Citizen Activist Seeks to Bring Union Boss Lobbying Disclosure Battle to Michigan Supreme Court

Teacher union bosses hiding taxpayer-funded political communications from public

Detroit, MI (January 28, 2010) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a citizen activist announced today he will file an appeal with the Michigan Supreme Court in an ongoing public disclosure battle over the use of school district e-mail systems for union political activities.

In 2007, political activist Chetly Zarko from DeWitt – invoking Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) disclosure law – requested e-mail communications among Howell Education Association (HEA) union brass regarding heated collective bargaining negotiations between the Howell Public School (HPS) system and union officials. The HEA union is a local affiliate of the Michigan Education Association and National Education Association unions.

At the time of the collective bargaining conflict, Zarko suspected union boss lobbying was occurring at taxpayer expense. Zarko is seeking the release of approximately 5,500 e-mails between the union hierarchy and teachers.

Click here to read the full release.

Philadelphia, PA (January 28, 2010) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a Philadelphia nurse has filed federal charges challenging an attempt by her employer and outside union organizers to ignore the results of a workplace election rejecting unionization.

Joanne K. McGovern is a registered nurse employed by Hahnemann University Hospital, a medical facility owned and operated by Tenet Healthcare Corporation. McGovern and her hospital coworkers recently endured a prolonged organizing drive, during which union operatives from the California Nurses Association (CNA) union and its local affiliate, the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP) union, attempted to impose unionization on hospital employees.

Despite a backroom deal between the CNA union and Tenet that suppressed employee opposition to unionization and granted union organizers preferential access to hospital facilities, the nurses voted against the CNA in June 2009.

Undeterred by this setback, union lawyers have turned to private arbitration and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to block the certification of this result, claiming that CNA organizers were intimidated during the organizing drive.

Although the NLRB has yet to rule on these claims or even hold a hearing, hospital and union officials recently agreed to disregard the election results anyway. In November 2009, the CNA union and the hospital announced plans for a new unionization election despite the fact that the NLRB has not invalidated the results of the last workplace election.

McGovern’s charges challenge the legality of this move, arguing that workers who have already voted should not be subjected to repeated elections until they submit to unionization. The charges will now be investigated by the NLRB.

“After getting roundly rejected by Hahnemann nurses, union officials just won’t take no for an answer,” said Patrick Semmens, director of legal information for the National Right to Work Foundation. “By attempting to stifle hospital workers’ votes against unionization, CNA bosses have shown that their real goal is pushing nurses into the union’s forced dues-paying ranks, like it or not.”

Seattle, WA (February 2, 2010) – The National Labor Relation Board’s (NLRB) regional office in Seattle has dismissed as unwarranted and unsupported frivolous charges filed by Teamsters union officials against the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

Teamsters Local 117 union bosses filed the unfair labor practice charges against the Foundation in a desperate attempt to stall an employee vote at Alan Ritchey, Inc. which would allow the employees to rescind the union hierarchy’s forced dues privileges – which requires employees to pay union dues and fees as a condition of keeping their jobs.

After reviewing the charges, the NLRB regional director in Seattle outright rejected the charges as unwarranted and unsupported.

In November, Alan Ritchey employees Gayle May and Patricia Allen contacted the Foundation after union bosses circulated a letter threatening that they would be subject to discharge in 2-3 days unless they notified the union whether their status was as members or objecting nonmembers who do not wish to pay for the union’s activities such as political activism, legislative lobbying and union social events. However, May, Allen and other employees were already on record with the union as being nonmember objectors. Thus, it appeared that union officials were simply trying to intimidate them.

With help from Foundation attorneys, May and Allen – acting for dozens of other similarly-situated employees of the mail transportation equipment repair and service center – filed unfair labor practice charges against Local 117 in November.

About the same time, other Alan Ritchey employees filed a petition seeking a deauthorization election, which could void the forced union dues clause in the contract with their employer. In a move seemingly designed to prevent the election, Local 117 union bosses filed the charges against the Foundation, which blocked the employee vote.

“With Teamsters Local 117 union bosses focusing their energies on harassing independent-minded employees who exercise their rights, it’s little wonder these employees want to strip the union bosses of their forced dues privileges,” said Patrick Semmens, Legal Information Director of the National Right to Work Foundation.

Foundation attorneys won private-sector employees the right to refrain from funding non-bargaining union boss activities in the 1988 Communications Workers of America v. Beck U.S. Supreme Court decision. However, only through the protection of a Right to Work law is an employee’s decision whether to support a union with their hard-earned money fully voluntary.

Federal Labor Board Rejects Frivolous Teamster Union Charges Against National Right to Work Foundation

Fearing a lack of support, union bosses attempt to abuse process to prevent employee election

Seattle, WA (February 2, 2010) – The National Labor Relation Board’s (NLRB) regional office in Seattle has dismissed as unwarranted and unsupported frivolous charges filed by Teamsters union officials against the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

Teamsters Local 117 union bosses filed the unfair labor practice charges against the Foundation in a desperate attempt to stall an employee vote at Alan Ritchey, Inc. which would allow the employees to rescind the union hierarchy’s forced dues privileges – which requires employees to pay union dues and fees as a condition of keeping their jobs.

After reviewing the charges, the NLRB regional director in Seattle outright rejected the charges as unwarranted and unsupported.

Click here to read the full release.

Hudson, OH (February 3, 2010) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, First Student workers in Hudson have successfully stripped Ohio Association of Public School Employees (OAPSE) Local 791 union officials of their power to force school bus drivers to pay union dues as a condition of employment.

After repeated clashes with OAPSE union brass, Janet Barlow – a driver at First Student – circulated a workplace petition to strip the union of its power to collect forced dues from First Student employees. After collecting signatures from her coworkers, Barlow submitted the petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which then supervised a January 26 election to determine if union officials would be stripped of their extraordinary power to extract forced dues from First Student drivers.

After reviewing the results, the NLRB announced that 41 workers voted in favor of revoking the union’s dues-collecting privileges while only 19 voted against. As a result, OASPE Local 781 union officials are no longer legally allowed to demand mandatory dues payments from First Student employees.

Deauthorization elections aimed at ending union bosses’ dues-collecting privileges are an uphill battle for independent-minded workers. Incumbent union officials enjoy the benefits of workplace access and often company support, while employees must first collect signatures from over 30 percent of their coworkers to trigger a deauthorization vote. Moreover, employees who abstain from voting or miss the election are counted as votes in favor of maintaining a union’s forced dues powers. Although the deck was stacked in favor of forced unionism, Barlow and her coworkers successfully rescinded Local 781’s dues-collecting powers.

The result follows a prolonged legal battle between union officials and Barlow, whose previous attempt to opt out of union dues for politics met with resistance from OAPSE bosses. Prompted by these setbacks, Barlow circulated a deauthorization petition to remove the union’s forced dues privileges.

Barlow previously filed charges with the NLRB against OAPSE officials for discriminating against nonunion workers and failing to notify First Student employees of their rights to resign from union membership. Barlow’s original allegations are still being investigated by the NLRB, but NLRB officials have notified Foundation attorneys that they’ve found merit to Barlow’s charges.

“After enduring workplace discrimination at the hands of OAPSE officials, Janet Barlow and her colleagues finally said enough was enough and removed union bosses’ dues-collecting privileges,” said Patrick Semmens, legal information director of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Although these bus drivers successfully curtailed compulsory unionism in their workplace, employees should not be forced to undertake such an arduous campaign just to get rid of union bosses’ forced dues powers.”

“The real solution is to stop forced unionism before it starts by giving employees the protection of a Right to Work law that makes union membership and dues payment fully voluntary,” concluded Semmens.

Workers Prevail in Battle for Secret Ballot Vote After Corrupt Card Check Unionization Scheme

Communications union bosses collude with AT&T to lock local group into union ranks without majority support

Seattle, WA (February 11, 2010) – A group of AT&T Mobility employees have won a legal victory countering union officials’ domination of their workplace using a coercive card check unionization campaign that occurred after union organizers colluded with AT&T officials to sweep the workers into union ranks in exchange for contract concessions.

Per a so-called “neutrality agreement” between the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union hierarchy and AT&T, workers in a 140-employee bargaining unit (which consists of various locations across the state of Washington) were “card checked” into the CWA union’s regional monopoly bargaining unit which consists of thousands of employees.

In exchange for AT&T foisting CWA monopoly bargaining on workers through a card check organizing drive, union officials agreed to subject employees to a contract which results in lost benefits for the workers, including promotion opportunities. Moreover, the employees’ inclusion in the larger regional unit would make it virtually impossible for them to later organize to remove the union officials’ monopoly bargaining privileges.

However, using precedent won by Right to Work Foundation attorneys in the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) landmark 2007 decision in Dana Corporation, Joseph Simpson of Redmond and his colleagues filed a decertification petition demanding a secret ballot election to remove the unwanted union from their workplace.

Click here to read the full release.

Employee Hits AT&T/Union Officials with Federal Labor Charges Attacking Scheme to Unionize Workers

Fearing lack of support, communications union bosses are attempting to rig election employees initiated to throw out unwanted union

Seattle, WA (February 24, 2010) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, a Redmond-based AT&T Mobility employee filed federal charges after union organizers illegally colluded with company officials to sweep AT&T workers across the state into union ranks in exchange for contract concessions.

Per a so-called “neutrality agreement” between the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union hierarchy and AT&T, workers in a 140-employee bargaining unit (which consists of various locations across the state of Washington) had CWA union monopoly bargaining foisted upon them after a card-check forced unionism campaign. In exchange, union officials agreed with AT&T to subject the employees to a previously negotiated contract which results in lost benefits and perks for the workers.

As part of the agreement, the workers would be swept into the CWA union’s regional monopoly bargaining unit which consists of thousands of employees – making it virtually impossible for them to later organize to remove the union officials’ monopoly bargaining privileges.

Greg Hartmann of Auburn is challenging the pre-recognition negotiations because he and his colleagues were not even aware of the terms either of the neutrality agreement or the employees’ new contract until after the card-check campaign.

Click here to read the full release.

Washington, DC (March 5, 2010) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the National Mediation Board (NMB) seeking records of any communication between two of its three members – both former union officials – and any union official or lobbyist concerning a dramatic rule change proposal on how a union is imposed on non-union railway and airline industry workers.

The NMB, the federal agency tasked with mediating labor disputes within the railroad and airline industries, is poised to roll back 75 years of precedent and change labor union organizing regulations, greasing the skids for union organizers to lock industry workers into union ranks. The new procedure would stack the deck in favor of unionization by granting a union monopoly bargaining power over workers if the union “wins” an election, no matter how few eligible workers actually participate in the vote. In fact, this means that a small bloc of workers could force union boss “representation” on the whole group as opposed to a true majority of all workers deciding for themselves.

Harry Hoglander and Linda Puchala are former union officials with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) unions, respectively. Both unions are a major part of an American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) union-led coalition urging the NMB to discard its longstanding policy. President Barack Obama’s appointment of Puchala in 2009 solidified a pro-forced unionism majority on the NMB.

The members voted 2-1 to preliminarily support the controversial change, and NMB Chair Elizabeth Dougherty has criticized the hasty actions of the two members.

In January, Foundation attorneys filed comments and testified with the NMB opposing the rule change and filed a motion seeking the recusal of Hoglander and Puchala as a conflict of interest.

“President Obama repeatedly promised a new era of openness, transparency, and ethics but has repeatedly violated that pledge when it comes to paying off Organized Labor bosses,” said Patrick Semmens, legal information director of the National Right to Work Foundation. “National Mediation Board members should comply with the letter and spirit of that policy by not making rulings that so directly benefit their recent associates, ALPA and AFA union officials, in their quest to force more workers into union ranks.”

The FOIA request seeks correspondence, transcripts or notes of meetings, reports or handouts, proposals, speeches, phone logs, or other writings or recordings between Hoglander or Puchala and union officials concerning the proposed change.

Pittsburgh, PA (March 12, 2009) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, Pittsburgh Precision Turned Products employees recently overcame frivolous union boss blocking charges to eject the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 623 union.

In November 2009, Kathleen Lobodinsky, an employee at Precision Turned Products, solicited signatures from coworkers to hold an election to eject Local 623 from their workplace. Instead of defending their presence to employees, union officials responded by filing spurious blocking charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging that company officials unlawfully assisted Lobodinsky’s efforts to collect employee signatures.

Although Right to Work attorneys helped Lobodinsky assemble evidence to prove she had acted without employer support, union officials withdrew their allegations before the NLRB could dismiss the case. Lobodinsky went on to collect enough signatures to trigger a union decertification election, which took place on February 24, 2010. After supervising the election, the NLRB reported that Precision Turned Products employees voted against the union.

On March 11, the NLRB issued a final certification order, confirming that the union is no longer the monopoly bargaining agent for Pittsburgh Precision Turned Products.

Workers typically face serious obstacles to ejecting an unwanted union. Decertification elections can only take place towards the end of a union’s contract, which can last up to three years, and employees must collect signatures from over one third of the bargaining unit to trigger a vote on the union’s presence. Moreover, union lawyers often resort to spurious legal tactics to delay voting or to deter employees from going through with a decertification election.

Despite these obstacles, Lobodinsky and her coworkers successfully removed Local 623 from their workplace. As a result, Precision Turned Products employees are no longer forced to accept union “representation” and can now bargain individually with the company over terms and conditions of their employment.

“Instead of defending their presence in the workplace, union bosses often resort to frivolous legal schemes to stop employees from voting out an unwanted union,” said Patrick Semmens, Legal Information Director of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Fortunately, Kathleen Lobodinsky and her coworkers weren’t intimidated by the union’s legal maneuverings and prevailed in their efforts to eject unwanted United Electrical bosses from their workplace.”

Escondido, CA (March 22, 2010) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a former Vons Grocery employee has filed unfair labor practice charges against United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 135 union officials for misleading him into signing a union card, illegally seizing full union dues from his paycheck, and eventually ordering him fired for attempting to exercise his rights.

In September 2007, Nestor Mendez was told by union officials that he could opt out of union membership and full dues payments by filling out a union membership card and writing “Beck Decision” on top of it. Mendez followed these instructions and wrote a letter in January 2008 informing UFCW officials of his decision not to become a union member.

Under the Foundation-won Supreme Court decision Communications Workers v. Beck, employees can only be forced to pay union dues related to workplace bargaining as a condition of employment. Moreover, union officials are obligated to provide employees with a breakdown of union expenditures to determine how much objecting employees must pay.

Despite his repeated objections, UFCW operatives demanded Mendez pay full union dues, a union initiation fee, and a membership reinstatement fee in the fall of 2009. UFCW officials also failed to provide Mendez with an independent breakdown of union finances.

Although Mendez paid the amount he believed he was required, union officials refused to honor his check and continued to insist he pay the full amount. At union officials’ insistence, Mendez was fired for refusing to pay union membership dues on December 14, 2009.

Mendez’s unfair labor practice charges seek financial compensation for lost wages and reinstatement of his position at Vons Grocery. The charges will now be investigated by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

“Union officials have to resort to trickery and deception when they can’t persuade workers to join a union of their own free will,” said Patrick Semmens, legal information director of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. “If union organizers will go this far to coerce a worker into signing a union card to collect a few more dollars, we can only imagine how widespread union intimidation and abuse are during a card check drive when dues from an entire workplace are at stake.”

Under the proposed Card Check Forced Unionism Bill pending in Congress, the secret ballot for unionization elections would be replaced by a system that allows union organizers to personally solicit union authorization cards from employees similar to the union membership card UFCW operatives tricked Mendez into signing.