Washington, DC (February 12, 2015) – The National Right to Work Foundation has filed briefs in two federal courts challenging the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) recently-enacted regulations that will further give union organizers the upper hand over independent-minded employees during unionization campaigns.

The rules are designed to dramatically shorten the time individual workers have to share information with their coworkers about the effects of unionization. The regulations also require employers to hand over workers’ private information to union organizers, including their phone numbers and email addresses.

The latest rules changes were rushed out before former union lawyer Nancy Schiffer’s term expired on December 16, 2014. The NLRB had previously rushed the regulations out before former Service Employees International Union (SEIU) lawyer Craig Becker’s term expired in December 2011, but they were later invalidated by a federal district court in 2012 on procedural grounds.

Foundation staff attorneys now argue in amicus curiae briefs filed with the U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia and the Western District of Texas that the new rules violate federal law, because the Board is shirking its statutory duty to determine the scope of the bargaining unit. Under the rules, unionization elections will proceed despite disputes over the unit’s scope if less than 20 percent of the bargaining unit’s composition is contested.

“It would be absurd for a redistricting commission to assert that it properly defined a congressional district while leaving unresolved whether one-fifth of adjacent counties are in or out of the district,” Foundation attorneys state. “So too is it absurd for the Board to claim it is defining an appropriate bargaining unit while leaving unresolved whether one-fifth of job positions are in that unit.”

“Being up to 20% wrong about the proper scope of a unit is simply not ‘close enough for government work,'” the briefs continue.

Foundation attorneys also argue in the briefs that the rule requiring job providers to hand over the employees’ personal information to union bosses violates workers’ privacy.

“The NLRB has once again regurgitated Big Labor’s wish list with these election rules designed to make unionization campaigns even more one-sided in an effort to boost union bosses’ forced dues ranks,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “The Obama Labor Board’s latest give-away to Big Labor will ambush unsuspecting workers into union ranks and encroaches on the privacy rights of employees who may oppose unionization in their workplace.”

San Diego, CA (February 24, 2015) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, a teenage part-time Ralphs Grocery clerk has won a federal ruling against a local grocery union for violating his workplace rights.

The teenager filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 135 union after union officials provided him in July 2013, with a membership packet that illegally stated that new hires must join the union and pay full union dues as a condition of their employment.

The teenager eventually learned about his right to refrain from full dues paying union membership and made multiple inquiries about resigning his union membership and paying reduced dues with UFCW Local 135 officials. His multiple requests were denied, stonewalled, or ignored.

In August 2013, union officials again demanded the teenager join the union and pay full dues and initiation fees or get fired. Union officials also sent a letter demanding that he appear at the union hall if he wished to refrain from union membership. They also demanded his social security number in order to exercise his right not to join the union.

Because California does not have Right to Work protections making union affiliation completely voluntary, nonmember workers can be forced to pay part of union dues to keep their jobs. However, workers who refrain from union membership can refrain from paying dues used for union politics and members-only events.

A NLRB administrative law judge ruled that UFCW Local 135 union brass violated the teenager’s rights by failing to follow federal disclosure requirements that allow workers to know what amounts they can be forced to pay as a condition of their employment, and explain the union’s financial calculations.
The judge also ordered the union hierarchy to rescind its policy requiring new hires to appear in person at the union’s office in order to exercise their rights.

“It took 17 months for this worker to get a ruling holding UFCW union officials accountable for blatantly violating federal law to keep their forced dues gravy train going,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This case underscores the need for California to pass a Right to Work law making union affiliation and dues payments completely voluntary.”

Twenty-four states have Right to Work protections for employees. Public polling shows that nearly 80 percent of Americans and union members support the principle of voluntary unionism.

Houston, TX (February 24, 2015) – As the highly-publicized United Steelworker (USW) union-instigated strike against oil refineries continues, a Shell Oil Company refinery worker has filed a federal charge against a local Steelworker union for intimidating workers for refusing to abandon their jobs.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Joseph Smith of Friendswood, Texas filed the unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

At Smith’s plant in Deer Park, roughly 150 of the approximately 800-large workforce have continued to work during the strike, with many resigning their membership in the USW Local 13-1 union, as is their right under federal labor law and Texas’ popular Right to Work law. As the stream of workers resigning union membership and returning to work grows every day, it was reported that USW Local 13-1 union officials turned off their fax machine in an attempt to stop workers from exercising their right to resign and return to work.

Smith’s unfair labor practice charge alleges that USW Local 13-1 union officials are resorting to harassing, coercing, and threatening workers for refusing to abandon their jobs. Further, USW Local 13-1 union officials have allowed the union’s website and Facebook page to be used to communicate threats against workers who continue to work during the strike.

“USW union bosses are trying to punish workers who have the courage not to toe the union boss line and instead provide for their families,” said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work. “It is indefensible that workers who resign their union membership and continue to work to support their families in defiance of the USW boss-ordered strike are now being harassed and threatened for exercising their rights.”

In response to the high-profile strike, the National Right to Work Foundation recently issued a special legal notice to workers affected which lays out their rights under federal labor law: https://www.nrtw.org/en/special-legal-notice-usw-refinery-strike-02032015.

Indianapolis, IN (March 2, 2015) – A former seasonal Indianapolis-area UPS (NYSE: UPS) worker has settled with the company after filing unfair labor practice charges against UPS with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Avon resident Dale Thrasher filed the charges with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys after UPS refused to hire him in retaliation for declining to join the Teamsters union during the company’s orientation.

Thrasher has been a seasonal employee for UPS for the past several years. In November 2014, while attending a UPS driver orientation, company officials told all potential employees that they were required to join the union as a condition of employment.

Under Indiana’s popular Right to Work law, no worker can be required to join or pay fees to a union as a condition of employment. Under federal law, even workers in states without Right to Work protections have the unconditional right to refrain from union membership at any time and the right to refrain from union dues or fees during the first 30 days after employment.

When Thrasher said he was not joining the Teamsters union, a manager stated, “Here at UPS, you have to join the union.” Thrasher was then escorted off the property.

After Thrasher filed the charge for his unlawful discharge, he was rehired by UPS. Later, Thrasher was awarded compensation under the terms of the settlement for the time he was out of work.

“UPS management misled seasonal workers about their rights concerning union membership and dues payments under federal and state law,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This case underscores the importance Indiana’s Right to Work law has for workers who often face coercion from powerful union and company officials just for trying to exercise their rights.”

Foundation attorneys are assisting other UPS employees encountering difficulties in exercising their rights to refrain from Teamster union membership and dues payments. In Michigan, two UPS employees filed charges against the company and the union for stonewalling their attempts to exercise their rights under Michigan’s recently-enacted Right to Work law. In California, Foundation attorneys are assisting a former seasonal UPS employee who received a $0 paycheck after UPS illegally deducted, and the Teamster union hierarchy accepted, union dues and fees from his paycheck.

Washington, DC (March 2, 2015) – National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have filed a “friend of the Court” brief with the U.S. Supreme Court, urging it to hear a challenge to public-sector union officials’ power to force America’s civil servants into dues-paying ranks. Foundation attorneys filed the brief late Friday in support of the challenge, titled Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, brought by ten California teachers supported by the Center for Individual Rights.

Nearly 40 years ago, the Court ruled in the Foundation’s Abood v. Detroit Board of Education case that public-sector workers can be compelled to pay union fees as a condition of employment, but have a constitutional right to refrain from the part used for union political and members-only activities. Since then, National Right to Work Foundation-assisted workers have repeatedly challenged government union officials’ power to force public employees into union fee payments as a job condition.

In 2012, the Court suggested in the Right to Work Foundation-won Knox v. SEIU ruling that it was ready to reassess whether union officials’ forced dues powers, which it called “something of an anomaly,” violate workers’ First Amendment rights. Responding to that suggestion, many workers have filed lawsuits seeking to eliminate forced unionism in America. Several of those cases are Foundation-supported.

In Knox‘s wake, the Court ruled last year in another Foundation-won case that individuals who indirectly receive state subsidies based on their clientele cannot be forced to pay union fees. This victory in Harris v. Quinn, a class-action suit filed by several Foundation-assisted Illinois homecare providers, renders unconstitutional similar homecare unionization schemes in at least 13 other states, freeing roughly 500,000 providers from forced union dues nationwide. Moreover, in Harris, the Court criticized Abood‘s allowance of any forced fees for public employees as “questionable on several grounds.”

Foundation staff attorneys also are assisting nine airline fleet employees who are suing the Transport Workers Union of America to establish railroad and airline workers’ right to refrain from paying any union dues or fees. In December 2014, a federal district court judge granted the case class-action status. Underscoring the case’s significance, the Department of Justice then intervened in the case to defend the constitutionality of forced union fees.

In their Friedrichs brief, Foundation attorneys explain why the Court should take the case and strike down union officials’ forced dues powers, describing the lessons learned from many cases involving workers who have struggled to stop paying for union politics against their will.

“Union bosses have abused their extraordinary government-granted power to compel workers to fund their political activities unless workers object – a power granted no other private organization in our country – for far too long,” said Mark Mix, president of National Right to Work. “The First Amendment right of workers who refrain from union membership to automatically not pay union dues at all, especially for politics, is long overdue.”

Harrisburg, PA (March 2, 2015) – Last Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court effectively ended teacher unions’ stranglehold over public school teachers’ access to information about their workplace rights by affirming education activists’ request to acquire the names and home addresses of teachers across the state. National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys intervened in the case for Simon Campbell, president of Pennsylvanians for Union Reform, who sought the addresses to inform educators of their rights to refrain from union membership and opt out of paying dues for union politics.

In 2009, Campbell and Pennsylvanians for Union Reform submitted a request with the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records for the names and home addresses of over 200,000 Pennsylvania educators. Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) union lawyers responded by filing a lawsuit against the Office of Open Records to block the release of that information.

Campbell and his organization want to inform teachers of their rights to refrain from union membership and the payment of dues for union politics. Although Pennsylvania teachers can be forced to pay union dues as a condition of employment, they cannot be constitutionally required to join a union or pay dues for anything unrelated to workplace bargaining, such as union political activism.

Unfortunately, union officials are often reluctant to inform teachers of their rights to opt out. Campbell’s public information campaign is aimed at informing educators of their workplace rights to ensure that no teacher is unwittingly funding controversial union politics.

In a 5-2 decision, the Commonwealth Court ruled that Campbell was entitled to public school teachers’ names and home addresses under the state’s Right to Know law so long as the teachers were informed of his request and allowed to challenge the release of that information.

“This case is a victory for Pennsylvanians seeking to end Big Labor’s stranglehold on their state’s public school system,” said Patrick Semmens, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Education activists should be able to notify teachers of their rights to refrain from union membership and the payment of full union dues.”

“This victory is particularly vital because union officials often keep teachers in the dark about their workplace rights in order to keep filling their coffers with full union dues,” added Semmens.

Washington, DC (March 3, 2015) – Tomorrow morning, National Right to Work Foundation staff attorney Glenn Taubman will testify before the U.S. House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions on the dangers of the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) recently-enacted regulations that will further give union organizers the upper hand over independent-minded employees during unionization campaigns.

The Subcommittee, which is chaired by Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), will focus on a series of election rule changes designed to dramatically shorten the time individual workers have to share information with their coworkers about the effects of unionization. The regulations also require employers to hand over workers’ private information to union organizers, including their phone numbers and email addresses.

Taubman, a veteran Foundation staff attorney, will contend that dramatically shortening the period before unionization elections will hurt workers’ ability to cast an informed vote.

“[Federal labor law] is not about unions or employers: it is about whether the employee has information from both sides to make a free and informed choice,” wrote Taubman in testimony submitted to the Subcommittee prior to the hearing.

“The NLRB has once again resuscitated these draconian election rules designed to make unionization campaigns even more one-sided in an effort to boost union bosses’ forced dues ranks,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “The Obama Labor Board’s latest give-away to Big Labor will ambush unsuspecting workers into union ranks and encroaches on the privacy rights of employees who may oppose unionization in their workplace.”

Houston, TX (March 4, 2015) – In the wake of a recent federal charge filed against a local Steelworker union for intimidating Shell oil workers for refusing to abandon their jobs during the ongoing, highly-publicized United Steelworker (USW) union-instigated strike, three additional Houston-based oil refinery workers have filed a federal charge against the union.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, LyondellBasell Industries employees Yvonne Hendrix, Richard Jackson, and Kyle MacDonnell filed the unfair labor practice charge Monday with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The charge alleges that USW Local 13-227 union officials are resorting to harassing, coercing, and threatening workers for refusing to abandon their jobs. Over the course of several meetings, a USW Local 13-227 union official has threatened workers who continue to work during the strike with job termination and other retaliation. Further, USW Local 13-227 union officials have allowed a union Facebook page to be used to communicate threats against workers who continue to work during the strike, and against employees who are contemplating returning to work.

Last week, Foundation attorneys also assisted Joseph Smith of Friendswood, Texas in filing a federal charge against the USW Local 13-1 union on similar grounds. At Smith’s plant in Deer Park, roughly 150 of the approximately 800-large workforce have continued to work during the strike, with many resigning their membership in the USW Local 13-1 union, as is their right under federal labor law and Texas’ popular Right to Work law. As the stream of workers resigning union membership and returning to work grows every day, it was reported that USW Local 13-1 union officials turned off their fax machine in an attempt to stop workers from exercising their right to resign and return to work.

“As USW union bosses lose support from rank-and-file workers, they have resorted to threats and intimidation against workers who have decided not to toe the union boss line and instead provide for their families,” said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work. “It is indefensible that workers who resign their union membership and continue to work to support their families in defiance of the USW boss-ordered strike are now being harassed and threatened for exercising their rights.”

In response to the high-profile strike, the National Right to Work Foundation recently issued a special legal notice to workers affected which lays out their rights under federal labor law: https://www.nrtw.org/en/special-legal-notice-usw-refinery-strike-02032015.

Washington Family Child Care Providers File Federal Class-Action Lawsuit Challenging Forced Unionization

Home-based child care providers forced into SEIU ranks against their will

Olympia, WA (March 5, 2015) – Today, a group of family child care providers filed a federal class-action lawsuit challenging a 2006 law that authorizes the forcible unionization of Washington State’s 12,000 home-based child care providers.

With free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys in conjunction with the Freedom Foundation, Cindy Mentele and three other providers from around the state filed the suit against Governor Jay Inslee and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 925. The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

The child care providers’ lawsuit challenges the forced-unionism scheme on the grounds that it violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of free political expression and association. National Right to Work Foundation attorneys argue that such schemes violate providers’ First Amendment right to choose with whom they associate to petition the government because the government does not have the constitutional authority to force citizens to accept its handpicked political representative to lobby itself.

Click here to read the full release.

Worker Advocate Offers Legal Aid to Wisconsin Workers Seeking to Exercise Rights under New Right to Work Law

Foundation has long history of assisting workers seeking to refrain from union membership and dues payments

Washington, DC (March 10, 2015) – The National Right to Work Foundation is offering free legal aid to Wisconsin private-sector workers seeking to exercise their right under Wisconsin’s newly-enacted Right to Work law to refrain from union membership and union dues payments.

On Monday, Governor Scott Walker signed the nation’s newest Right to Work law, effective Wednesday, March 11, 2015. Under the law, workers will no longer be required to pay union dues as a condition of employment once the current union monopoly bargaining agreement in their workplace expires.

The National Right to Work Foundation has a long history of assisting employees seeking to exercise their Right to Work rights, most recently under Right to Work provisions enacted in Indiana and Michigan. Foundation attorneys also provided free legal representation to Wisconsin public-sector employees who sought to refrain from paying union dues or fees under Walker’s 2011 public-sector union reforms, commonly referred to as “Act 10.”

Click here to read the full release.