30 Jan 2023

Northwestern Pennsylvania Metal Employees Finally Free from “Representation” of Unpopular Steelworkers Union Bosses

Posted in News Releases

Steelworkers bosses backed down from pursuing final objection to worker vote against union, attempt to trap workers under unpopular contract already failed

Venango County, PA (January 30, 2023) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Kerry Hunsberger and her coworkers at Latrobe Specialty Metals Company have successfully freed themselves from the unwanted “representation” of United Steelworkers (USW) union officials. Hunsberger and her coworkers voted to remove USW officials from their facility in December, following USW officials’ claim that no vote should occur because union officials secretly “ratified” a union contract that workers had overwhelmingly voted down twice.

USW officials outrageously argued before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that their covert signing of a tentative contract triggered a non-statutory policy known as the “contract bar” that prevented Hunsberger and her coworkers from voting the union out. However, Hunsberger’s Foundation-provided attorneys successfully defeated this union maneuver in November, which cleared the way for the vote to proceed. The “contract bar” is a non-statutory NLRB policy that arbitrarily immunizes unions from being “decertified” for up to three years after union officials and management conclude a contract.

A November decision of the NLRB regional director rejected the “contract bar” arguments, pointing out that the contract union officials sought to enforce lacked basic elements like start and end dates and thus doesn’t qualify as a contract sufficient to bar an election. Despite that ruling, union officials raised another objection after a majority of Latrobe Specialty Metals workers voted to remove the union, dubiously arguing that Latrobe Specialty Metals’ refusal to enforce the incomplete contract during the election period should invalidate the decertification vote.

However, Steelworkers bosses withdrew their objection on January 12, presumably because they recognized the unlikelihood that such an objection would reverse their election defeat. Union officials presented no additional objections by a January 27 filing deadline, meaning Hunsberger and her coworkers’ rejection of the USW union stands and has been certified by the NLRB.

USW Union Official Signed Unpopular Contract in Secret to Avoid Being Voted Out by Workers

In July 2022, Latrobe Specialty Metals workers first voted on a contract drawn up by Steelworkers union officials. The workers soundly rejected the contract, and Hunsberger began collecting employee signatures for a “decertification petition” shortly afterwards.

According to documents and transcripts filed with the NLRB, when Steelworkers union officials discovered a decertification petition was circulating, their representative secretly and unilaterally signed the disfavored contract on July 28, without telling the employees or the employer, in an attempt to trigger the “contract bar” rule and avoid the union being voted out.

In their haste to enact the employee-rejected contract to trigger the “contract bar,” union officials didn’t finalize critical details of the contract, like the start and end dates. Even though the union claims this contract was supposedly in effect on July 28, union officials held a new employee ratification vote on August 1, encouraging workers to ratify the contract but not telling them their “vote” was a meaningless sham because the union agent had already signed the contract and the union claimed it was in effect.

Hunsberger submitted a valid decertification petition on August 1, just hours before the sham ratification vote occurred. As with the previous vote, the workers again lopsidedly rejected the contract. But later that night, a union official suddenly announced to the employer that the contract was already in effect and the ratification vote was not required or necessary because of the covert signing on July 28.

According to the hearing transcript, one union boss admitted that the Steelworkers union regularly executes contracts despite employees voting them down, and that he did so in this case and ignored the employees’ vote against the contract “to protect the integrity of the union.” Apparently Steelworkers bosses’ lust for monopoly bargaining power and compulsory dues payments regularly takes precedence over the wishes of even a majority of the workers they claim to represent.

The Steelworkers Union’s post-hearing filings stated that union officials “executed the contract on July 28 to … pre-empt the decertification petition circulating at the facility” and that the August 1 “vote was only taken as a courtesy to employees [and] was an attempt to obtain their blessing of the contract that the [union] had already executed.” This is an effective admission that the union official “ratified” the contract to manipulate the “contract bar,” which would have shielded the union bosses from any employee attempts to remove the union.

In the same brief, union bosses doubled down on their deceptive practices, stating that “the Union’s representations to employees here are irrelevant… and the union was within its discretion to take a vote of its members and was not obligated to abide by the results of such a vote” (emphasis added).

NLRB Denied Cynical Union “Contract Bar” Maneuver, But Didn’t Address Union Deception

Foundation attorneys defended Hunsberger and her coworkers’ right to vote out the union from the USW officials’ shady “contract bar” claims. While the NLRB regional director eventually ordered the decertification election to proceed, her decision was narrow and singled out the contract’s lack of dates as the only reason the “contract bar” couldn’t be enforced. She did not address the most egregious of the USW union officials’ anti-worker tactics, particularly their misrepresentation that the employees’ votes on the contract would actually matter.

“Foundation attorneys were proud to fight for Ms. Hunsberger and her coworkers, who displayed remarkable perseverance in defending their right to vote out a union that they don’t believe serves their interests,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “However, this victory exposes glaring flaws in American labor law.”

“If USW officials had merely added valid dates to their unpopular contract, the NLRB would have likely enforced the deceptive union scheme to trap workers in union ranks against their will for three more years, as the ‘contract bar’ permits,” added Mix. “And these workers would have been forced to pay dues for those three years or be fired, as Pennsylvania is not a Right to Work state.”

“This is yet another demonstration that the ‘contract bar’ destroys union accountability, as union bosses can rush to ‘ratify’ unpopular contracts in secret, safe in the knowledge that a three-year shield from being voted out awaits them,” Mix added.

9 Feb 2023

Foundation Attorneys & PA Metal Workers Fight Steelworkers Union Contract Deception

Posted in Newsletter Articles

The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, November/December 2022 edition. To view other editions of Foundation Action or to sign up for a free subscription, click here.

Union bosses lied to metal workers and covertly signed forced-dues contract to keep grip on power

Metal workers have the right under federal labor law to vote out unwanted union representation

In NLRB documents, Steelworkers union officials openly defended their deception of employees, calling such behavior “irrelevant” to whether they should remain in power.

FRANKLIN, PA – Workers under the thumb of union bosses have many reasons to oppose the union’s “representation.” It could be they oppose a bad contract the union negotiated, or maybe it is the union’s divisive political activity for candidates they oppose. Whatever the reason, workers have a right under federal labor law to vote to free themselves of such unwanted union “representation.”

But federal labor law also has no shortage of workarounds for union bosses bent on clinging to their monopoly bargaining power over workers. Kerry Hunsberger and her coworkers at Latrobe Specialty Steel’s Franklin, PA, facility are currently defending their right to throw out unpopular Steelworkers union officials, after the union chiefs secretly signed a contract workers had voted down twice.

Steelworkers Officials Tried to Dodge Employee Accountability

Steelworkers chiefs did so to activate a so-called “contract bar” and remain in power at the plant when they knew a decertification election was coming. Steelworkers officials held two ratification votes to make workers think they had control over whether the contract went into effect. But in reality, union officials have no legal obligation under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the federal statute that governs private sector labor relations, to even conduct such a ratification vote, much less heed the workers’ actual vote tally.

The pro-union boss National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) created out of whole cloth the “contract bar” policy. It immunizes union officials from employee-backed attempts to vote out a union for up to three years after union bosses and management finalize a contract — even a contract that isn’t supported by a majority of workers.

Hunsberger’s petition asking the NLRB to hold a vote to remove the union contains the requisite number of signatures under NLRB rules, but union officials argue the “contract bar” should block the election anyway.

Union Bosses Ignored Two Votes by Workers Rejecting Forced-Dues Contract

The Latrobe Specialty Steel workers first voted July 25 on the contract drawn up by Steelworkers union officials. The workers soundly rejected the contract, and Hunsberger began collecting employee signatures for a decertification petition shortly afterwards.

According to documents and transcripts filed with the NLRB, when Steelworkers union officials discovered a decertification petition was circulating, they secretly and hurriedly signed the unpopular contract on July 28, without telling the employees or the employer, in an attempt to activate the “contract bar” rule and avoid being voted out.

The slapdash contract lacked basic In NLRB documents, Steelworkers union officials openly defended their deception of employees, calling such behavior “irrelevant” to whether they should remain in power. elements, like start and end dates. Even though the union now claims this contract was immediately in effect on July 28, union officials held a new employee ratification vote on August 1, encouraging workers to “ratify” the contract. But the union bosses never told the workers their “vote” was a meaningless sham because union officials had already signed the forced-dues contract in secret.

Hunsberger’s decertification petition was filed at 2:00 PM on August 1, just hours before the sham contract vote occurred. As with the previous vote, the workers rejected the contract by a lopsided margin. But later that night, at around 9:00 PM, union officials suddenly announced to the employer that the contract was already in effect and the employee ratification “vote” was irrelevant because of the union bosses’ covert signing on July 28.

In sworn testimony, one union boss admitted that Steelworkers union bosses execute contracts despite employees voting them down, and that union officials deceived the Latrobe workers and ignored their votes in this case “to protect the integrity of the union.” Apparently the Steelworkers bosses’ lust for monopoly bargaining power and compulsory union payments takes precedence over the actual wishes of the rank-and-file workers union officials purport to “represent.”

‘Contract Bar’ Encourages Unions to Force Through Unpopular Contracts

“Steelworkers union bosses drew up a contract that my coworkers and I hated, so naturally we wanted them out of our workplace and out of our pocketbooks. But to add insult to injury, they apparently didn’t even think they owed us a duty of honesty,” said Hunsberger.

“This entire ordeal has been incredibly frustrating and we are grateful for the help of the National Right to Work Foundation in defending our right to vote the union out.”

Kerry Hunsberger’s Foundationbacked brief defending her and her coworkers’ rights states that the Steelworkers’ contract ploy is “nothing more than a smokescreen, concocted by a desperate and unpopular union to entrench itself and bar employee free choice” under federal law.

“The ‘contract bar’ arbitrarily blocks, often for years, workers’ statutory right under federal law to vote out union officials they oppose. Worse, it encourages union officials to cynically impose a contract at all costs, especially when union bosses know rank-and-file workers would see such a contract as a reason to get rid of so-called union ‘representation,’” commented National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens. “This case presents an easy choice for the NLRB: defend the rights of rank-and-file workers, or side with Steelworkers union officials, who repeatedly misled those workers and disregarded their votes simply to protect union power. The case also demonstrates that there is no such thing as ‘union democracy’ in America.”

29 Nov 2022

NLRB Rejects USW Union Boss Attempt to Impose Contract Workers Voted Down to Block Election to Remove Union

Posted in News Releases

Steelworkers union officials attempted to wield anti-worker “contract bar” to trap workers in union they oppose, using union contract workers twice rejected

Franklin, PA (November 29, 2022) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Kerry Hunsberger and her coworkers at Latrobe Specialty Metals Company have scored a victory in their effort to vote United Steelworkers (USW) union officials out of their facility. Hunsberger and her coworkers are challenging USW officials’ secret “ratification” of a union contract that workers had overwhelmingly voted down twice, and union officials’ contention that the employees should be barred from exercising their right to oust the union because of that contract.

A decision from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Regional Director in Pittsburgh now orders a union “decertification election” to be held among Hunsberger and her colleagues on December 6. In August, Hunsberger submitted to the NLRB a petition backed by the requisite number of her colleagues to trigger such a vote, but USW union bosses dragged their feet and argued that a non-statutory NLRB policy, the so-called “contract bar,” should block the employees’ right to vote because a contract was in place.

The “contract bar” arbitrarily immunizes unions from employee decertification votes for up to three years after a contract between union and company officials is finalized. The Regional Director’s decision rejects USW officials’ “contract bar” claims on the grounds that, in union officials’ haste to block the election, their so-called “contract” was sloppily drafted and lacked fundamental elements like the start and end dates the contract would be in effect. “I find, consistent with Petitioner, that the contract does not include effective and expiration dates and accordingly lacks material terms required for an agreement to act as a contract bar,” says the decision.

The decision, unfortunately, doesn’t explicitly address the most egregious of the USW union officials’ anti-worker tactics. USW officials lied to workers about their ratification votes, and attempted to impose a contract twice rejected by rank-and-file workers – all so employees could be trapped in forced dues-paying ranks for three additional years under the non-statutory, incumbent-protecting “contract bar” policy.

Steelworkers Union Officials Signed Unpopular Contract to Avoid Being Voted Out by Workers

Latrobe Specialty Metals workers first voted July 25 on the contract drawn up by Steelworkers union officials. The workers soundly rejected the contract, and Hunsberger began collecting employee signatures for a “decertification petition” shortly afterwards.

According to documents and transcripts filed with the NLRB, when Steelworkers union officials discovered a decertification petition was circulating, they secretly and unilaterally signed the disfavored contract on July 28, without telling the employees or the employer, in an attempt to trigger the “contract bar” rule and avoid being voted out.

In their haste to enact the employee-rejected contract to trigger the “contract bar,” union officials didn’t finalize critical details of the contract like the start and end dates. Even though the union claims this contract was supposedly in effect on July 28, union officials held a new employee ratification vote on August 1, encouraging workers to ratify the contract, but not telling them their “vote” was a meaningless formality because the officials had already signed the contract and claimed it was in effect.

Hunsberger submitted a valid decertification petition on August 1, just hours before the sham contract vote occurred. As with the previous vote, the workers again lopsidedly rejected the contract. But later that night, union officials suddenly announced to the employer that the contract was already in effect and the ratification vote was not required or necessary because of the union bosses’ covert signing on July 28.

According to the hearing transcript, one union boss admitted under oath that the Steelworkers union executes contracts despite employees voting them down, and that he did so in this case and ignored the employees’ vote against the contract “to protect the integrity of the union.” Apparently the Steelworkers bosses’ lust for monopoly bargaining power and compulsory dues payments takes precedence over employee democracy.

The Steelworkers Union’s post-hearing brief openly admits that union officials “executed the contract on July 28 to … pre-empt the decertification petition circulating at the facility” and that the August 1 “vote was only taken as a courtesy to employees [and] was an attempt to obtain their blessing of the contract that the [union officials] had already executed.”

In the same brief union bosses doubled down on their deceptive practices, stating that “the Union’s representations to employees here are irrelevant… and the union was within its discretion to take a vote of its members and was not obligated to abide by the results of such a vote” (emphasis added).

Foundation President: Decision Encouraging, But Exposes Anti-Worker Bias of Federal Labor Law

“We’re pleased that Ms. Hunsberger and her colleagues will finally have a chance to vote out Steelworkers union officials who have glaring contempt for the wishes of the rank-and-file workers,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “However, that this decision ordering the election has to rely on the technicalities of what elements were or were not in the rushed union agreement shows how ingrained pro-forced unionism policies like the ‘contract bar’ are in federal law.”

“It remains outrageous that, had Steelworkers bosses merely added dates to this contract, the NLRB would have likely ruled that it was perfectly allowable for union officials to lie to workers, ignore their votes to reject the contract, and then trap them under union control and forced dues payments for at least three more years,” Mix added. “This highlights the injustice of the NLRB-concocted ‘contract bar’ policy that arbitrarily blocks workers’ statutory right to vote out union officials they oppose, and how it is antithetical to the NLRB’s supposed goal of defending employee free choice.”