Scandal-ridden Detroit-based union was rejected by workers in 2014 vote

Chattanooga, Tenn. (April 15, 2019) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping workers protect their rights against compulsory union abuses, is offering free legal aid to employees at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga, Tennessee plant. The offer comes as United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials once again attempt to force workers at the plant into the union’s monopoly bargaining ranks.

UAW organizers attempted to unionize the facility’s workers five years ago, even demanding that the company install the union through a coercive union card check. However, when the VW workers eventually held a secret ballot vote they rejected UAW representation 712-626. Foundation staff attorneys provided free legal aid to VW workers both before and after the 2014 vote, including in defending the result of the vote after UAW lawyers moved to overturn the union’s defeat at the National Labor Relations Board.

Foundation staff attorneys also assisted VW workers in filing charges, citing improprieties in the UAW’s card check campaign in Chattanooga, which included union attempts to get workers to sign union authorization cards through coercion and misrepresentation and the UAW’s use of cards signed too long ago to be legally valid.

To guard against similar improprieties surrounding the proposed election now sought by union organizers, the Foundation is once again offering free legal aid to VW Chattanooga team members. Additionally, Foundation staff attorneys have created a special legal notice to the workers explaining their legal rights. That notice can be found on the Foundation’s website here.

Regarding UAW officials’ renewed push for union monopoly bargaining powers over the Volkswagen Chattanooga employees, National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix offered the following comments:

“UAW boss demands that both Volkswagen and the community be silent suggests they are scared that if workers get all the facts the workers will want nothing to do with this scandal-ridden union. Just days ago a federal judge labeled the UAW a ‘co-conspirator’ in a corruption and embezzlement scandal that has already resulted in numerous UAW officials being sent to prison for their role in illegally stealing workers’ training funds. The UAW’s desire to hold this vote as quickly as possible is apparently an attempt to make workers vote without the full facts and before the next embarrassing development in the union’s ever-expanding corruption scandal.”

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.”

Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, issued the following statement:

“No worker should ever be forced to join or pay dues to a union as a condition of their employment. That is why Wisconsin’s new Right to Work law is a great advance for worker freedom. Today, workers in Wisconsin finally have Right to Work protections.

“Unfortunately, union officials won’t give up their forced dues power easily. In addition to fighting Governor Walker in court, it won’t be surprising to see them make it difficult for workers to exercise their rights. Workers who try to exercise those rights may encounter stonewalling, intimidation, or harassment at the hands of union officials.

“In response, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a charitable organization that provides free legal assistance to employees nationwide, has created a special task force to defend workers seeking to exercise their Right to Work.

“Affected employees are encouraged to call the Foundation’s legal hotline toll-free at 1-800-336-3600 or contact the Foundation through its award-winning website at www.nrtw.org.”

The National Right to Work Foundation issued a special legal notice to Wisconsin workers, which can be viewed here: www.nrtw.org/WisconsinRTW.

Grand Rapids worker files NLRB charge against Teamsters, while Dearborn worker wins settlement with Ford Motor Company in ongoing case with UAW

Grand Rapids, MI (January 29, 2019) – A Michigan worker has filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys because his employer has continued unlawfully deducting union dues from his paycheck for union officials, even after he instructed the union to cease taking dues from his wages.

Parnell White, employed as a driver by Head Start of Kent County in Walker, Michigan, sent a letter to International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 406 in Grand Rapids, resigning his union membership and revoking his authorization for Teamsters union officials to deduct any further union membership dues.

The letter was received by union officials on November 27, 2018, during the union’s prescribed annual 15-day “window period” to revoke dues authorization. However, the union refused to acknowledge his letter, and dues continue to be taken out of White’s paycheck and received by union officials without his permission.

White’s charge alleges that the union officials’ actions violate his rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Those illegal actions are preventing him from enjoying the protections of Michigan’s Right to Work Law which prohibits union officials from forcing workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment.

This charge is similar to another ongoing case in Dearborn, Michigan. There Lloyd Stoner filed unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB against the United Auto Workers (UAW) union and his employer, the Ford Motor Company, with free legal assistance from Foundation staff attorneys.

UAW union officials refused to acknowledge Stoner’s March 2018 request to stop all deductions of union dues from his paycheck. Instead, his employer continued to take union dues from his hard-earned wages and continued sending the dues to the union.

Earlier this month, Stoner won a settlement with Ford Motor Company, although the charge against UAW is still outstanding. Along with other conditions, Ford will refund any outstanding deducted dues with interest to Stoner. The company also must post public notices to employees informing them of their rights to abstain from supporting union activities. The case against the UAW continues.

“Union officials have repeatedly refused to respect workers’ legal rights in the Great Lakes State, as demonstrated by the more than 100 cases workers have filed in Michigan since Right to Work was enacted there six years ago,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. “Rather than win the voluntary support of rank-and-file workers, in their efforts to stuff their pockets Michigan union bosses continue to systematically violate the rights of the very workers they claim to represent.”

Special Legal Notice informs workers that they have the right to remain on the job in spite of union boss ordered strikes

Springfield, VA (April 12, 2016) –The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation issued a special legal notice to the nearly 40,000 Verizon Communications Inc. workers who, according to reports, have been ordered by Communication Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union bosses to strike beginning April 13.

Mark Mix, President of the NRTW Foundation, issued the following statement:

"All too often union bosses initiate strikes to further their own power even if striking is not in the best interest of rank-and-file workers. Affected workers need to know that federal labor law is clear: any worker has the right to remain on the job during a strike if the business remains open. Further, all workers have the right to resign union membership and revoke their dues checkoff authorizations.

However, to protect their rights and prevent union officials from retaliating against them in the form of internal union discipline, workers must follow certain procedures. To help workers understand their workplace rights in a strike situation, the Foundation has posted a special notice for Verizon workers who have been ordered to strike.

Although workers have the right to continue working or return to work despite the union official-ordered strike, it is important that any worker who wishes to work during a strike resign his or her union membership before returning to work to avoid internal union discipline, including fines that have been as high as $50,000.

It is very important that affected workers understand their rights, and that they may turn to the Foundation for free legal aid if they encounter union boss resistance when trying to exercise those rights."

Union officials violated civil servants’ First Amendment rights under the Supreme Court’s Janus decision by deducting unauthorized forced fees

Concord, NH (January 18, 2019) – New Hampshire state workers filed a class action lawsuit in federal court with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys stating that union officials violated their constitutional rights by forcing them to pay unauthorized union fees as a condition of employment.

State employees Patrick Doughty and Randy Severance are suing the State Employees’ Association of New Hampshire (SEIU Local 1984) in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire.

The employees are asking the court to order union officials to refund the fees seized from their wages and those of countless other New Hampshire public employees who were subjected to the same unconstitutional mandatory union payments.

For years, the state forcibly deducted union fees from the two employees’ paychecks at the behest of union officials, even though neither was a member of SEIU Local 1984, nor had they agreed to pay any union fees. The lawsuit seeks refunds of all forced fees seized by the union going back at least three years as New Hampshire’s statute of limitations permits.

Taking union fees from Doughty and Severance without their explicit authorization violated their First Amendment rights, according to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME, a case argued and won by Foundation staff attorneys in 2018. The High Court ruled in Janus that coercing civil servants into financially subsidizing a union violates their rights to free speech and free association.

The ruling also made it clear that before union officials can collect any dues or fees from them, public employees must affirmatively opt in for such payments and must knowingly waive their First Amendment right not to pay. The Supreme Court’s Janus ruling also observed that public sector unions have been “on notice” since at least the 2012 Knox v. SEIU decision – also argued and won by Foundation staff attorneys – that forced union fees were likely incompatible with the First Amendment.

“For years, New Hampshire union bosses violated the First Amendment rights of the very public employees they claimed to represent,” said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. “Just as a bank robber caught red-handed would never be allowed to keep the proceeds of such criminal behavior, union officials must also return the money they’ve pilfered from the paychecks of hundreds of thousands of workers across the country in violation of the Constitution, the supreme law of the land.”

National Right to Work Foundation offers free legal aid to public sector employees ahead of court case that could end forced union fees

Washington, DC (October 24, 2017) – On September 28, the United States Supreme Court agreed to hear Janus v. AFSCME, which challenges mandatory union fees for public employees as a violation of the First Amendment. If the High Court agrees with Janus and his Foundation staff attorneys, the ruling would create a precedent protecting every public employee from being forced to subsidize union activities, including teachers, police officers and firefighters who currently pay mandatory dues or fees.

Mark Janus, an Illinois civil servant childcare worker, filed the case with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation and the Illinois-based Liberty Justice Center. Oral arguments in the case are expected to occur in January 2018 with a ruling most likely in June 2018. National Right to Work Foundation staff attorney William Messenger will argue for Janus at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Fearing a ruling against forced union dues, union officials nationwide are already responding with schemes designed to limit the ability of workers to utilize a ruling that they can no longer be required to pay union dues or fees. In some instances union organizers are pushing workers to sign cards that authorize dues payments in perpetuity “irrespective of union membership” unless the worker revokes the authorization in a union-determined two week period.

Although Foundation staff attorneys question the legality of such cards, the special legal notice reminds workers that signing such a card could limit their legal options later. Workers should be very cautious about signing anything from a union, no matter the reason union officials give. In many documented instances, especially during coercive union card check campaigns, union organizers have solicited signatures under misleading or false pretenses.

The full notice can be found online at: https://www.nrtw.org/Janus-Legal-Notice

Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation released the following statement regarding the notice and offer of free legal aid.

“Unfortunately, there is a long history of union officials refusing to accept limits on their forced dues powers. Rather than respect the decisions of workers who do not want to subsidize union activities, invariably after Foundation-won legal precedents or enactment of state Right to Work laws, union officials attempt to block the very workers they claim to represent from exercising their rights.

“Given that a Foundation win in the Janus case could free 5.2 million teachers and other public employees from forced union payments, it is not surprising to see that Big Labor is already working overtime to prevent workers from escaping forced dues. In response, Foundation staff attorneys have issued a special legal notice, warning workers against signing any new dues authorizations that could later limit their options. Every worker should know they can turn to the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation for free legal assistance and advice in their battle against Big Labor.”

If you are a nonmember of the Machinists union (IAM) or the Transportation Communications union (TCU) paying dues or “agency fees” to keep your job, you are entitled to claim a permanent reduction in your IAM or TCU dues. For calendar year 2011, the IAM admits that 30.62% of International union dues, 14.67% of district lodge dues and 12.24% of local lodge dues are being spent on political, ideological and other non-representational activities for which no employee can be required to pay. For TCU, the figures call for a reduction in calendar year 2011 of 30.62% of International union dues and 11.22% of TCU fees.

According to the "Notice" published in the Fall 2010 issue of the "IAM Journal," you can claim this permanent reduction by sending a letter postmarked during the month of November, 2010, to:

Warren L. Mart, General Secretary Treasurer
International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers
9000 Machinists Place
Upper Marlboro, MD. 20772-2687

Your letter can be short and simple, and needs only to state that you are a nonmember represented by the IAM or TCU, and that you object to paying for the unions’ political and other nonrepresentational activities. Include your name, home address, name of your employer, and the Local Lodge number of the union that represents your bargaining unit, if you know it.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In order for you to make this a permanent and continuing objection, your letter should include a line stating that "my objection is permanent and continuing in nature unless and until revoked by me." Under a recent NLRB decision in IAM and IAM Local Lodge 2777 (L-3 Communications Vertex Aerospace), 355 NLRB No. 174 (2010), the IAM is required to accept and process permanent and continuing objections, but you must specify this or your objection will be cancelled after one year and you will have to renew it next November.

Further note: If you are now a member of the IAM or TCU, you need to resign your membership in order to claim this dues reduction, since these unions do not allow members to receive the dues reduction. Click here for additional information on resigning and objecting.

If you have any questions or comments or need help concerning these matters, you may contact us via e-mail at legal@nrtw.org, or by phone at 1-800-336-3600.