Two Additional Heavy Equipment Operators Targeted By Operating Engineers Union Bosses File Federal Charges
Workers face unlawful IUOE union bosses’ retaliation measures for remaining employed with nonunion contractor
Lawrenceville, GA (January 9, 2026) – Two more employees of Dennis Taylor & Co., John Stroh and David Johnson, have filed federal charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 926. They now join their coworkers Michael Mitchem, Billy Johnson, and Chris Oaks who filed similar charges in September 2025 stating that IUOE union officials subjected them to illegal post-resignation discipline after the employees legally resigned their union memberships.
The workers’ charges were filed at the NLRB with free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys. The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the National Labor Relations Act and adjudicating disputes between employers, unions, and individual employees.
After Stroh and Johnson had resigned their memberships so they could continue working, IUOE union officials sent both workers a letter threatening them with fines for simply going to work with an employer that had been part of a “hiring hall” arrangement with the IUOE in the past.
The employees resigned their union membership after Dennis Taylor & Co. ended an arrangement requiring it to employ workers through an IUOE hiring hall. Legally, union-run hiring halls are supposed to be accessible to both union members and nonmembers seeking employment with employers that chose to make use of hiring halls to fill open roles. However, there is a long history of union officials using hiring halls to discriminate against nonmembers and coerce workers into formal union membership in order to attain employment.
IUOE union officials are allegedly pursuing illegal internal disciplinary measures against resigned former members months and years after they cut their ties with the union. Longstanding law says workers cannot face discipline for actions that occur after a worker has resigned from union membership.
Union bosses have a history of retaliating against workers with ruinous “disciplinary” fines, frequently for thousands to tens of thousands of dollars. In one recent case, Foundation staff attorneys successfully defended an Indiana electrician against an attempt by IBEW bosses to illegally levy a $1.3 million fine.
“It is unfortunate that it is necessary for more workers to file federal charges to defend themselves against IUOE union bosses’ thuggish intimidation tactics,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “They now join a growing number of their colleagues who are standing up to IUOE union officials’ illegal persecution.
“Like the vast majority of American workers, these employees simply want to work without any union affiliations, and it is outrageous that IUOE bosses are attempting to retaliate against them for making that simple choice,” added Mix.
Security Guards at Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant Demand Vote to Remove SPFPA Union Officials
Guards collect enough signatures to prompt federal labor board to administer union removal vote
Waynesboro, GA (January 8, 2026) – Security guards working for Southern Nuclear Operating Company have recently filed a petition asking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a vote to remove the Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA) union from their workplace. The guards, who filed the petition with assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, work at Plant Vogtle, a major nuclear power plant in Waynesboro, Georgia.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, a task that includes administering votes to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions in workplaces. Under NLRB rules, the Board should administer a decertification election if employees submit a petition in which a required number of workers in a work unit demand such an election. The Southern Nuclear Operating Company workers’ petition, which Dallas Howard submitted on behalf of his coworkers, met this threshold.
Security Guards Dissatisfied with Union ‘Representation’
Georgia is a Right to Work state, meaning that SPFPA officials cannot enforce union contracts that require workers to pay union dues or fees to keep their jobs. In non-Right to Work states, union bosses can have workers fired solely for refusing to financially support union officials’ activities.
However, in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work states, union officials can wield exclusive “representation” power over every employee in a workplace, even those that don’t want to be represented by the union. A successful decertification election would strip SPFPA union bosses of exclusive bargaining power over these 250 security guards, enabling the workers to negotiate for themselves.
SPFPA Union Officials Continue to Ignore Worker Interests
The Foundation has seen a history of unwanted “representation” by the SPFPA. In 2024, the Foundation provided free legal aid to security guards in Delaware after the SPFPA negotiated a contract behind their backs. In Las Vegas, security guards scored a settlement returning thousands of dollars in illegally-seized union dues after SPFPA officials failed to acknowledge many employees’ attempts to revoke their union memberships and cut off dues deductions.
“SPFPA union officials have repeatedly shown that they care little about workers they claim to ‘represent.’ They only care about maintaining control and power, and we are proud to assist these security guards as they try to restore their individual freedom,” said National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “While Georgia’s Right to Work law guards employees from the forced-dues demands of union officials, no worker should be forced under the control of union chiefs who are self-interested or simply aren’t doing a good job.”
Workers in North Carolina and California Ask Federal Labor Board to Nix Policy Letting Union Bosses Block Elections
With new quorum, National Labor Relations Board can eliminate “blocking charge” policy used to stop union removal elections
Washington, DC (January 6, 2026) – Workers in North Carolina and California are pushing the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to strike down its “blocking charge” policy, which is preventing them from removing unwanted union officials from their workplaces.
The workers, which include miners employed by The Quartz Corp. in Spruce Pine, NC, and Fresno, CA-based construction materials workers for CalPortland, both backed petitions in late 2025 asking the NLRB to administer votes to remove (or “decertify”) unions from their workplaces. Despite both petitions containing enough signatures to trigger union decertification elections, regional NLRB officials blocked both votes pursuant to the NLRB’s current blocking charge policy. This Biden-era policy permits union officials to stymie the union decertification process simply by filing unproven or unrelated “unfair labor practice” charges at the NLRB alleging employer misconduct.
Quartz Corp. employee Blake Davis and CalPortland worker Darrell Dunlap have both submitted Requests for Review to the NLRB in Washington, DC. These filings ask the Board to overturn the blocking charge policy and let their coworkers’ requested votes to remove the United Mine Workers and Teamsters unions (respectively) go forward. Davis and Dunlap are both receiving free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys. While vacancies on the NLRB have caused a backlog of cases, the U.S. Senate recently approved two new presidential appointees to the NLRB, meaning the Board now has a “quorum” and can hear these and other cases.
“Blocking Charge” Policy Inconsistent With Federal Labor Law
Dunlap’s Request for Review argues that the NLRB’s blocking charge policy directly conflicts with the text of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the federal law that the NLRB is responsible for enforcing. “Allowing a self-interested party to unilaterally block elections conflicts with [the NLRA], which requires the Board to hold an election” if employees submit a valid decertification petition, Dunlap’s brief says. “The blocking charge policy does not just contravene a clear Congressional command, but also offends the entire structure and purpose of the Act: employee free choice.”
Dunlap’s brief also maintains that the blocking charge rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) because it is arbitrary and fails to accomplish even its own stated goals. For example, the Request for Review says, NLRB bureaucrats impose the policy without considering key data showing the blocking charge policy has caused substantial delays in the union election process. Furthermore, the Board has argued that the rule is required to stop “coercive elections” from happening – even though its only mechanism for doing this is giving self-interested union bosses massive power to block elections or let them proceed.
Davis’ Request for Review makes many similar arguments, but adds that even if the Board were to uphold the blocking charge policy, regional NLRB officials egregiously misapplied it in his case. As his brief points out, even before he and his colleagues had submitted the union decertification petition, “the union filed a barrage of [unfair labor practice charges],” some of which were just speculation about employer activity aiding the union removal process. Even so, the regional NLRB appears to have blocked Davis and his coworkers’ requested election based on the mere quantity of the union’s charges, without explaining which allegation justified blocking. “By failing to distinguish between allegations that might warrant blocking and those that plainly would not, the Region reduced the rule to a numbers game,” the Request for Review says.
Trump NLRB Can Undo ‘Blocking Charge’ Policy and Empower Independent-Minded Workers
The National Right to Work Foundation has long advocated for the NLRB to return to the Election Protection Rule, which prevented many aspects of blocking charge-related gamesmanship before the Biden NLRB overturned it in 2022. Under the Election Protection Rule, allegations of misconduct related to a union decertification election could not block employees from exercising their right to vote, and in most cases permitted the immediate release of the vote tally as opposed to ordering ballots to be impounded during litigation over blocking charges.
“The NLRB’s ‘blocking charge’ policy serves only to let union officials stop the workers they claim to ‘represent’ from making a free choice about whether a union in their workplace is right for them,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Mr. Dunlap and Mr. Davis speak for countless workers across the country who are trapped under union boss dictates and forced-dues payments because of this rule.
“If President Trump’s new NLRB appointees are serious about putting American workers back in control of their own livelihoods, reversing this union boss power giveaway is an excellent place to start,” Mix added.
Wisconsin Funeral Home Workers Win Freedom from Teamsters Local 344
Teamsters abandon legal effort to block worker-backed union removal petition
Milwaukee, WI (December 31, 2025) – Employees of Krause Funeral Home & Cremation Services have freed themselves from the unwanted “representation” of Teamsters Local 344 union officials. The workers’ victory comes after Krause management withdrew recognition of the Teamsters based on an employee-backed petition showing that the union had lost majority support.
While Teamsters union bosses initially tried to block the ouster, claiming Krause committed an unfair labor practice by withdrawing recognition, union officials quickly backed down after National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys filed a Motion to Intervene with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on behalf of Krause employee Noah Watry.
In October, Watry submitted a “decertification petition” to the NLRB, in which he and his coworkers requested that the NLRB hold a vote to remove the Teamsters union. That petition contained more than enough signatures from employees in his work unit (which includes funeral directors, embalmers, and apprentices at Krause’s facilities in Milwaukee, Brookfield, and New Berlin) to trigger a decertification election under NLRB rules.
Watry shared a copy of this employee petition with Krause officials, who, following the NLRB’s Levitz Furniture Co. precedent, withdrew recognition from the union after seeing that the petition signers also requested that their employer withdraw recognition.
Teamsters union agents sought to block the employee petition and the employer’s withdrawal by filing unfair labor practice charges against Krause with the NLRB, alleging that it had withdrawn recognition illicitly. Even though Krause had followed NLRB case law in withdrawing, an NLRB Regional Office issued a complaint against the funeral home company. Watry defended the withdrawal that he and his coworkers had requested by filing a Motion to Intervene.
NLRB Region 18 eventually referred the case to an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), which set the stage for a hearing on the union’s legal claims. However, before the ALJ could move forward with the proceedings, Teamsters lawyers withdrew all charges against Krause, likely knowing that a hearing would reveal the meritless nature of union officials’ unfair labor practice charges. This effectively laid to rest the Teamsters presence in Krause’s facilities.
Wisconsin is one of 26 states with Right to Work safeguards that protect workers by making union affiliation and dues payment strictly voluntary. Yet, even in Right to Work states, union officials can impose exclusive bargaining control upon all workers in a workplace, even those who oppose the union.
“This case illustrates clearly the lengths that union officials will go in order to hold on to power in a workplace where workers would prefer to be independent,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “The Foundation is pleased to have been able to aid Mr. Watry and his colleagues in navigating the convoluted federal labor bureaucracy that places hardworking Americans like them at a disadvantage whenever they seek to exercise their rights.
“While this case worked out in Mr. Watry’s favor, it’s important to remember that he and his coworkers have the benefit of Right to Work and could not be forced to subsidize the same Teamsters union that was trying to trap them,” Mix added. “That is why every American deserves Right to Work protections, and even in states where Right to Work exists, it must be defended.”
Penske Leasing Workers Free Themselves from Teamsters’ ‘Representation’
Dallas area workers increasingly demanding individual freedom from unions
Dallas, TX (December 22, 2025) – Employees of Penske Truck Leasing’s facility in the Redbird neighborhood of Dallas have freed themselves from the control of Teamsters Local 745 union officials. A majority of workers, with assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, filed a petition requesting decertification of the local union with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on November 14, 2025.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, a task that includes administering votes to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions in workplaces. By law, the NLRB should administer a decertification election if employees submit a petition in which at least 30% of workers demand such an election (this petition far exceeded that threshold).
The decertification election was scheduled for December 18, but on the day of the election, union officials formally disclaimed interest in continuing as the workers’ “representative,” removing the need for an election. Teamsters bosses presumably knew they would have lost the vote overwhelmingly, and preemptively conceded defeat.
Texas Employees Free from Union’s Twin Coercive Powers
Texas is a Right to Work state, meaning that Teamsters union officials cannot enforce union contracts that require workers to pay union dues or fees to keep their jobs. In non-Right to Work states, union bosses can have workers fired solely for refusing to financially support union officials’ activities.
However, in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work states, union officials can wield exclusive “representation” power over every employee in a workplace, unless the union is decertified. The workers at Penske’s Redbird facility are now free of both of these powers granted to union bosses by the government.
“I support decertifying the Teamsters union because the union isn’t benefiting us the way it should,” commented Penske employee Epifanio Hernandez in early December, shortly after his petition for decertification was filed. “The union rules aren’t beneficial to everyone, and instead of helping us progress, they end up holding many of us back. We deserve the freedom to exercise our own rights, speak for ourselves, and make decisions that reflect what we actually want — not what the union decides for us.”
Teamsters Union Continues Streak of Decertification
In just the last year, Foundation staff attorneys have helped several groups of employees free themselves from unwanted union “representation” by the Teamsters. These include two other cases in Dallas, where both delivery drivers for Restaurant Technologies, Inc. and employees at FCC Environmental Services recently booted Teamsters Local 745 bosses from their workplaces, the same union as in this case.
Foundation staff attorneys have also noticed a marked rise in requests from workers seeking legal assistance in Teamsters decertification cases. Recent NLRB statistics also suggest no union faces more decertification petitions than the Teamsters.
“More and more, American workers across the country are deciding they are better off without Teamsters union bosses who prioritize their own interests over that of the workers they claim to ‘represent,’” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “We’re proud to support the growing number of workers engaged in the transportation and trucking industries who are demanding freedom from coercive unionism.”
Florida Freight Workers Send Teamsters Local 512 Union Bosses Packing
Joining growing number of workers across America that are freed from Teamsters’ so-called “representation”
Jacksonville, FL (December 16, 2025) – Torrence Rivera, an employee of Parsec, Inc, and his colleagues have freed themselves from the control of Teamsters Local 512 union bosses. Parsec withdrew recognition of the Teamsters after workers presented the company with a petition demonstrating a majority of the workers opposed the union and demanding Parsec cease recognition of the Teamsters as the workers’ monopoly bargaining “representative.”
Prior to the workers’ request for the employer to cease recognizing the Teamsters, Rivera filed a “decertification” petition signed by a majority of his 110-member work unit, seeking a secret ballot election to oust the Teamsters from their facility. Rivera’s decertification petition was filed at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
Rivera was able to petition his employer under the Right To Work Foundation-won Johnson Controls decision, which allows an employer to withdraw recognition from a union when presented with evidence of worker disaffection. Under federal law it is illegal for an employer to engage in monopoly bargaining with a union that lacks the support of a majority of workers in the bargaining unit.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, a task that includes administering votes to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions in workplaces. The election would have taken place among all full-time and regular part-time drivers, operators, groundmen, and leads, employed by Parsec at its Jacksonville, Florida, facility. Since the employees are now free of the union, the decertification election petition has been withdrawn.
Rivera and his fellow independent-minded workers are the latest in a growing number of workers that have sought relief from Teamsters representation. They are joined by others in Florida, Texas, Kentucky, and many more across the United States and its territories.
“We are encouraged that Rivera and his colleagues were able to exercise what are limited rights under federal labor law, and that they were able to eliminate Teamsters affiliation they oppose,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Though these workers were able to free themselves, too often employees find themselves trapped by NLRB-invented policies and fighting for months or even years just to hold a decertification election.
“With the Senate expected to confirm new NLRB members any day, we hope the incoming Board majority will take the true pro-worker position and move to end the numerous non-statutory policies that are currently used to undermine workers’ statutory right to remove unwanted union ‘representation,’” added Mix.
Legal Aid Lawyer Hits Union and NYLAG With Charges for Religious Discrimination and Labor Law Violations
Employer and union officials ignored request for religious accommodation and seized union dues in violation of lawyer’s Jewish faith
New York, NY (December 9, 2025) – Felicia Gaon, a legal aid attorney for the New York Legal Assistance Group (NYLAG), has just filed federal charges against both NYLAG and the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys (ALAA)/United Auto Workers (UAW) unions for religious discrimination, failure to accommodate her religion, and unlawful deductions of dues. Gaon maintains that both ALAA and NYLAG officials ignored her requests for a religious accommodation from the requirement that she pay union dues as a condition of her employment. Instead, they illegally seized money from her paycheck without her authorization. Gaon is receiving free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation.
Gaon filed parallel sets of charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law in the private sector, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which prosecutes discrimination in the workplace. Gaon notes in her charges that she is “an Orthodox Jew with strong familial and religious ties to the Nation and Land of Israel” and her faith “prevents [her] from joining or financially supporting a union that directly or indirectly supports the destruction and annihilation of the Jewish people and the Jewish state.” She reports to have never signed any union membership or dues-deduction-authorization documents since beginning work for NYLAG.
UAW Unions and NYLAG Have Obligations to Provide Religious Exemption to Union Dues Payment
New York lacks Right to Work protections for its private-sector employees, meaning that union officials can impose contract provisions that require workers to pay union fees or be fired. However, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 mandates that both union officials and employers provide reasonable accommodations to workers who submit sincere religious objections to financially supporting a labor union. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) also forbids seizing dues money directly from employees’ paychecks without their written authorization.
Gaon’s charges state that, shortly after NYLAG hired her, she submitted a letter to the treasurers of both the ALAA and the UAW “explain[ing] my religious faith and how it prevented me from joining or financially supporting the Unions…My letter also placed NYLAG on notice of my need for a religious accommodation.”
However, her charges note that after Gaon received her first paycheck, “[it] showed that NYLAG had deducted union dues and initiation fees.” Gaon subsequently retained Foundation staff attorneys and sent letters to officials of NYLAG, the UAW, and the ALAA, asking them to refund the money that they illegally seized from her paycheck and to stop all further deductions from her paycheck while her request for a religious accommodation is being processed.
NYLAG Management Illegally Seized Dues Again After Worker Made Valid Request
Aside from a token acknowledgment of her request, Gaon’s charges note that she has not received any other communication from her employer or a union official regarding the religious accommodation. And after she sent her letter, NYLAG once again deducted full union dues from her paycheck. By seizing dues illegally from her wages, Gaon’s charges argue, both union bosses and NYLAG management “discriminated against my religious beliefs” and “failed to accommodate my religion.” Union officials and her employer have never laid out any way in which she can be accommodated going forward.
“Ms. Gaon’s case shows the damaging reality of forced unionism: Union bosses often push extreme and divisive political agendas rather than focus on being constructive and effective in the workplace,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “This has horrendous results for religious workers, who often must obtain legal help to battle both union bosses and management to exercise what limited rights they have to disassociate from a union. Even then, current law forces them to be ‘represented’ by union bosses whose ideology they find abhorrent, demeaning, and unconscionable.
“Foundation attorneys have successfully defended many employees and graduate students against being forced to fund union bosses who push positions that violate their beliefs,” Mix added. “Workers should be free to say ‘no’ to funding union bosses they oppose for any reason, religious or otherwise, which is why every American deserves the protection of a Right to Work law.”
WV Quarry Workers Win Freedom from Unwanted Boilermakers Union
National Labor Board revokes union’s monopoly status after union officials disclaim interest due to overwhelming worker support for decertification
Harpers Ferry, WV (December 5, 2025) – Holcim Millville Quarry employees are officially free from International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB) Local DNCL union officials after the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Regional Director of Region 5 revoked the certification of the IBB as the workers monopoly “representative.”
The NLRB’s decision comes after IBB bosses “disclaimed interest” in the work unit, which followed a majority of workers signing a petition last month, asking the NLRB to hold a secret ballot election to “decertify” IBB union bosses as the workers exclusive representative. That petition was filed by quarry employee Curtis Mills with free legal representation from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.
The NLRB is the federal agency tasked with enforcing federal labor law and with adjudicating disputes between employers, unions, and individual workers.
Mills petition was signed by a majority of the approximately 36 workers in the bargaining unit. The election, close to being scheduled, would have taken place among all the drivers, loaders, maintenance, and laborers at the Millville Quarry Harpers Ferry, WV, facility.
IBB officials faced with the reality that most workers wanted nothing to do with the union, decided to avoid the embarrassment of a formal vote by a majority of workers against the union, and disclaimed their status as the workers’ so-called representative.
“For the first time in a long time we are thrilled with the union’s decision,” commented Mills. “We are glad to have been able to reclaim our workplace.”
West Virginia is one of 26 states with Right to Work protections that ensure union affiliation and dues payment are fully voluntary. However, even in Right to Work states, union officials can impose exclusive bargaining control upon all workers within a workplace, even those who oppose the union.
“The Foundation is pleased to have played a part in helping Mills and his colleagues achieve their desired outcome in so short a time,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Unfortunately, the experience of many other independent-minded workers is less streamlined, as the combination of union legal tactics and an NLRB that has created numerous non-statutory rules to undermine decertification efforts makes it frequently difficult to even get an election scheduled.
“Workers facing such circumstances should know the Foundation is here to assist them, because no worker should be trapped in union boss ‘representation’ they oppose,” added Mix.
