Employees at Petaluma, CA, and Dover, OH, Ford Dealerships Successfully Force Out Unwanted IAM Union Officials
Efforts in Ohio and California come as Biden-Harris NLRB tightens restrictions on workers voting out unions
Petaluma, CA & Dover, OH (August 20, 2024) – Employees at auto dealership Hansel Ford of Petaluma have successfully forced unwanted International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local Lodge 1596 union officials out of their workplace. The victory comes after about 80% of Hansel Ford workers signed onto a petition seeking a vote to oust the union. Hansel Ford employee Gustavo Pena submitted the petition to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 20 in San Francisco 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 administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Pena’s decertification petition contained well over the 30% threshold of employee signatures needed to trigger a decertification vote under NLRB rules. However, before the NLRB could schedule a union decertification vote among Pena and his coworkers, IAM union officials filed paperwork disclaiming interest in continuing their control over the workplace.
Because California lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, IAM union officials had the legal power to enforce contracts that required Pena and his colleagues to pay dues or fees as a condition of getting or keeping a job. In Right to Work states, in contrast, union membership and financial support are strictly voluntary.
Now that Pena and the other Hansel Ford workers have forced the IAM union out, they are free of both union officials’ power to contract and speak for all employees in the work unit (including the majority who opposed the union) and the union’s power to force them to pay dues to support their activities.
Technicians at Ford Dealership in Ohio Also Force Out IAM Union Bosses
Foundation staff attorneys also assisted technicians at Parkway Ford in Dover, OH, in requesting a decertification election to remove IAM Local 1363 union officials from their workplace. The worker who submitted this petition, Ryan Graham, also obtained signatures from a majority of his coworkers, well in excess of the 30% needed to prompt a vote.
Before NLRB Region 8 officials could schedule a vote at Graham’s workplace, however, IAM union bosses filed paperwork disclaiming interest in continuing their monopoly bargaining power over the workplace. This may have been to avoid an embarrassing rejection by employees at the ballot box.
Ohio is also not a Right to Work state, meaning that IAM union officials had the power to compel Graham and his fellow technicians to pay union dues or fees as a condition of keeping their jobs. While Supreme Court precedents like General Motors v. NLRB and the Foundation-won Communications Workers of America v. Beck prohibit union officials from forcing workers to formally join a union or pay for its non-bargaining-related activities (such as politics), many workers may prefer to decertify an unwanted union that does not respect those rights.
In nearby Michigan, Foundation-assisted mechanics from Brown Motors, a Ford dealership in Petoskey, recently voted in a “deauthorization election” to end Teamsters union officials’ forced-dues power over them. A “deauthorization election” is the only way outside of decertifying a union to end forced-dues demands in a non-Right to Work state and is petitioned for in a way similar to a decertification vote.
The new efforts come as decertification petition filings have gone up over 40 percent since 2020 (according to NLRB data) and worker interest in joining a union is at a historic low. Despite workers’ desire to get away from unions that don’t serve their interests, the Biden-Harris NLRB has just issued a final rule which will make it much harder for rank-and-file workers to exercise their right to vote out union officials they oppose. One part of the new rule lets union officials prevent decertification votes from going forward by filing unverified “blocking charges” alleging employer interference.
“The employees from Ford dealerships in California and Ohio are just the latest examples of the many workers across the country who want to exercise their right to dissociate from union officials that they disapprove of,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “That the Biden-Harris NLRB is paring back this right shows that the current administration is interested in giving its union boss political allies more power to siphon money from workers, as opposed to defending those workers’ individual rights.”
National Right to Work Foundation Issues Special Legal Notice to Employees of Big Three Automakers as UAW Brass Orders Strike
Foundation notifies employees that those wishing to continue working during a strike should resign their memberships before returning to work
Detroit, MI (September 12, 2023) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has released a special legal notice to the thousands of autoworkers who may be impacted if United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials issue a strike order this week. UAW President Shawn Fain has threatened to order workers from Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis – the “Big 3” unionized American automakers – off the job if new contracts aren’t struck by Thursday, September 14.
The Foundation’s legal notice informs autoworkers of their rights, including their right to rebuff the strike order and to keep working to support their families as the strike is ongoing. The notice discusses why workers across the country frequently turn to the National Right to Work Foundation for free legal aid in such situations.
“This situation raises serious concerns for autoworkers who may believe there is much to lose from a strike and who do not want to abandon their jobs,” the notice reads. “Autoworkers have the legal right to rebuff union officials’ strike demands, but it is important for them to know their rights before they do so.”
The full notice is available at https://www.nrtw.org/uaw/.
The notice outlines the process that autoworkers should follow if they want to exercise their right to return to work during the strike and avoid punishment by union bosses, complete with sample union membership resignation letters. The notice reminds workers that UAW union officials have no disciplinary power over workers who are not union members, and advises employees who wish to work during a strike to resign their memberships at least one day before returning to work.
“The reason is that union officials can (and often do) levy heavy fines against union members who work during a strike,” the notice says.
Further, the notice reminds employees of their rights to cut off all union dues payments in the absence of a monopoly bargaining contract between UAW union officials and company management. The notice encourages employees to seek free legal aid from the Foundation if they experience union resistance as they attempt to exercise any of these rights.
“UAW union bosses have a long history of throwing workers under the bus while pursuing their own interests, something made clear by the federal corruption and embezzlement probe that resulted in many of the UAW’s top brass going to prison,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Rank-and-file workers have good reason to wonder if Shawn Fain’s combative stance and apparent eagerness to initiate a strike is really what is best for them, their careers, and their families, or rather is yet another example of UAW bosses looking out for themselves and their personal ambitions to the detriment of those they claim to represent.”
“National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have successfully aided many UAW-controlled employees throughout the years, and are prepared to defend autoworkers from the union boss demands that often accompany a strike order,” added Mix.
Louisville Ford Assembly Plant Employee Wins Refund in Case Charging UAW Union Officials and Ford with Illegally Seizing Dues Money
Embattled UAW and Ford back down and settle case; numerous UAW officials currently serving sentences for embezzlement and corruption
Louisville, KY (April 26, 2023) – A Ford Louisville Assembly plant employee has just prevailed in her federal cases against the United Automobile Workers (UAW) Local 862 union and her employer. Shiphrah Green charged union officials in October 2022 with illegally seizing dues money from her paycheck and threatening her job after she exercised her right to refrain from union membership. Green filed a similar charge against Ford for its role in the scheme.
Green received free legal representation from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys, who asserted her rights before National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 9 in Cincinnati. In addition to the illegal dues deductions and threats, Green’s October 2022 charges also detailed that UAW and Ford officials had forced her to navigate several unnecessary and unlawful steps to end her financial support for the union.
Foundation attorneys argued that the UAW union and Ford violated her rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which protects American private sector employees’ right to refrain from any or all union activities. Additionally, Kentucky is a Right to Work state, meaning that state law prohibits union officials and employers from requiring workers to join or pay union dues or fees to keep their jobs.
Now, pursuant to settlements, Green will be reimbursed for all the dues illegally seized from her paycheck. UAW and Ford must also post notices informing workers that they will no longer continue to take dues from employees’ paychecks after they have resigned from the union, or create unlawful roadblocks to terminating membership or stopping dues deductions.
UAW Officials Block Employee from Exercising Basic Rights
According to her charges, Green sent correspondence to both UAW and Ford officials on April 21, 2022, informing them she was resigning her union membership and cutting off union dues deductions from her wages. Neither granted her request, and Green instead received an email from UAW Local 862’s president notifying her that she must come to the union hall to be shown the purportedly “correct” method to leave the union.
At a meeting with union officials at the UAW union hall on April 25, 2022, UAW officials interrogated Green about why she wanted to leave the union. They also demanded she sign a letter listing “benefits” Green would supposedly forgo if she went through with exiting the union.
The charge contended that NLRB precedent prohibits requiring workers to sign such a document so they can exercise their right to end their union membership and stop dues deductions. UAW Local 862’s president apparently went even further. According to the charge, he told Green “if it were up to me, you’d lose your job for leaving the union.”
As this chain of events with the union was unfolding, Green was also trying to get Ford management to end the dues deductions. This also proved fruitless, as Ford officials gave her several confusing responses and even told her at one point that, under the union monopoly bargaining contract, she could only cease dues deductions in February 2023 – even though paperwork she signed previously stated it could be revoked at will.
The charges contended that Ford violated federal law by “continuing to take full union dues” from Green’s paycheck at union bosses’ behest even after she had requested that they stop. The charges also stated that UAW Local 862 violated the law by continuing to accept those illegally-seized dues, by “restricting her union membership resignation, and by making threatening comments that would chill an ordinary employee’s exercise of Section 7 rights.”
After an investigation into the charges, NLRB Region 9 agreed that Ford and UAW officials’ actions violated federal law. To avoid a federal prosecution for their illegal actions, the company and union quickly settled.
Green’s Foundation-won settlements mandate that Ford and the UAW union return all money taken from Green’s paycheck since April 21, 2022, the date she first tried to resign from the union. UAW officials must also abstain from threatening that “you should or could incur disciplinary problems and job loss with Ford Motor Company Louisville Assembly Plant . . . because you inform us that you are resigning from the union.”
Systemic UAW Disrespect for Workers’ Rights May Be Rampant at Louisville Ford Plant
“The recent federal probe into UAW officials stealing and misusing workers’ money has sent multiple top UAW bosses to jail, and uncovered a shocking culture of contempt for workers’ rights,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “As Ms. Green’s case shows, these issues are systemic and widespread, and any other Louisville Ford Assembly Plant worker facing UAW union boss attempts to coerce union membership or dues payment should contact the Foundation for free aid in protecting their legal rights.”
“Louisville Ford Assembly employees should know that, under Kentucky’s Right to Work law, union bosses can’t force them to join or pay any money to the union as a condition of employment,” Mix added.
Louisville Ford Assembly Plant Worker Slams UAW Union with Federal Charges for Seizing Money from Her Paycheck Illegally
Charge detailing violation of employee’s rights comes after multiple top UAW chiefs have been sentenced to prison for widespread corruption and embezzlement of workers’ dues money
Louisville, KY (October 27, 2022) – Shiphrah Green, an employee at Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant, has filed federal charges against the United Automobile Workers (UAW) Local 862 union at the plant. Her charges contend that union officials are violating her rights by seizing dues money from her paycheck after she resigned her membership and requested a stop to all dues. Green, who is represented for free by National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys, also hit Ford with federal charges for their officials’ role in the unlawful deduction of union dues.
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 9 in Cincinnati will now investigate Green’s charges. The charges detail UAW and Ford officials forcing Green to navigate several unnecessary and unlawful steps to end her financial support for the union. They even state that the Local 862 president made threatening comments regarding Green’s job just because she exercised this basic free choice right. To date, the charges state, Ford and the UAW have not stopped collecting full union dues from Green’s paycheck.
Green’s charges argue that both the UAW union and Ford infringed on her rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which protects American private sector employees’ right to refrain from any or all union activities. Additionally, Kentucky is a Right to Work state, meaning union officials are forbidden by state law from getting workers fired merely for refusal to join or financially support a union.
UAW Officials Block Employee from Exercising Basic Rights
According to her charges, Green sent correspondence to both UAW and Ford officials on April 21, 2022 informing them she was resigning her union membership and cutting off union dues deductions from her wages. Neither party granted her request, and Green instead received an email from UAW Local 862’s president notifying her that she needed to be shown the purportedly “correct” method to leave the union.
At a meeting with union officials at the UAW union hall on April 25, UAW officials forced Green to answer questions about why she wanted to leave the union. They also demanded she sign a letter listing “benefits” Green would supposedly forgo if she went through with exiting the union.
The charge contends that NLRB precedent prohibits requiring workers to sign such a document just so they can exercise their right to end their union membership and stop dues deductions. UAW Local 862’s president apparently went even further. According to the charge, he told Green “if it were up to me, you’d lose your job for leaving the union.”
As this chain of events was ongoing, Green was also trying to get Ford management to end the dues deductions. This also proved fruitless, as Ford officials gave her several confusing responses and even told her at one point that she could only cease dues deductions in February 2023 – even though the previously authorized dues deduction document stated it could be revoked at will.
The charges contend that Ford violated federal law by “continuing to take full union dues” from Green’s paycheck at union bosses’ behest even after she had requested that they stop, and that UAW Local 862 violated federal law by continuing to accept those illegally-seized dues, by “restricting her union membership resignation, and by making threatening comments that would chill an ordinary employee’s exercise of Section 7 rights.”
New Evidence of UAW Corruption Emerges After Top UAW Chiefs Receive Jail Sentences
Green’s charges come as the UAW union is still reeling from the effects of a years-long investigation by federal prosecutors into massive corruption within the union hierarchy. The probe, as of July 2022, has already resulted in convictions of at least 17 people, including two former UAW presidents and at least nine other UAW top officials. The convicted former UAW presidents, Gary Jones and Dennis Williams, were sentenced to a combined 49 months in prison.
UAW officials were convicted most notably of embezzling millions from the union’s dues-stocked coffers for luxury golf vacations, expensive liquor and cigarettes, steak dinners, amusement park tickets, and more.
“The past few years have shown how deep anti-worker corruption runs within the UAW hierarchy. Ms. Green’s case is just one more manifestation of a culture that clearly values the ability to siphon money from rank-and-file employees far above respecting employee rights,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Workers under UAW control in Kentucky should know that they have the right to cut off all union dues payments to union officials, and the right to end their memberships at will. Any obstacles created by union officials to hinder the exercise of these rights are illegal, and employees should reach out to Foundation staff attorneys for free legal aid if they encounter such roadblocks.”
