Florida Wells Fargo Workers Successfully Remove CWA Union
Spring Hill bank branch employees union-free as CWA union bosses decline to face federally supervised vote of employees
Spring Hill, FL (March 30, 2026) – Employees at the Lakewood Plaza location of Wells Fargo in Spring Hill, FL, have successfully forced Communications Workers of America (CWA) union officials out of power at their workplace. The effort to remove the union kicked off earlier this month, when bank employee Virginia Fenton filed a petition asking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a union decertification vote at the Spring Hill Wells Fargo branch. Fenton filed the petition with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing private sector labor law, a task that includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Fenton’s petition received more than the required threshold of her coworkers’ signatures to trigger the process for the NLRB to schedule a decertification vote. On March 12, the NLRB approved an agreement scheduling the election for March 30 among “[a]ll full-time and regular part-time tellers, personal bankers, relationship bankers, and premier bankers.”
However, shortly before the election, CWA union officials – who operate under the pseudonym “Wells Fargo Workers United” [sic] – announced they were no longer seeking to remain in power at the bank branch, presumably to avoid a lopsided loss at the ballot box. On March 27, the NLRB acknowledged the CWA union’s “disclaimer of interest,” leaving the Spring Hill Wells Fargo employees officially free of the unwanted union.
Florida is a Right to Work state, meaning union officials cannot impose contract provisions that require workers to pay money to the union as a condition of getting or keeping a job. In contrast, in non-Right to Work states, union officials can have workers fired for refusing to pay union dues or fees. However, in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work states, union bosses can still impose one-size-fits-all contracts over all employees in a workplace, even those who are opposed to the union’s presence. Following the union’s disclaimer, Spring Hill Wells Fargo employees are now free of the CWA’s exclusive representation powers.
Wells Fargo Workers Across Country Seeking Escape From CWA Union Ranks
The Spring Hill bankers are the second group of Wells Fargo employees to successfully boot out CWA officials, following union officials’ aggressive campaign in recent years to unionize the bank. Apex, NC, Wells Fargo employees voted out the union in a landslide earlier this month. Foundation staff attorneys are currently assisting Casper, WY, Wells Fargo workers in obtaining another decertification vote against the union.
“CWA union bosses’ campaign at Wells Fargo started with great fanfare, but now, when faced with the reality of the CWA’s so-called ‘representation,’ employees across the country seem to be coming to the conclusion that they would be better off without the union,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Wells Fargo workers should not hesitate to contact Foundation attorneys for free legal aid in seeking a union decertification vote if they feel CWA union officials have been incompetent, unresponsive, or just haven’t served their interests.
“More broadly, the NLRB should push forward on reforming labor regulations to ensure that workers can freely exercise their right to vote out union officials who act opportunistically or coercively,” Mix added.
Overwhelming Majority of Wyoming Wells Fargo Bank Branch Employees Back Petition for Vote to Remove CWA Union Bosses
Wells Fargo employees across the country moving to terminate union affiliation
Casper, WY (March 25, 2026) – Employees at Wells Fargo’s Casper branch have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking a “decertification” election to remove the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union bosses from their workplace. The workers’ efforts are spearheaded by Megan Wright, who filed the petition with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, a task that includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Wright’s petition was signed by the vast majority of her Wells Fargo coworkers, easily surpassing the required threshold of signatures needed for the NLRB to schedule a decertification vote.
The workers’ petition requests the NLRB schedule a secret ballot election among all full-time and regular part-time tellers, personal bankers, relationship bankers, and branch operations coordinators employed by Wells Fargo at a Casper, WY branch. The workers will vote on whether to remove the so-called “Wells Fargo Workers United” union (an affiliate of the CWA union).
“CWA union officials have not made our workplace better and we are confident we would be better off without them,” stated Wright. “At this point we simply want an election so we can vote to take back our branch.”
Wyoming is one of the 26 states with Right to Work protections that safeguard workers from being forced to pay union dues or fees under threat of termination. However, even under Right to Work, union bosses can impose monopoly bargaining control over all employees in a workplace, including those who are opposed to the union’s representation. A successful decertification would end union officials’ monopoly bargaining powers.
The Casper, WY workers’ decertification effort comes almost a week after the Foundation assisted Wells Fargo employees in Spring Hill, FL, file a petition to remove CWA from their branch. The NLRB has scheduled the Spring Hill election for March 30. In yet another decertification effort, last week Wells Fargo employees in Apex, NC, overwhelmingly voted to remove the CWA union from their branch.
“Despite the headlines generated by CWA’s campaign to gain control over Wells Fargo employees, it is increasingly becoming clear to rank-and-file bank employees that they are better off without the CWA’s so-called ‘representation,’” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “The Foundation is proud to be a resource for Ms. Wright and other Wells Fargo employees seeking to exercise their right to free themselves from unwanted unions.
“These Wells Fargo employees are just the latest in an ongoing trend, with NLRB statistics showing a nearly 40% rise in filed decertification petitions over the past five years,” Mix added.
Bradenton Wells Fargo Employees Latest to Force Out CWA Union
Wells Fargo workers across country are seeking to escape from the CWA union, at least four branches already free
Bradenton, FL (May 1, 2026) – Following their request to a federal labor board for a vote to remove the union, employees at the Beachway Plaza Wells Fargo branch have successfully forced Communications Workers of America (CWA) union bosses out of their workplace. Wells Fargo employee Amanda Seda kicked off the union removal effort by submitting a decertification petition backed by her colleagues to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on April 20. Seda filed the petition with free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing private sector labor law, a task that includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Seda’s petition received more than the required threshold of her coworkers’ signatures to trigger the process for the NLRB to schedule a decertification vote. The petition requested that the NLRB hold the vote on May 14 among “[f]ull-time & regular part-time personal bankers, branch operations coordinators, [and] tellers.”
Only about a week after Seda filed her petition, CWA union officials announced they were “disclaiming interest” in continuing their control over the bank branch. In other words, CWA agents announced they were leaving the Wells Fargo location, likely to avoid an embarrassing lopsided loss at the ballot box.
Florida is a Right to Work state, meaning state law forbids union bosses from enforcing contracts that require workers to pay money to the union to keep their jobs. In contrast, in states that lack Right to Work protections, union bosses can get workers fired for refusing to pay union dues or fees. However, in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work states, exclusive “representation” privileges in federal labor law grant union officials the power to dictate terms of employment for every employee in a workplace, regardless of whether they voted for or support the union.
Wells Fargo Workers Across America Seeking Escape From CWA Union Ranks
Roughly four years after CWA union officials began a high-profile campaign to unionize Wells Fargo under the moniker “Wells Fargo Workers United,” employee opposition to the union is rising. Foundation staff attorneys are assisting multiple groups of workers across the country with efforts to oust CWA union officials, and some of these efforts have already seen success: After petitioning for union decertification elections, Foundation-backed Wells Fargo employees in Spring Hill, Florida; Seaside Park, New Jersey; and now Bradenton, Florida, are free of the CWA union’s exclusive “representation.” Wells Fargo workers in Apex, North Carolina, also voted out CWA union officials in March.
In addition to the case at Seda’s workplace, the Foundation’s cases for Wells Fargo workers at the Spring Hill and Seaside Park bank branches involved union bosses submitting “disclaimers of interest” shortly after workers began seeking a vote to scrap the union. However, CWA union officials have filed “blocking charges” in an attempt to prevent Foundation-supported Wells Fargo workers in Casper, Wyoming, from having their requested decertification vote. Blocking charges are unproven allegations of employer misconduct that union officials frequently file to stop decertification elections from moving forward. NLRB bureaucrats will often delay decertification elections for months or even years on the basis of union blocking charges, without ever ordering a hearing into the charges’ veracity or connection to worker discontent with the union.
“Wells Fargo employees nationwide are beginning to question how well CWA union officials are actually serving their interests, and many are choosing to exercise their right to vote out unions they oppose,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “While CWA bosses have quietly left some branches rather than face a vote of the employees they claim to ‘represent,’ at other branches they’re using legal maneuvering to try to disenfranchise workers by blocking elections from occurring.
“While Wells Fargo workers should not hesitate to reach out to Foundation attorneys for assistance in seeking to decertify unwanted CWA unions, the Trump NLRB should also seek to reform federal regulations that let union bosses trap workers in union ranks against their will,” Mix added.
New Jersey Wells Fargo Bank Employees Formally Oust CWA Union Bosses
Branch is the latest in growing movement by Wells Fargo employees endeavoring to end union affiliation
Seaside Park, NJ (April 27, 2026) – Employees at Wells Fargo’s Seaside Park branch have successfully removed Communications Workers of America (CWA) union bosses from their workplace. The effort to remove the union was initiated when bank employee Lisa Sholtis filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking a “decertification” election to remove CWA union officials from the Seaside Park Wells Fargo location. Sholtis filed the petition for her coworkers with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, a task that includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Sholtis’ petition was signed by enough of her Wells Fargo coworkers to prompt the NLRB to schedule a union decertification vote.
The workers requested that the NLRB schedule a secret-ballot election among all full-time and regular part-time tellers and personal bankers employed by Wells Fargo at the Seaside Park branch. The workers were looking to vote on whether to remove the so-called “Wells Fargo Workers United” union (an affiliate of the CWA union).
However, shortly before the election was scheduled by the NLRB, CWA union bosses declared that they “disclaim interest” in the Seaside Park Wells Fargo employees. CWA union officials, possibly anticipating an embarrassing election loss, abandoned their status as the workers’ so-called “representatives.”
“After nearly two years with the CWA doing little to nothing for employees at the Seaside Park Branch, we finally have our branch back,” stated Sholtis.
New Jersey is one of the 24 states without Right to Work protections that make union affiliation and dues payment fully voluntary, meaning that Sholtis and her coworkers could have been forced to pay union dues or fees to union officials or else be fired once the employer entered into a union agreement with CWA.
The Seaside Park workers are the latest in a growing movement of Wells Fargo employees across the nation seeking to cast off their CWA “representatives.” Last month, Foundation-assisted Wells Fargo employees in Spring Hill, Florida, and Casper, Wyoming, filed respective petitions to remove the CWA from their branches. More requests for help continue to come in.
In Spring Hill, Florida, CWA union bosses similarly moved to “disclaim interest” in the bank workers, removing themselves as the employees’ monopoly bargaining “representatives,” rather than facing a potentially humiliating decertification vote. In Casper, Wyoming, CWA union officials are seeking to disenfranchise employees by preventing them from even holding the vote. In yet another decertification effort, last month Wells Fargo employees in Apex, North Carolina, overwhelmingly voted to remove CWA union officials from their branch.
“We are pleased to be able to support Ms. Sholtis and her coworkers as they exercise their legal right to remove unwanted CWA union bosses,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “As the movement by Wells Fargo employees to eject the CWA spreads, the Foundation is ready to assist them in exercising their rights under federal law to hold votes to remove the unwanted union.”
Over 100 Windstream North Carolina Employees Vote to Free Themselves of Unwanted CWA Union
Workers across 12 North Carolina locations officially free from CWA officials’ ‘representation’
North Carolina (March 18, 2026) – Employees of telecommunications provider Windstream North Carolina LLC have successfully voted Communications Workers of America (CWA) union officials out of power at their workplaces across North Carolina. Windstream worker Grant Diorio kicked off his coworkers’ effort to oust the union by filing a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in January, impacting his work unit of roughly 120 Windstream employees. Diorio filed the petition with free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing private sector labor law, a task that includes holding votes to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Diorio’s petition contained more than enough signatures from his coworkers to trigger a decertification vote under NLRB rules. In February, the NLRB approved an agreement that set aside three days for in-person voting at several Windstream locations across the state.
The agreement noted that the vote would take place among “[a]ll employees employed by [Windstream] in its Plant, Commercial, or Traffic Department at its Matthews, Marshville, Wadesboro, Waxhaw, Rockwell, Denton, Mooresville, Tryon, Rural Hall, Monroe, and Aberdeen facilities.”
North Carolina is a Right to Work state, meaning state law forbids CWA bosses and other union officials from forcing workers to pay money to the union just to get or keep a job. Diorio and his coworkers enjoyed these protections, but even in Right to Work states, union officials have exclusive “representation” power, which permits them to impose one-size-fits-all contracts on every worker in a unionized workplace, even those who voted against or otherwise oppose the union.
“Even though my coworkers and I have a variety of jobs for Windstream across North Carolina, we agreed that CWA union bosses were not making our working lives any better,” commented Diorio. “I’m glad that, despite the challenges that come with petitioning for a decertification vote to take place at multiple places across the state, we were able to stand firm, secure our rights, and vote this CWA union out. We look forward to being independent!”
Workers Across Country Seeking Union Decertification, but Biden-Era Policies Stand in the Way
Foundation attorneys have noticed a marked increase in worker requests for help in decertifying unpopular unions. NLRB statistics indicate that in 2025 (the last year for which data is available), decertification petition filings are up almost 40% since 2020.
“Mr. Diorio and his colleagues’ situation is an excellent example of what happens when labor law actually works to protect American employees’ individual rights as opposed to frustrating those rights. We were proud to assist them,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Unfortunately, one only needs to look within the state of North Carolina to find an example of union bosses using biased doctrines within federal labor law to shore up their own power, even when it’s clear that workers want a chance to vote the union out. At The Quartz Corp. in Spruce Pine, United Mine Workers union officials have been manipulating unsubstantiated misconduct charges for months to block workers from having a union removal vote they validly requested.
“Luckily, Foundation attorneys are assisting Quartz Corp. employees and many other groups of independent-minded workers across the country in challenging unfair legal barriers to worker freedom,” Mix added. “The Trump NLRB should break from dysfunctional Biden-era policies and end the biased rules that have undermined workers’ explicit right under federal law to vote out unwanted unions.”
Florida Wells Fargo Bank Branch Employees to Vote In Election Over Whether to Remove CWA Union Bosses from Workplace
In response to workers’ petition, the National Labor Relations Board has scheduled a “decertification” vote to end union affiliation
Spring Hill, FL (March 16, 2026) – Employees at Wells Fargo’s Spring Hill branch have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking a “decertification” election to remove the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union bosses from their workplace. The workers’ efforts are spearheaded by Virginia Fenton, who filed the petition with free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), a task that includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Fenton’s petition received more than the required threshold of her coworkers’ signatures to trigger the process for the NLRB to schedule a secret-ballot election for the workers on Monday, March 30.
The workers’ election to remove the so-called “Wells Fargo Workers United” union (an affiliate of the CWA union) will include all full-time and regular part-time tellers, personal bankers, relationship bankers, and premier bankers employed by Wells Fargo at its Spring Hill branch.
“Since the union came into our branch back in 2024, we’ve come to see how much they overpromised and never delivered,” stated Fenton. “We are sure that we will manage better without them.”
Florida is one of the 26 states with a Right to Work law that guarantees workers cannot be fired for refusing to pay union dues or fees. However, even under Right to Work, union bosses can still impose monopoly bargaining control over all employees in a workplace, even those who are opposed to the union’s representation. A successful decertification would end the union’s monopoly bargaining powers.
“The Foundation is pleased to be able to assist Ms. Fenton and her coworkers as they move to exercise their rights under the NLRA,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “No American worker should be forced to affiliate with a union they oppose.”
AT&T-BellSouth Workers Challenge Union-Concocted ‘Window Period’ Restrictions on Ending Dues
The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, May/June 2025 edition. To view other editions of Foundation Action or to sign up for a free subscription, click here.
CWA officials trap dissenting workers, but case asks NLRB to declare ‘window period’ restrictions illegal
Jennifer Abruzzo went straight from being a top CWA union lawyer to being General Counsel of the Biden NLRB. Though President Trump fired her, that doesn’t mean that workers don’t still have to battle the anti-freedom policies she advanced.
MIAMI, FL – In August 2024, Communications Workers of America (CWA) union bosses ordered thousands of AT&T employees across the Southeast to abandon their jobs and go on strike. Unsurprisingly, despite union officials’ propaganda surrounding the strike, many workers disagreed with the decision.
“CWA union officials ordered us to abandon our jobs when many of us just wanted to keep working and supporting ourselves and our families,” commented Amanda Marc, a Miami-based worker for AT&T-BellSouth. “That’s bad enough, but now they’re putting up all these roadblocks to try to prevent those of us who don’t like the union’s agenda from stopping our money from flowing to them.”
Marc is referring to a situation that South Florida AT&T-BellSouth workers have been increasingly dealing with in the aftermath of the strike, which came to an end in September 2024. With free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys, Marc and her coworker Sofia Hernaiz filed unfair labor practice charges against CWA union officials, detailing that the union hierarchy has ignored their requests to cut off dues payments and has continued to siphon money from their paychecks illegally. Additional charges for other AT&T-BellSouth workers are also being filed.
Dues Kept Flowing to Union After Workers Requested Stop
Marc and Hernaiz’s charges point out that CWA officials are imposing a “window period” scheme on workers who want to end financial support, limiting to just ten days per year the time in which workers can demand that dues deductions cease from their paychecks.
“This kind of behavior makes me feel like they’re really just interested in having control over us and taking our money,” Marc added. Marc and Hernaiz filed their charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law.
Marc’s charge in particular challenges the practice of imposing “window periods” as violating the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA): While the NLRA unfortunately allows union officials to prevent a worker from revoking his or her dues authorization card for the first year after it is initially signed, Marc’s charge notes that any further restrictions are unlawful.
“The unions have no statutory license to create tricky and arbitrary ‘window periods’ to force unwilling employees to keep paying dues,” Marc’s charges say.
Because Marc, Hernaiz, and their colleagues work in the Right to Work state of Florida, CWA union bosses are forbidden from forcing workers to pay any union dues or fees as a condition of keeping their jobs, though CWA union officials are trying to limit the exercise of this freedom with their window period scheme. In states that lack Right to Work protections, in contrast, union officials can force employees to pay fees to the union or be terminated, meaning even perfect “compliance” with a union boss’s arbitrary window period restriction would not get a worker out of forced union payments.
Marc and Hernaiz’s charges state that they, and many of their coworkers, resigned their union memberships in August 2024, which was around when CWA union officials ordered AT&T-BellSouth workers out on the strike. Despite the women’s requests to end union membership and stop financial support for the union, the charges read, CWA agents never responded to their requests to stop dues deductions, and never even informed them of the window period dates in which they would consider their requests valid.
Even worse, Hernaiz details in her charge that union officials tried to subject her to internal union discipline for not participating in the strike. Under federal law, union bosses cannot impose union proceedings on workers who are not union members. Foundation attorneys are in the process of aiding other AT&T-BellSouth workers targeted by such illegal discipline.
No Legal Justification for ‘Window Periods,’ New NLRB Should Toss Policy
“Federal labor law is supposed to protect the right of workers to decide freely whether they want to join or financially support a union,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “So-called ‘window periods’ exist only to restrict this freedom just so union officials can continue to funnel dues money from workers’ pockets straight into union agendas.
“The NLRB under the new Administration should recognize that this practice contradicts both worker freedom and federal law, and end it accordingly,” Mix added.
AT&T Workers Nationwide Win Challenges to Unionization Imposed Through Card Check
The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, November/December 2024 edition. To view other editions of Foundation Action or to sign up for a free subscription, click here.
Victories by AT&T workers in five states preceded Biden-Harris NLRB rule change to block secret ballot votes
See You, CWA: Marquita Jones (left), Samantha Cain (middle), and Matthew Gonzalez rallied their fellow AT&T workers to escape unwanted CWA unions.
WASHINGTON, DC – While the Biden-Harris National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) sought to upend NLRB rules designed to protect workers’ ability to vote out unwanted unions, AT&T workers across the country won a series of victories highlighting the importance of allowing workers to challenge coercive union card check unionization with secret ballot votes. The decertification victories all relied on the National Right to Work Foundation-backed 2020 NLRB “Election Protection Rule” (EPR), which was formally eliminated by the Biden-Harris Labor Board in September.
In five separate cases covering well over 1,000 workers, AT&T Mobility employees have successfully overturned Communications Workers of America (CWA) unionization imposed through the notorious “card check” process.
Under card check, union organizers bypass the secret ballot election process and instead collect cards face-to-face from employees that are then counted as “votes” for the union. Without the privacy of a secret ballot vote, many workers report being pressured, bullied, or threatened into signing, which is among the reasons why card check has long been recognized as inherently unreliable and abuse-prone.
Foundation-Backed 2020 Rule Let Over 1,000 AT&T Workers Nix Union Card Checks
The 2020 Election Protection Rule reformed several rules that union officials manipulate to trap workers under monopoly “representation,” including by giving employees a way to challenge card check unionization with a secret ballot election. Foundation staff attorneys assisted AT&T employees in five states to do that in advance of the Biden-Harris Labor Board’s cynical repeal of the rule.
First, in Tennessee, AT&T employee Denis Hodzic filed a petition signed by two-thirds of his coworkers in the unit seeking a secret-ballot vote to remove the CWA union, after CWA agents installed themselves over 100 AT&T In-Home Experts by card check. Initially CWA union officials argued the election should be permanently blocked because the union had already merged the workers into a larger bargaining unit with thousands of other AT&T workers.
CWA Bosses Capitulated to AT&T Workers
However, citing the Election Protection Rule, which gives workers at least 45 days to challenge a card check with a decertification petition, Foundation staff attorneys were able to win a ruling with the NLRB allowing the vote to proceed. At that point CWA officials chose not to even contest the vote, instead filing paperwork with the NLRB freeing the employees from CWA ranks apparently to avoid an overwhelming final vote against the union.
“The Election Protection Rule was essential for us to rely on as we went through the process of seeking resolution to our tricky situation,” Hodzic said of his situation. “The 45-day petition window needs to remain regardless of which group holds the majority position in Washington.”
Since then, with legal aid, around 1,000 additional AT&T Mobility employees in California, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas have all also successfully removed the CWA union following installation through card check. In all four states, once the decertification vote became inevitable, CWA officials simply conceded defeat rather than wait for the results of a formal decertification vote.
NLRB Repeal of Election Protection Rule Traps Workers in Union Ranks
Despite these efforts from independent-minded employees, the Biden-Harris NLRB formally repealed the Election Protection Rule in September, dramatically expanding union bosses’ ability to block employee-requested decertification votes.
As a result, now, when workers in Hodzic’s situation attempt to challenge a card check with a secret ballot decertification, the NLRB will automatically block their vote for up to one year after a card check, which opens the door to countless other union delay tactics.
“If these AT&T employees had filed their five decertification petitions after September 30th, they would have been trapped in a union they oppose for years and likely forever,” commented National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens.
“This is yet another example of the Biden-Harris NLRB steamrolling the rights of independent-minded employees, so union bosses can expand their forced dues ranks. “Despite this setback for employee freedom, Foundation staff attorneys remain committed to helping workers trapped in union ranks they oppose,” added Semmens. “That includes helping them navigate the increasingly rigged NLRB system.”
Third AT&T-BellSouth Worker Hits CWA Union With Federal Charges, Challenges Thousands in Illegal Strike Fines
Newest charge challenges union boss $5,300 strike fine demand, while other workers challenge CWA union officials’ restrictive dues collection tactics
Miami, FL (March 28, 2025) – Henry Gonzalez, an employee of AT&T-BellSouth in Miami, has just hit the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union in his workplace with federal charges – the third worker to do so in just a month. Gonzalez’s charges, which were filed at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, describe how CWA union officials are wrongfully targeting him with thousands of dollars in disciplinary fines for not participating in a strike.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing private sector labor law and investigating and prosecuting unfair labor practices. Under federal labor law, union officials can mete out internal strike discipline only on employees who are formal members of the union. A worker who ends his union membership before exercising his right to continue working during a strike action cannot be punished by the union hierarchy. Gonzalez maintains that he resigned his union membership, yet union bosses still slammed him afterward with illegal fines in excess of $5,000.
In addition to preventing union bosses from imposing discipline on workers who have abstained from union membership, federal labor law and U.S. Supreme Court decisions like NLRB v. General Motors protect workers’ right to freely maintain or end union membership.
Freedom to resign union membership is also protected at the state level in Florida by the state’s Right to Work protections, which forbid union officials from forcing private sector workers to join or pay union dues or fees just to keep their jobs. This is in contrast to forced-unionism states, in which union bosses can require all employees in a workplace, even those who are not union members or who are otherwise opposed to the union, to financially support some union activities.
Within the past month, Miami-based AT&T-BellSouth employees Sofia Hernaiz and Amanda Marc have also filed unfair labor practice charges against the CWA union. Hernaiz and Marc, who have also opted out of union membership, both maintain that union officials are enforcing confusing “window periods” that restrict to just a few days per year when workers can revoke their consent to union dues deductions. Marc’s charge maintains that window periods violate federal labor law because they force unwilling workers to subsidize unwanted unions. Hernaiz’s charge also reports unlawful post-strike discipline similar to Gonzales’.
“Principled, independent-minded workers at AT&T-BellSouth are increasingly deciding that they will not take CWA union officials’ arbitrary restrictions and coercive ‘discipline’ sitting down,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Big Labor union bosses and their cronies on the NLRB have for decades been trying to contort federal labor law to favor their own power and influence over workers’ freedom, especially during the Biden Administration. Foundation-backed workers in Florida and across the nation are fighting to reverse this trend.”
Second AT&T BellSouth Worker Hits CWA Union With Federal Charges for Illegally Seizing Worker Money
Employee challenges coercive union tactic of restricting when workers can cut off union financial support
Miami, FL (March 17, 2025) – Amanda Marc, an employee of AT&T BellSouth Communications, has filed federal charges against the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union and its local affiliates, maintaining that CWA union officials are imposing illegal restrictions on her and her coworkers’ right to opt out of union dues payments. Marc filed her charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes investigating and prosecuting unfair labor practices and administering votes to install or remove unions in workplaces. Marc’s charges challenge the CWA union’s use of “window period” restrictions to limit to just ten days per year the time in which workers can demand that dues deductions cease from their paychecks. Window periods are widely used by union officials as a way to keep money flowing from dissenting workers towards the union’s agenda, and Marc’s charges seek a ruling that this practice is unlawful under federal labor law.
Marc’s charges contend that while federal labor law permits dues deduction authorization documents to be irrevocable for one year after employees initially sign them, any further window periods or other restrictions on workers’ legally-protected right to cut off dues after that period has elapsed violate the National Labor Relations Act:
“It is unlawful to have any window period for revocations after the first year of the payroll deduction authorization form. [Federal labor law] does not contain any reference to ‘window periods’…The unions have no statutory license to create tricky and arbitrary ‘window periods’ to force unwilling employees to keep paying dues.”
Because Marc and her colleagues work in the Right to Work state of Florida, CWA union bosses are forbidden from forcing workers to pay any union dues or fees as a condition of keeping their jobs, though CWA union officials are ostensibly trying to cabin the exercise of this freedom with their window period scheme. In states that lack Right to Work protections, in contrast, union officials can force employees to pay fees to the union or be terminated, meaning even perfect compliance with a union boss’s arbitrary window period restriction would not completely free a worker from union payments.
AT&T Worker Joins Colleague in Revealing Blatantly Illegal CWA Dues Deduction Practices
Marc’s charges state that she and many of her coworkers resigned their union memberships in August 2024, which was around when CWA union officials ordered AT&T BellSouth workers out on a strike. Despite Marc’s requests to end union membership and stop financial support for the union, the charges read, CWA agents never responded to either demand, and never even informed Marc of the window period dates in which they would consider her requests valid.
In addition to challenging the use of window periods as a whole, Marc’s charges point out several other unlawful aspects of CWA bosses’ union dues collection scheme, including a requirement that dues revocation requests be made “by individual letters sent by certified mail only.” CWA union bosses also failed to inform employees that, by law, they have an opportunity to opt out of union dues deductions on the anniversary date of when they signed the dues checkoff and aren’t just restricted to the arbitrary window period imposed by the union.
Marc’s filing comes just days after Foundation attorneys submitted federal charges against CWA union bosses on behalf of another AT&T BellSouth worker, Sofia Hernaiz. Hernaiz declares in her charges that CWA union officials tried to subject her to internal discipline for not participating in the August 2024 strike, even though she had resigned her union membership beforehand and by law can’t be subject to such proceedings. Similar to Marc, Hernaiz also details that CWA union officials did not acknowledge her attempt to cut off dues deductions to the union, nor informed her of what the union’s window period restrictions were.
“Ms. Marc, in standing up for her and her coworkers’ freedom to stop subsidizing unwanted CWA union officials, is also mounting an unprecedented challenge to the ‘window period’ gambit. This scheme has been manipulated by union officials across the country to yank financial support out of unwilling workers for far too long,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Forthcoming NLRB Trump appointees should use cases like this to rule that such practices that serve only to enrich union boss hierarchies are unlawful.
“It is time to reorient the Board’s mission toward defending the individual right of every American worker to associate or dissociate with a union as he or she pleases,” added Mix. “For too long, NLRB officials have rigged federal law to enhance union boss power at the expense of the rights and freedoms of the very workers the Act purports to protect.”
