15 Sep 2008

Shut Up! AFL-CIO Bosses Have the Gall to Talk About Voting Rights

Posted in Blog

Laboring Away at the Institute points out this flagrant piece of hypocrisy from the AFL-CIO blog:

We have learned painfully that in this third century of our republic, we cannot take our right to vote for granted. We have to defend it. There are people in our political system who think that voting is a privilege reserved for those like themselves, that it is fair and right to confuse and intimidate people into not voting.

So Big Labor thinks voting is a privilege and should be free from confusion and intimidation? Hmmm… Except when union organizers unrelentingly pressure or mislead workers into signing "union authorization cards" so that workers are denied access to the less-abusive secret ballot election process. Except when union bosses decide to spend forced dues on radical politics. The list goes on and on…

12 Sep 2008

Mediation Board’s “Card Check” Promotion Proposal Yanked… For Now

Posted in Blog

Last week we reported on an attempt by National Media Board (NMB) bureaucrats to reposition the agency as a promoter of coercive "card check" union organizing. The NMB is a federal bureaucracy whose purpose is supposedly to, among other things, “to promote… the effectuation of employee rights of self-organization where a representation dispute exists…” within the railroad and airline industries.

Today we learn via the Daily Labor Report that the NMB’s proposal has been yanked, at least for now. The move is a victory for the National Right to Work Foundation, which opposed the changes:

National Right to Work Staff Attorney Glenn M. Taubman submitted opposing comments… regarding the sneaky changes proposed by the National Mediation Board. As Taubman points out, not interfering with “card check” practices is essentially providing a rubber stamp for more union boss interference, influence and coercion.

Taubman makes a forceful argument using historical fact and case law that having rules that allow “card check” undermine employee free choice. Taubman concludes that “all MNB rules, regulations and policies should mandate the secret-ballot election process and entirely forbid ‘card checks.’”

The full document can be downloaded here.

12 Sep 2008

Feds to Prosecute UAW Union Bosses for Blocking Job Promotions for Non-union Members

Posted in News Releases

Winston-Salem, NC (September 12, 2008) – National Right to Work Foundation attorneys persuaded federal labor board officials to prosecute union officials and High Point-based Thomas Built Buses for cooperating to deny non-union workers an important employment certification and the corresponding pay increase.

United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 5287 is the monopoly bargaining agent of employees at Thomas Built. With free legal aid from attorneys at the Foundation, Terry Bean filed unfair labor practice charges against Thomas Built and UAW officials with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in Winston-Salem. Jamie Whitley filed similar charges against UAW Local 3520 and Cleveland-based Freightliner. Both companies are Daimler Trucks subsidiaries. The NLRB Regional Director’s investigation determined that the employees’ rights were violated.

Because North Carolina is a Right to Work state, UAW officials and the companies may not condition employment on the payment of any dues or fees to the union. Nonmembers like Bean and Whitley, however, must accept the union’s “representation”—whether or not they want it. It is illegal for the employees to represent themselves, but UAW officials have a legal duty to represent fairly all employees in the bargaining units, including nonmembers.

According to the NLRB’s complaint, the UAW Locals have acted in bad faith toward Bean, Whitley, and other similarly situated employees by making agreements with Thomas Built and Freightliner to deny nonmembers discriminatorily their “journeyman” certification and the corresponding pay increase but grant the certification and additional pay to union members with similar skill levels and classifications.

At Freightliner, a human resources manager told nonmember employees that they could only obtain journeyman certification and the corresponding pay increases by completing additional training requirements which do not apply to UAW members. Meanwhile, Local 5287 union officials told nonmember employees at Thomas Built that they could only achieve their rightfully earned employment certification and pay raises by joining the union.

As part of the remedy, the federal government is seeking back pay and other monetary awards with interest. A hearing is scheduled in Winston-Salem on October 27.

“These corrupt union locals have a long history of retaliation against non-union members, and it’s outrageous that management would itself participate in the illegality,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation.

11 Sep 2008

National Right to Work Foundation Launches Official Facebook Group

Posted in Blog

The National Right to Work Foundation has launched its official Facebook.com group. The group will help virally spread information about the Right to Work movement while keeping supporters up-to-date on the Foundation’s latest news and views. The latest press releases, blog posts, and YouTube videos can be found on the Facebook group’s profile page, while the discussion board allows group members talk about current issues relating to compulsory unionism.

The group has already garnered the support of over 80 members in just a few days and the Foundation will randomly select ten of the first 200 group members to receive a free book — either “Power Grab: How the National Education Association is Betraying Our Children” by G. Gregory Moo or “Free Choice for Workers: A History of the Right to Work Movement” by George C. Leef.

The Foundation’s Facebook group can be found by the group name “National Right to Work”, under the group categories Organizations – Non-Profit Organizations, or here.

Join the National Right to Work Foundation’s Facebook group today for your chance to win a copy of “Power Grab” or “Free Choice for Workers”!  Also, tell your friends!

11 Sep 2008

Employees Hit Union with Federal Charges for Its Illegal and Retaliatory Strike Fines

Posted in News Releases

Chicago, IL (September 11, 2008) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, nine Lechner and Sons employees have filed federal charges against an International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union local for exorbitant and illegal retaliatory fines levied against them.

The employees filed the unfair labor practice charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Teamsters Local Union 731. Union officials hit the employees with fines ranging from $13,946 to $40,000 each for working during the strike, despite the fact that none of the employees were truly voluntary members of the union during the strike. Union officials never informed any of the employees of their right to refrain from formal union membership and pay a reduced amount of forced dues. Instead, union officials deceived the employees into believing that formal, full-dues-paying union membership was a condition of employment.

In July 2006, union bosses ordered the employees, all truck drivers, to abandon their jobs during a so-called “sympathy strike” involving a different bargaining unit of workers at the plant where the strike occurred. After the strike ended in June 2007, union brass claimed the power to use fines to discipline non-striking employees.

The union hierarchy also claimed the power to discipline two employees for working during the strike even though they were not union members during the strike. The union bosses illegally threatened one employee that if he did not pay the fine, he would never again work in a “union-shop.” All of the employees have now resigned from the union.

“It is unconscionable for union bosses to mislead employees into union membership and then attempt to drive them into the poorhouse in vicious retaliation for working,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This disturbing, yet increasingly-used tactic of union intimidation is all too common in states like Illinois where there is no Right to Work law on the books.”

A Right to Work law secures the right of employees to decide for themselves whether or not to join or financially support a union. The NLRB Regional Director’s Office will now investigate the charges and decide whether to issue a formal complaint and prosecute the union.

9 Sep 2008

Federal Judge Smacks Down Utah’s Speech Police, Campaign Finance Law Voided by National Right to Work Foundation Suit

Posted in Blog

The U.S. District Court has pinned back the ears of the Utah political class, particularly Lieutenant Governor Herbert — slapping down key provisions of their unconstitutional campaign finance regulations. The law was exploited by political opponents to muzzle — even criminalize — certain speech.

When teachers in Utah began complaining to National Right to Work Foundation attorneys in early 2007 that union activists were swarming school property and pressuring them to sign petitions to overturn a school reform measure, the Foundation took quick action by running television and radio ads offering free legal aid.

That did not sit well with union activists who complained to the state’s speech regulators. The Lieutenant Governor and staff sent threatening letters to the Foundation demanding contributor information and other private information.

In response, the Foundation — with the invaluable help of the Madison Center for Free Speech — filed a lawsuit to challenge parts of Utah’s speech regulation laws as unconstitutional violations of the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution.

In a summary judgment ruling issued late yesterday, Federal Judge Dee Benson agreed with the National Right to Work Foundation. Responding to the ruling, Foundation Vice President Stefan Gleason issued the following statement:

Utah’s political authorities, especially Lieutenant Governor Herbert, went way overboard, and their unconstitutional law was deservedly smacked down by the U.S. District Court.

Our organization received numerous reports from employees about coercion and other illegal actions during a union petition drive in 2007. What we do is provide free legal aid and information. That’s all we do — it’s the Foundation’s mission, whether the union militants engaged in the coercion like it or not.

Just because a teacher union activist doesn’t like our public service legal-aid advertisements and files a complaint does not justify the state’s politicians coming in and harassing us with unconstitutional regulation.

The Utah law at issue is one of the most unconstitutionally overbroad and overvague of all campaign finance laws in the nation. The Judge recognized this and, not surprisingly, ruled in our favor.

Politicians can’t just come in and harass charities with draconian regulations that chill their voluntary, non-express-advocacy speech.

In a press release about the case James Bopp of the James Madison Center for Free Speech said:

This case was a perfect example of government overreaching into the very heart of the First Amendment… the Foundation was engaging in the very activities it always has, offering free legal aid to workers affected by coercive union activities, and because they happened to coincide with a ballot measure election, the state claimed that they were regulable.

This is a decisive victory for the First Amendment. Speech surrounding ballot measures is no less protected than speech about candidates, and regulation of political speech must be limited to express advocacy and organizations cannot be forced to register and report as a political committee unless they have the passage or defeat of a ballot measure as their major purpose.

The James Madison Center release can be downloaded here.

5 Sep 2008

Steelworkers Union President Continues Using Todd Palin’s Money to Bash His Wife

Posted in Blog

Two days ago, we posted an entry announcing our offer of free legal aid to Todd Palin if he wishes to stop funding ugly union attacks against his wife. It continues — the USW’s president recently unloaded on Governor Palin and her family at the union’s official blog:

At the press conference, Palin trotted him out, stressing his steelworker credentials. Here’s a good union man, she emphasized.

But his United Steelworker card doesn’t include an automatic auxiliary membership for her. Or her running mate at the top of the Republican ticket…

There is a clear disconnect between unions’ top bosses and rank-and-file workers. Union chief Leo Gerard — who, according to his biography, is a Canadian citizen and whose lavish salary is paid with the forced union dues of workers like Todd Palin — likes to berate people about who they should vote for in American elections.

Todd Palin’s unfortunate quandary highlights the injustices of forced unionism. If you are a unionized worker funding political speech you abhor, contact the National Right to Work Foundation or take a close look at the employee rights section of our web site. We provide free legal assistance to workers victimized by compulsory unionism. 

 

5 Sep 2008

After Carrying Union Lawyers’ Water, Bush’s Solicitor General is Humiliated by a Rare Supreme Court Rebuff

Posted in Blog

In an extremely rare move, the United States Supreme Court today has smacked down (.pdf) the U.S. Solicitor General after he tried to force his way into the October 6 oral arguments in the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s upcoming Locke v. Karass case involving forced union dues.

Bush’s SG (Paul Clement and now Gregory Garre) had, apparently at the behest of the U.S. Department of Labor, previously filed an amicus brief which supported organized labor’s legal position in key ways. In fact, SEIU union lawyers cited the government’s brief 14 times in their own brief. As Foundation attorneys pointed out in their response, the federal government had no business even getting involved in this case, because no federal statute or federal interest is involved.

It is extremely unusual for the Solicitor General (often referred to as the Tenth Justice) to be turned down when requesting oral argument time.

This is a well-deserved slap in the face for the Solicitor General’s office and the Solicitor of Labor. They should be spending their time energy enforcing employees’ rights, rather than trying to tear them down.

The Bush administration should now do the right thing and withdraw its outrageous legal brief immediately, as previously demanded (.pdf) by Foundation president Mark Mix.

4 Sep 2008

Sneak Attack: National Mediation Board Wants to Encourage Use of Coercive Card Check

Posted in Blog

In recent weeks, the National Mediation Board, a federal bureaucracy whose purpose is to, among other things, “to promote… the effectuation of employee rights of self-organization where a representation dispute exists…” within the railroad and airline industries, has proposed revisions to its Representational Manual that would open the floodgates to the use of coercive "card check."

While the NMB does “determine and certify collective bargaining representatives of employees” it also says that it functions to “ensure that the process occurs without interference, influence or coercion.” Despite this fact, the proposed NMB revisions are explicitly stated to not be “intended to interfere with or preclude either certification by card check…or voluntary recognition.” In other words, while its mission is to stop coercion, the NMB wants to modify its rules to encourage the coercive card check process for unionization.

National Right to Work Staff Attorney Glenn M. Taubman submitted opposing comments for the National Right to Work Committee and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation regarding the sneaky changes proposed by the National Mediation Board. As Taubman points out, not interfering with “card check” practices is essentially providing a rubber stamp for more union boss interference, influence and coercion.

Taubman makes a forceful argument using historical fact and case law that having rules that allow “card check” undermine employee free choice. Taubman concludes that “all MNB rules, regulations and policies should mandate the secret-ballot election process and entirely forbid ‘card checks.’”

The full document can be downloaded here.

4 Sep 2008

Todd Palin is Inadvertantly Bankrolling Union Smears and Efforts to Defeat His Wife

Posted in Blog

Many of you probably watched Sarah Palin accept the Republican Party’s Vice Presidential nomination last night. Ironically, her husband – a member of the United Steelworkers (USW) union – is actually funding efforts to smear and defeat her.

Today, National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix released an open letter (.pdf) to Todd Palin, informing him that he has the right to cut off the forced union dues being used to defeat a McCain-Palin ticket. Here’s the key quote:

We understand you are a member of the United Steelworkers of America union. While I’m sure you’re excited by your wife’s candidacy for high office, you may be discouraged to learn that the union dues you pay are already being used to defeat her.

When USW union bosses endorsed Barack Obama in June, they pledged to support his campaign using funds collected from union members. Steelworker dues will pay for a variety of political activities throughout the electoral season, and a significant portion of those activities will be aimed at defeating the McCain-Palin ticket.

In fact, at the USW’s 2008 convention, union officials adopted a resolution "vowing to play a key role in electing Obama," thus pledging workers’ dues to the effort to defeat your wife’s candidacy. Moreover, a top USW official whose paycheck you help fund is viciously ridiculing your wife’s candidacy on the Steelworkers’ website, calling Governor Palin’s selection "cynical" and claiming that by choosing your wife "McCain has clearly shown he lacks the judgment to be president."

Here is USW Legislative Director Holly Hart’s (the top USW official cited in the letter) response to Todd Palin’s wife’s candidacy:

Presumptive Republican Presidential Nominee John McCain, on his 72nd birthday, announced a selection that revealed the depths of his cynicism and the shallowness of his judgment – and his disregard for women’s intelligence.

After looking into a pool of vice presidential candidates deep with qualification, he plucked out the least experienced person.

While Alaska does not have a Right to Work law which would make payment of union dues strictly voluntary, under the Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent Communications Workers v. Beck, employees can stop paying forced union dues unrelated to collective bargaining, such as union electioneering.

Unfortunately, millions of other workers are unaware of these rights. Workers wanting to know how to exercise their rights may obtain information and free legal aid here.