7 Jan 2026

College Park MOM’s Organic Employees Will Soon Vote on Whether to Block UFCW Union Officials From Collecting Forced Dues

Posted in News Releases

UFCW bosses ratified union monopoly bargaining contract over the objections of MOM’s employees; vote to take place January 13

College Park, MD (January 7, 2026) – Employees at the College Park branch of MOM’s Organic Market will soon vote on whether to strip United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 400 union bosses of the ability to force workers to pay union dues to keep their jobs. The election will take place on January 13, 2026, and will be administered by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

MOM’s Organic employee Nora Ricse successfully obtained the vote by submitting a petition to the NLRB in which a sufficient number of her colleagues requested that such a vote (also known as a “deauthorization vote”) be held. Ricse received free legal aid in filing the petition from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.

The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing private sector labor law. Maryland lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector employees, so union officials can impose contracts that require workers to pay dues or be fired. Short of voting out the union entirely, the only way Maryland employees can escape forced-dues demands from union chiefs is by voting to revoke forced-dues privileges in a deauthorization election. Obtaining either kind of vote is a procedurally difficult process that is often subject to union boss interference.

Unpopular Union Contract Contains Forced-Dues Clause

Ricse’s effort comes after UFCW Local 400 union officials ratified a contract that binds all employees at MOM’s Organic – even though a majority of the employees voted to reject that contract. In doing this, union officials cited the UFCW’s constitution, which apparently requires union chiefs to ratify a contract over workers’ objections if less than two-thirds of the workers authorize a strike.

Despite UFCW officials’ claims that they will not enforce their forced-dues privileges, NLRB documents reveal that the contract contains a clause authorizing the union to require dues payment as a condition of employment.

“I and many of my colleagues at MOM’s don’t support UFCW union officials, but we are compelled by law to deal with them,” commented Ricse. “We are requesting this vote so we can ensure our hard-earned money doesn’t flow into union bosses’ pockets, regardless of what they’ve told us is going to happen.”

This isn’t the first time that MOM’s Organic workers have obtained Foundation legal aid in dealing with UFCW union officials. In November 2024, College Park MOM’s employees requested a vote to remove the union entirely (also known as a “decertification” vote). The same year, employees of another DC-area grocery chain, Union Kitchen, voted 24-1 to remove UFCW Local 400 after National Right to Work Foundation attorneys helped them obtain a decertification vote.

“If UFCW union officials are telling the truth about not requiring employees to pay dues as required by the unpopular contract the union imposed on them, they should support this effort to remove the forced-dues requirement from the union contact,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix.

“The very fact that UFCW’s constitution dictates that UFCW officials are mandated to impose forced-dues contracts over the objections of a majority of workers is further evidence that union boss power and money are the union’s priorities, not what is best for rank-and-file workers,” added Mix. “That’s why all workers in Maryland and across America deserve the protection of Right to Work, which lets each worker decide for him or herself whether a union has earned their dues payments.”

3 Apr 2017

Federal Settlement Forces Union Officials to Refund $20,000 After Illegally Seizing Union Dues from Workers

Posted in News Releases

SPFPA union officials continued to collect dues over workers’ objections despite majority vote by employees that ended mandatory payments

Washington, DC (April 3, 2017) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, two Washington D.C. area workers have won a federal settlement from International Union of Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America (SPFPA) union officials. The settlement dictates that union officials pay back approximately $20,000 in illegally seized dues, with interest.

The two workers, Troy Golson and Yasir Maatoug, work as security guards in the Ronald Reagan Building in downtown Washington, D.C. In November 2015, employees in their company, Coastal International Security, won a deauthorization election against the SPFPA union. A deauthorization election can be called by employees to negate the forced-unionism clause that allows union bosses to have a worker fired for refusing to pay the union dues or fees.

After the successful deauthorization vote, more than 30 Coastal employees sent union officials a dues check-off revocation letter, which legally stops the collection of forced union dues from their paychecks. However, union officials ignored some of the letters and continued seizing dues from many employees’ paychecks, erroneously claiming workers could not stop payment except in a union-determined “window period.”

Under current National Labor Relations Board law, workers who win a deauthorization election have the right to halt automatic deductions from their paychecks immediately simply by sending the union a revocation letter.

The settlement also allows for other workers to receive refunds for illegally seized dues if they can show that they revoked their dues check-off following the deauthorization election in November of 2015. Furthermore, union officials must post and e-mail a notice stating that they “will not collect dues from bargaining unit employees who have revoked their authorizations for payroll deduction of union dues or fees following the deauthorization of the union security clause.”

“This case epitomizes the lengths to which union officials will go to collect every last cent of forced dues they can, even in violation of longstanding law,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Even after a majority of the very workers the union claims to ‘represent’ voted to strip union officials of their forced dues powers, SPFPA union officials continued to illegally seize thousands of dollars in forced dues from them. This case shows why every worker in America should have Right to Work protections that ensure that union membership and payment of union fees are strictly voluntary.”