state, who are either business owners or family members who take care of children within their families.

Click here to read the full release.

Boston, MA (April 16, 2014) – A group of Massachusetts home-based childcare providers have filed a federal lawsuit challenging a 2012 law that seeks to forcibly unionize the state’s home-based childcare providers.

Providers Kathleen D’Agostino, Denise Boian, Jean Demers, Judith Santos, Laurie Smith, and Kelly Winship filed the suit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

D’Agostino and the other providers seek to halt implementation of a recently-passed law intended to designate Service Employees International Union (SEIU) officials as the monopoly political representative of thousands of providers in the state, who are either business owners or family members who take care of children within their families.

Home-based childcare and personal care providers, with Foundation attorneys’ assistance, have challenged similar forced-unionization-by-government-fiat schemes in several states across the country, including Michigan and Illinois. The Illinois case is pending at the U.S. Supreme Court. Michigan ended its scheme after Foundation attorneys filed suit for providers there. A group of Minnesota child care providers are also challenging a similar scheme in federal court.

Foundation attorneys argue that such schemes violate the providers’ First Amendment right to choose with whom they associate to petition the government. The government does not have the constitutional authority to force citizens to accept government’s handpicked political representative to lobby itself.

Under the Massachusetts scheme, SEIU Local 509 union officials are empowered to confiscate forced dues and fees from childcare providers for this forced “exclusive representation” starting in June.

“Citizens have the power to select their political representation in government, not the other way around,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This scheme, which forces small business owners, and even grandma taking care of her grandchildren, into union political association is a slap in the face of fundamental American principles we hold dear.”

“This union boss power grab scheme is nothing more than pure political payback and was popularized by disgraced Governors Gray Davis of California and Rod Blagojevich of Illinois.”

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on the Illinois case, Harris v. Quinn this spring. The Minnesota case has been held pending the outcome of the Harris case.

Chattanooga Volkswagen Workers Stave off UAW Union Boss Challenge

Foundation staff attorneys help employees preserve their decision to reject unionization

Springfield, VA (April 21, 2014) – The United Auto Worker (UAW) union has withdrawn its challenge of the Chattanooga Volkswagen workers’ recent unionization vote with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation, issued the following statement in response to the recent media reports:

“This is a win for the workers of Volkswagen. The UAW did everything they could to silence opposition. First, Chattanooga VW employees managed to stave off a coercive unionization campaign even though the UAW and Volkswagen’s German management colluded for over two years to stack the deck against the workers.

“Despite all of this, UAW union officials’ still lost the vote. The result of the election came after the NLRB unprecedentedly fast-tracked the unionization process, further tilting the playing field in favor of UAW union officials.

“Second, the UAW attempted to exclude workers from protecting the outcome of the election. But, once UAW officials realized both sides of the case would be presented at the hearing, they withdrew rather than have their allegations disproved. We are pleased that the workers’ vote will now stand.

“This case demonstrates once again the unreliability of union officials’ ‘card check’ method of unionization, as the UAW continued to claim on the basis of cards that it had the support of a majority of Volkswagen team members and that no election was needed.

Click here to read the full release.

Grand Rapids Teacher Files State Charges Against Union and School District for Right to Work Violations

Union and school officials collude to force school employees into dues-paying union ranks despite Right to Work law

Grand Rapids, MI (April 21, 2014) – A Grand Rapids-area special education teacher has filed state charges against a local union and the school district for violating school employees’ rights under Michigan’s Right to Work law.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Becky Lapham of Portland, Michigan, filed the state charges last week with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) in Detroit.

The 11-year Lincoln Developmental Center school teacher notified the Michigan Education Association (MEA) union that she was exercising her rights under the Foundation-won Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson case to refrain from full union dues payments and requesting a financial disclosure of how her forced union dues and fees are being spent.

MEA union officials refused to comply with Lapham’s request, claiming that she would have to wait for a union-designated “window period” in August 2014 to refrain from full dues payments, and threatened to report her to a collections agency.

Click here to read the full release.

UPS Worker Wins Federal Settlement against Teamster Union for Ignoring Her Rights Under Michigan’s Right to Work Law

Teamster union officials stonewalled worker’s attempts to refrain from dues payments

Traverse City, MI (April 28, 2014) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, a Traverse City UPS (NYSE: UPS) worker has won a federal settlement against a local Teamster union for violating her rights.

Lisa Plamondon, a 30-year UPS employee, won the settlement from the Teamster Local 406 union after she filed charges against the union and her employer with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Because Michigan did not have a Right to Work law making union dues payments completely voluntary, Plamondon was a member of the union from 1983 until 1997. In 1997, Plamondon resigned her union membership, but still had to pay union dues and fees to keep her job.

After Michigan’s private-sector Right to Work law went into effect, Plamondon sent several letters to the Local 406 union stating that she was exercising her right under Michigan’s Right to Work law to refrain from union dues payments.

Click here to read the full release.

Waikiki Hotel Employees Hit Union Officials with Federal Charges for Illegally Seizing Dues

UNITE HERE Local 5 union officials have an ugly history of violating the rights of the workers they claim to represent

Honolulu, HI (April 30, 2014) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, a group of Hyatt Regency Waikiki Resort & Spa employees have filed federal unfair labor practice charges against the UNITE HERE Local 5 union.

Honolulu Hyatt employees Mark Tamosiunas, Wayne Young, Steven Taono, and Agnes Demarke filed the charges late last week with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Starting around June 30, 2010, the monopoly bargaining agreement between UNITE HERE Local 5 union officials and Hyatt management expired. While the contract was no longer in effect, the workers resigned their union membership and exercised their right to refrain from union dues payments.

However, UNITE HERE Local 5 union officials are now charging the workers for union dues and fees from June 2012 to August 2013, even though no union monopoly bargaining agreement requiring workers to pay union dues or fees was in effect.

Click here to read the full release.

Paris Casino Union Bosses Lose High Stakes Game Playing with Worker’s Legal Rights

Union officials threatened nonmember worker with benefits cuts and loss of seniority unless she paid dues

Las Vegas, NV (May 9, 2014) – A Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino snack bar attendant has won a federal judgment from a local union for violating her right to refrain from union affiliation.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Nani Sugianto won her case against the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 before a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) administrative law judge late last week.

In 2007, Sugianto resigned her union membership and refrained from dues payments. After nearly five years the union started to collect dues again without giving her notice. Sugianto stopped the union dues deductions.

Then, Sugianto filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB after a union steward illegally threatened her that she would lose all of her benefits and her seniority, and would be required to start over again as a new hire, unless she paid union dues even though she is not a union member.

Click here to read the full release.

University Hospital Nurse Files Federal Charge Against Major Healthcare Union for Rights Violations

Case underscores need for Right to Work protections in the Show Me State

Saint Louis, MO (May 14, 2014) – A Saint Louis University Hospital nurse has filed a federal charge against a major California-based healthcare union for violating workers’ rights.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Saint Louis University Hospital nurse Brian Hendricks filed the charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

National Nurses Organizing Committee (NNOC) union officials enjoy monopoly bargaining powers over the workplace. Because Missouri does not have Right to Work protections making union affiliation completely voluntary, nonmember workers are still forced to pay part of forced union dues to keep their jobs.

In the charge, Hendricks alleges that NNOC union officials are using illegal dues deduction authorization forms that force members to authorize union dues deductions from their paychecks and deny them the right to pay for union dues via check.

Click here to read the full release.