9 Mar 2026

Pennsylvania EMS/Rescue Workers Unanimously Vote to Remove Teamsters Union After Union Boss Delay Tactics

Posted in News Releases

Emergency workers submitted multiple petitions asking for vote to escape Teamsters union officials’ exclusive “representation” powers and demands for money

North Huntingdon Township, PA (March 10, 2026) – Following months of union-instigated delays, Shannon Martin and her coworkers at North Huntingdon EMS/Rescue unanimously voted Teamsters Local 205 union officials out of power at their workplace. Martin obtained the vote by filing a union decertification petition at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal assistance 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. In response to her colleagues’ staunch opposition to the union, Martin filed a total of three union decertification petitions with Foundation legal aid, all of which either showed unanimous worker support for a union decertification vote or otherwise passed the threshold to trigger a vote under NLRB rules.

However, NLRB Region 6 in Pittsburgh blocked Martin and her colleagues from having a vote for months at Teamsters officials’ behest. Regional NLRB officials cited the so-called “voluntary recognition bar” as the justification for delaying the vote. The voluntary recognition bar stops workers from exercising their right to vote out a union for a year or more after union officials have installed themselves via “card check,” a process that bypasses the traditional secret-ballot union election process.

Under card check, union officials can demand “union authorization cards” directly from workers, which are later counted as “votes” for the union. Unsurprisingly, this process leaves workers open to threats and manipulation from union officials. Even union organizing handbooks recognize that card check is not indicative of how workers would vote in a standard union election. Martin and her coworkers were unfortunately trapped in a work unit that had been organized via card check.

To make matters even worse, Pennsylvania lacks Right to Work protections, meaning Teamsters union bosses were empowered to impose monopoly bargaining contracts that forced Martin and her colleagues to pay money to the union as a condition of employment. In contrast, in Right to Work states, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary.

Flawed NLRB Policy Let Union Bosses Stay in Power Despite Obvious Worker Opposition

In mid-February – over a year after the Teamsters union had established itself via card check in Martin’s workplace – Martin filed her third decertification petition with Foundation aid, which finally resulted in the NLRB scheduling a vote to remove the union. On March 3, Martin and her coworkers voted unanimously to dethrone Teamsters union bosses.

The Foundation has consistently advocated for the elimination of the voluntary recognition bar, as well as other NLRB policies that appear nowhere in the text of federal labor law and serve only to stifle workers’ free choice. The Foundation supported the NLRB’s promulgation of the Election Protection Rule during the first Trump Administration, which gave independent-minded workers a chance to request a secret-ballot vote to challenge union officials’ claims of majority support following a card check campaign. However, the Biden NLRB repealed the Election Protection Rule.

“Ms. Martin and her coworkers’ dedication to winning back their freedom from unwanted Teamsters officials is admirable, and we were proud to help them win,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “But her case exposes the anti-worker nature of the so-called ‘voluntary recognition bar.’ This misguided NLRB policy let Teamsters bosses stay in power long after it was clear that there was uniform opposition to them in the workplace.

“Trump’s new appointees should look to situations like Ms. Martin’s as prime examples of why NLRB policies should be reformed to prioritize secret-ballot elections and worker free choice,” Mix added.

12 Jan 2026

Pittsburgh-Area ABARTA Coca-Cola Driver Triumphs in Federal Case Challenging Forced Teamsters Union Membership Demands

Posted in News Releases

Federal labor board orders employer to post notice properly informing employees of their rights and will soon prosecute Teamsters Local 585 union

Pittsburgh, PA (January 12, 2026) – Josh Hammaker, a driver for ABARTA Coca-Cola’s Houston, PA, distribution center, has notched a victory in his National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) case against Teamsters Local 585 union officials and his employer.

After filing federal charges stating that union officials and his employer threatened to fire him for refusing to join the union, ABARTA management backed down and settled its part of the case. Regional NLRB officials have also indicated that they will prosecute Teamsters officials for making forced-membership demands, pending the resolution of other elements of Hammaker’s case.

Hammaker pursued his case at the NLRB with free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys. Under the National Labor Relations Act and Supreme Court cases like General Motors v. NLRB, neither union officials nor employers can require workers to maintain formal union membership as a condition of getting or keeping a job. According to Hammaker’s charges, Teamsters union officials and ABARTA management violated federal labor law by effectively telling him they would get him fired if he did not join.

As part of the settlement, ABARTA officials must post notices at Hammaker’s workplace stating that they “will not tell employees that we will discharge them if they do not sign and submit applications to join the Union…”

Coca-Cola Driver Continues Battle Against Political Dues Skimming

However, one charge that Hammaker made against Teamsters Local 585 is still pending at the NLRB. This charge concerns Teamsters bosses unlawfully seizing dues for politics out of workers’ paychecks. Hammaker argues that Teamsters policies breached federal labor law by requiring workers to “affirmatively opt out of paying [dues] for non-chargeable expenditures” as opposed to seeking worker consent beforehand.

Federal law lets union bosses enforce contracts that force workers to pay union fees or be fired in states that lack Right to Work protections, like Pennsylvania. However, the Foundation-won CWA v. Beck Supreme Court decision limits this compulsory fee amount to only what union officials claim goes toward bargaining – which excludes “non-chargeable” expenses like political or ideological activities. In Right to Work states, by contrast, all union financial support is voluntary.

In an appeal currently pending before the new NLRB General Counsel, Foundation attorneys argue that workers should not be forced to affirmatively assert their Beck rights just to stop their money from flowing to union political and ideological activities. After being confirmed by the U.S. Senate last month, new NLRB General Counsel Crystal Carey was officially sworn in last Wednesday.

“We are proud to have supported Mr. Hammaker’s victory over these blatantly illegal attempts to coerce formal union membership,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “But his fight is far from over. The sad fact is that union bosses across the country skim dues for their often-radical political activities straight from worker paychecks without any positive consent at all. To make matters worse, union officials often don’t inform workers about their Beck rights, which is workers’ only escape from such deductions in non-Right to Work states.

“Right to Work protections should exist nationwide because they put American workers – not union bosses or bureaucrats – back in control of deciding whether a union has earned employees’ financial support,” Mix added. “But in the meantime, the NLRB should at least require union officials to earn political support from those workers they claim to ‘represent’ and end schemes that require workers to opt-out of funding union political activities.”

14 Oct 2025

Pennsylvania EMT/Rescue Workers File Second Petition for ‘Decertification’ Vote to Remove Teamsters Local 205

Posted in News Releases

At Teamsters’ behest, NLRB official blocked earlier election request citing non-statutory NLRB ‘bar’ to decertification after card check unionization

Huntingdon, PA (October 14, 2025) – Shannon Martin, an employee of North Huntingdon EMS/Rescue, has filed a second petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking a “decertification” election to remove Teamsters Local 205 union officials as the employees’ “representative.” Martin is receiving free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

Martin’s second request comes after the NLRB’s Regional Director for Region 6 in Pittsburgh shot down her first petition. At the behest of Teamsters union lawyers, the Regional Director dismissed the employees’ request for a secret ballot election. That decision cited the agency’s non-statutory “voluntary recognition bar” that prohibits worker-requested secret ballot elections from being held for at least six months and up to one year after a union gains monopoly bargaining power over workers through the abuse-prone “card check” process.

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. The Board-created “bar” cited to stifle Martin and her colleagues’ election request is nowhere to be found in the text of the NLRA, but is rather a bureaucratic invention of the agency that is often used by union officials to block workers from having their voices heard.

In the dismissal notice, the NLRB Regional Director stated that “since the petition was filed eight days short of six-months from the parties’ first bargaining session, a voluntary recognition bar exists and I am therefore dismissing the petition.” The premise upon which Martin’s petition was thrown out was that the union demanded and was granted recognition from North Huntingdon EMS/Rescue to be the workers’ monopoly representative without holding a secret ballot NLRB-administered election. Because the parties had been bargaining for less than six months, the Regional Director dismissed the petition, despite the text of the NLRA stating that the Board “shall direct an election” when a question concerning the union’s status as the employees’ representative is raised.

Because Pennsylvania lacks Right to Work protections, Teamsters union bosses are able to impose union monopoly bargaining contracts that force employees to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. Without a decertification election to remove the union, Martin and her colleagues will likely be forced to pay union dues or fees under threat of termination.

The Foundation has seen a rise in the requests for assistance from independent-minded workers seeking support in their efforts to be free of unwanted union bosses. This includes recent cases in Texas and Kentucky where other workers are seeking to remove the Teamsters from their workplace.

“Teamsters union brass, increasingly unable to hold onto their rank and file, are choosing to silence worker voices by not allowing them the chance to have their wishes expressed via secret ballot elections,” stated National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “This attempt to use any means to keep workers trapped in a union they oppose and never even voted for demonstrates why the NLRB should move to eliminate the various Board-created hurdles that workers face when attempting to exercise their statutory right to hold decertification elections.”

3 Jul 2025

Pittsburgh-Area Coca-Cola Driver Slams Teamsters With Federal Charges for Threatening Firing Over Refusal to Fund Union Politics

Posted in News Releases

Worker’s case seeks to change federal standards so that union bosses must convince workers to ‘opt-in’ to supporting union politics

Pittsburgh, PA (July 3, 2025) – Josh Hammaker, a driver for ABARTA Coca-Cola’s Houston, PA, distribution center, has filed federal charges against Teamsters Local 585 union officials at his workplace. Hammaker is charging Teamsters union officials with violating federal law by threatening to get him fired if he did not formally join the union, and with forcing him to pay for union expenditures – including union political activities. Hammaker filed his charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.

Hammaker’s charges state that Teamsters union officials breached federal labor law by “telling [him] that he is not permitted to become a Beck objector and that formal union membership is a condition of employment,” – i.e. they would demand his firing if he refused to join. Under the Foundation-won Communication Workers of America v. Beck Supreme Court decision, union bosses cannot force workers who have opted out of union membership to pay fees for union political or ideological expenditures.

While the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects workers’ right to abstain from formal union membership, states like Pennsylvania that lack Right to Work laws permit union officials to enforce contracts that mandate workers pay dues or fees to keep their jobs. However, this forced-dues power is limited by Beck. In contrast, in Right to Work states, all union financial support is strictly voluntary, so workers can freely withhold dues payments if they find union officials’ monopoly “representation” is harming them.

Coca-Cola Driver’s Case Challenges NLRB Precedent Regarding Dues for Politics

Hammaker’s charges go on to challenge the fact that Teamsters union officials’ policies force workers to “affirmatively opt out of paying for non-chargeable expenditures” (if such requests are accepted at all), as opposed to letting workers voluntarily opt in to such support. Moreover, “the Union has violated the Act by failing to inform [Hammaker] and similarly situated employees of the true amount of dues they are required to pay” under Beck to stay employed, the charges conclude.

Union officials often neglect to inform workers of their Beck rights, and sometimes don’t even seek worker consent before deducting full dues (including dues for political expenses) from their paychecks. If Hammaker’s case is successful, the NLRB could create a new federal standard mandating union officials to seek clear consent from workers before extracting full union dues payments from their paychecks.

“I don’t support Teamsters politicking. My job definitely shouldn’t hinge on whether or not my hard-earned money is funding it,” commented Hammaker. “It’s bad enough I have to pay any money to Teamsters officials just to keep my job, but the NLRB should at least prevent union officials from automatically taking political funds from an employee’s wages by default and instead place the responsibility on the union to obtain the employee’s consent.”

“Like the rest of top Big Labor bosses, Teamsters kingpins oppose popular Right to Work laws so they can extort dues from unwilling workers and use that money to fund a radical political agenda that is completely out of touch with the priorities of most rank-and-file employees,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “The solution to this problem is ensuring all union payments are completely voluntary, so union officials cannot have workers fired solely for refusing to pay dues or fees.

“While we wait for the day when Congress takes action to strip union officials of their government-granted forced-dues powers, the NLRB should help protect workers from the worst forced-dues-for-politics abuses,” added Mix. “It’s long past time that the NLRB require union officials to earn political support from those workers they claim to ‘represent’ and end schemes that require workers to opt-out of funding union political activities.”

4 May 2025

Philly-Area Manufacturing Employees Triumph Over UAW Intimidation Campaign

The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, January/February 2025 edition. To view other editions of Foundation Action or to sign up for a free subscription, click here.

UAW bosses now required to attend federal training after trying to fire non-striking workers

Despite an active federal corruption investigation, UAW President Shawn Fain and his underlings continue to push a radical political agenda using workers’ dues money while ignoring the rights of the rank-and-file employees union bosses claim to “represent.”

Despite an active federal corruption investigation, UAW President Shawn Fain and his underlings continue to push a radical political agenda using workers’ dues money while ignoring the rights of the rank-and-file employees union bosses claim to “represent.”

PHILADELPHIA, PA – It’s not particularly difficult to see why United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials are having trouble convincing workers that the union has their best interests in mind.

The union’s upper echelon is still reeling from a federal probe that hit about a dozen top union bosses with prison sentences for embezzling workers’ dues, and to this day it appears that UAW President Shawn Fain — a so-called “reformer” — is being scrutinized by federal monitors for manipulating his position to secure personal benefits.

But the corruption within the UAW goes far beyond the union’s top executives. Throughout 2024, National Right to Work Foundation-backed workers for auto accessory manufacturer Dometic fought illegal UAW demands that they strike or be fired.

UAW Union Used Mass Texts, Social Media to Bully Workers

In March 2024, seven Philadelphia-area Dometic employees filed unfair labor practice charges against the UAW Local 644 union, detailing that UAW bosses had ordered a strike and threatened to get fired anyone who decided to keep working.

Despite the employees’ resignation of their union memberships, UAW officials began internal proceedings against each of them soon after the strike began. Federal labor law forbids unions from imposing internal discipline on those who abstain from union membership.

The Dometic workers didn’t back down. With free Foundation legal aid, all the workers won settlements in October 2024 that fully vindicated their rights. UAW officials must now make postings correctly informing workers of their right to abstain from union activities, and the settlement even requires union chiefs to undergo mandatory training on the limits of “a union’s right to impose internal discipline,” among other topics.

As the workers’ legal battle dragged on, the Dometic workers continued to expose ugly details of the UAW’s intimidation campaign surrounding the strike. In April 2024, Dometic employee Mario Coccie filed a second round of charges against UAW Local 644 for a mass text message that threatened all Dometic employees — not just those who had filed charges against the union — with termination if they didn’t strike.

“The information in this text reveals union officials’ real intentions, which is to hurt anyone willing to stand up for themselves,” said Coccie at the time. “What is happening in this case is completely unjust.”

UAW officials also refused to respect Coccie and his coworkers’ rights under the Foundation-won CWA v. Beck Supreme Court decision, which prohibits union officials from requiring workers to pay for the union’s political expenditures just to keep their jobs. Because Pennsylvania lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, UAW bosses can force workers to pay union fees as a condition of employment, but must abide by Beck.

Legal Privileges Enable UAW Corruption

In addition to the notice postings and required training, the Foundation-won settlement orders union officials to delete social media posts threatening workers who refused to strike.

“We’re proud to have helped Mario Coccie and his coworkers vindicate their rights,” commented National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens. “But it has become all too clear that union corruption — which can take the form of anything from stealing millions in worker dues to intimidating workers to join a picket line — is only made easier when union bosses are granted more legal privileges.

“Policymakers need to protect workers’ freedom to cut off funding for union bosses who don’t serve their interests, and to fully abstain from union activities that individual employees do not see as in their own best interest,” Semmens added.

16 Oct 2024

Philly-Area Dometic Workers Win Case Against UAW for Illegal Threats During Union-Boss Ordered Strike

Posted in News Releases

UAW officials unlawfully threatened to fire workers that didn’t go on strike, must now attend mandatory training on workers’ rights

Philadelphia, PA (October 16, 2024) – Seven employees of auto accessory manufacturer Dometic’s Philadelphia-area plant have triumphed over United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials in a federal case against the union for threatening illegal discipline on workers during a strike.

The favorable settlement for the Dometic workers forces UAW union officials to provide remedies not only for the illegal threats, but also for blocking workers from exercising their right to resign their memberships in the union and unlawfully demanding full union dues. The employees, Eric Angell, Robert Haldeman, Mario Coccie, Nancy Powelson, Joseph Buchak, Md Rasidul Islam, and James Nold received free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

The seven employees originally filed federal Unfair Labor Practice charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the union following a September 2023 strike order issued by UAW officials at their workplace. The order was accompanied by statements, text messages, and even social media posts from union officials stating that employees would be disciplined or even fired if they continued to do their jobs.

The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the federal law that governs private sector labor relations in the United States. Under the NLRA, American private sector workers have a right to refrain from union activity, and the U.S. Supreme Court recognized in General Motors v. NLRB the right of employees to resign union membership during a strike and continue working.

The Foundation-won settlement fully vindicates Dometic workers’ rights. It requires notices to be posted both at union offices and at Dometic’s Royersford, PA, plant detailing employees’ rights, including their right to refrain from joining a union or participating in union activities. Such information must also be shared with employees by text message. The settlement additionally requires UAW bosses to delete a Facebook post threatening workers who continued to work during the strike with being fired. Finally, the settlement orders mandatory training for union officials on a number of topics, including “a union’s right to impose internal discipline.”

Illegal Strike Threats Just Tip of Iceberg for Union Malfeasance at Dometic

All seven workers reported in their original federal charges, against the UAW, that they were informed during a September 8, 2023, union meeting that a strike would begin the following week, and any employee who refused to participate would be subject to internal union charges, fined, and ultimately terminated. The next month, each worker resigned their membership, and UAW union officials notified them that the union had started internal proceedings against them. Under federal law, union officials have no right to impose discipline on those who aren’t union members.

The charges also recounted that union officials failed to follow processes laid out by the Foundation-won CWA v. Beck Supreme Court decision. Under Beck, workers under union monopoly bargaining control who have abstained from formal membership can only be required to pay the amount of dues that the union claims goes towards bargaining, and are also entitled to receive financial information on how the union calculates the compulsory fee they charge to nonmembers as a condition of employment.

Because Pennsylvania lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector employees, union officials can impose contracts that force workers who have refrained from formal union membership to pay fees to the union or lose their jobs. However, as per Beck, this fee must exclude any money that funds a union’s political or lobbying activities, and can only include bargaining-related expenses. Beck also requires union officials to provide financial disclosures to workers who send a Beck notice.

UAW Bosses Again Caught Red-Handed Violating Employee Rights

“The UAW hierarchy, which is still under federal monitoring following a massive embezzlement probe that already resulted in a dozen union bosses’ convictions, has given workers plenty of reasons to doubt whether union officials truly have their best interests in mind,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “That was on display again at the Pennsylvania Dometic plant, where UAW officials resorted to patently illegal methods to force workers out on strike.”

“We’re proud to have helped these employees vindicate their rights, however, blatantly illegal threats like this are unfortunately common during union boss-instigated strikes,” added Mix. “That’s worth remembering as the UAW’s radical top boss Shawn Fain continues his fevered 2028 dreams of a Marxist-inspired May Day General Strike which, if it actually were to happen, would almost certainly be backed up with similar illegal threats against rank-and-file workers.”

15 May 2024

Healthcare Employees in PA, MN Oust Unions with Foundation Aid

The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, March/April 2024 edition. To view other editions of Foundation Action or to sign up for a free subscription, click here.

Over 270 workers now free of AFSCME at Philly hospital; Steelworkers union booted in MN

After being told by a union official that “the union isn’t going anywhere,” outpatient service coordinator Shidiah Jackson (back right) and her coworkers led a successful effort to kick the AFSCME union out of St. Christopher Hospital.

PHILADELPHIA, PA – In December 2023, National Right to Work Foundation-supported workers added two new victories to the growing string of successful union decertification efforts around the country.

In Philadelphia, a 270+ worker unit comprised of medical assistants, office coordinators, medical secretaries, and many other support employees voted by a nearly 60% margin to remove the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union from St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children.

Outpatient service coordinator Shidiah Jackson led the union decertification effort with free legal advice from the Foundation.

In Austin, MN, patient care specialist Erin Krulish and other support workers at the Austin Mayo Clinic location forced Steelworkers union officials out of their facility. That ouster follows multiple recent union removals involving other Minnesota healthcare employees, including nurses at Mankato Mayo Clinic, support staff at Mankato Mayo Clinic, and nurses at St. James Mayo Clinic, all of whom received free Foundation legal aid.

Both Krulish and Jackson kick-started these efforts by submitting decertification petitions to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Each petition contained enough signatures from employees interested in having a union removal vote to prompt the NLRB to hold such a vote.

Healthcare Professionals Free of Monopoly Bargaining and Forced Dues

Both Pennsylvania and Minnesota lack Right to Work protections for their private sector workers, meaning that union officials had the power to enter into contracts with management that would force Krulish, Jackson, and their coworkers to pay union dues or fees just to keep their jobs. In contrast, in Right to Work states, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary.

Steelworkers Officials Depart MN Clinic to Avoid Likely Embarrassing Vote

If a majority of workers vote against a union in a decertification vote or otherwise force a union out, the union loses not only its ability to demand forced dues from employees, but also its monopoly bargaining power.

Such power permits union officials to dictate the contract provisions of all employees in a unit, even those who oppose or voted against the union’s presence in the first place.

The effort by Krulish and her coworkers at Mayo Clinic Austin to remove the Steelworkers union was unique in that they had already stripped union officials of their forced dues power through a “deauthorization election,” which can be petitioned for in the same way as a decertification election. In December 2022, Krulish and her fellow employees voted 49-17 to revoke the union’s power to compel them to pay dues.

Deauthorization is the only way employees in non-Right to Work states can stop a union from seizing dues from workers as a condition of employment, outside of completely decertifying the union.

Krulish and her coworkers resorted to this option because the NLRB’s questionable “contract bar” doctrine prevented them from kicking the union out in December 2022, simply because the union’s contract was still active.

After experiencing a big loss in the deauthorization election, Steelworkers officials likely knew another devastating defeat was coming after Krulish filed her decertification petition. They departed the hospital before the election could take place.

Philly Workers Reject One-Size-Fits-All Union Bureaucracy

In an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer, Jackson related that she had no contact with the union until she tried to ask for a raise she felt she had earned, at which point hospital administrators said her salary and benefits were a union matter. When she voiced her displeasure with the situation to the union and asked what the union actually did for her, a union official suggested her views didn’t matter anyway because “the union isn’t going anywhere.”

“OK, we’ll see about that,” she told the union agent, according to the Inquirer. Soon after, she proceeded with her decertification effort, which ultimately resulted in the overwhelming vote among her colleagues for ending the union’s so-called “representation.”

“It seems that American medical employees are discovering that union officials’ one-size-fits-all ‘representation’ doesn’t always work to their benefit, nor does it help them take better care of their patients,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “It’s easy to see why healthcare workers would want to avoid compulsory dues payments, or being ordered to strike and abandon their patients during a busy time.

“Those in the healthcare industry should know that they have a right to petition the NLRB for a vote to remove a union, and that National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys can assist them through this daunting process,” Mix added.

23 Apr 2024

Tire Wholesaler Employees Force RWDSU Union Out of 15 Locations

The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, January/February 2024 edition. To view other editions of Foundation Action or to sign up for a free subscription, click here.

RWDSU union officials abandon 500+ employee unit ahead of vote at tire wholesaler

Tire-d of the RWDSU: Chris Dorneysubmitted a huge number of signatures from his coworkers at tire wholesaler Max Finkelstein when petitioning the NLRB for a vote to remove the RWDSU union.

Tire-d of the RWDSU: Chris Dorney submitted a huge number of signatures from his coworkers at tire wholesaler Max Finkelstein when petitioning the NLRB for a vote to remove the RWDSU union.

WINCHESTER, VA – The Biden National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which includes among its members two former union bosses from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), is pursuing an agenda that hasn’t exactly been making it easy for workers to vote out a union they don’t want. But that hasn’t stopped workers across the country from going to extraordinary lengths to kick out unions that don’t serve their interests.

In October 2023, Chris Dorney, a Winchester, VA-based employee of tire wholesaler Max Finkelstein, kick-started a cross-country effort to vote the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) out of 15 warehouse facilities across the eastern United States. This work unit included more than 500 employees across Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Vermont, Maine, and Connecticut.

Virginia Worker Mustered Strong Showing on Petition for Union Ouster Vote at Tire Wholesaler

With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, Dorney submitted a petition to the NLRB containing more than enough employee signatures to trigger a vote to remove the union from the large unit.

While Dorney and his fellow Virginia employees enjoyed the Right to Work freedom to opt-out of dues payments to the union, the same couldn’t be said for any of the other employees, all of whom hail from states where dues payments can be mandated as a condition of employment. But voting RWDSU bosses out of power entirely at the tire wholesaler would end the union’s forced-dues power.

“We warehouse workers and drivers at Max Finkelstein may be from many different facilities in many different states, but we are in agreement about one thing: RWDSU union officials don’t represent our interests,” Dorney said of the effort. “It’s our right under federal law to challenge RWDSU’s forced representation power.”

RWDSU Bosses Flee Unit as Union Officials Rack Up Losses Nationwide

However, before the vote could occur, RWDSU union officials disclaimed interest in continuing their monopoly representation powers over the unit, likely to avoid an embarrassing rejection by workers at the ballot box.

Unionized workers are increasingly requesting elections to remove unwanted unions — a potential reason for the Biden NLRB’s efforts to crack down on decertification votes. Additionally, union bosses are increasingly losing these contests. As of last year, filings for union decertification votes had shot up by over 40 percent since 2020. Of decertification elections that occurred, the number which resulted in union bosses losing went up by 72 percent.

“Mr. Dorney and his coworkers’ effort to kick out the RWDSU union, which spanned several states, 15 facilities, and hundreds of workers, is yet another example that workers often want to escape union officials’ one-size-fits-all agenda. It’s also a demonstration that workers will go to great lengths in order to exercise this right,” commented National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens. “But the Biden NLRB, bent on empowering the President’s union boss political allies, plans to grant unions even more power to defeat workers’ will.”

21 Mar 2024

Karma Catches Up to SEIU Officials as Philly Coffee Shop Workers Oust Union

The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, November/December 2023 edition. To view other editions of Foundation Action or to sign up for a free subscription, click here.

Good Karma Café coffee shop employees vote out SEIU officials also opposed by many Starbucks workers

SEIU officials’ aggressive campaign targeting coffee shop employees across the country for union control is fast unravelling, as workers nationwide are now exercising their right to vote unions out, often with Foundation aid.

PHILADELPHIA, PA – Workers United (WU), the same union that runs Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) unions across the country, has been the subject of considerable media attention for its top-down organizing campaign against Starbucks. Little do people know that WU’s puppet masters at the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have expended millions of dollars in hiring union activists to agitate for union control at these shops — including “salts,” paid union agents that pose as normal employees but often quit soon after they’ve achieved their actual goal of installing the union.

However, aggressive and deceptive WU union tactics did not stop Marco Camponeschi and his coworkers at two locations of Good Karma Café in Philadelphia from voting out the union with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

Camponeschi submitted a petition in August asking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 4 in Philadelphia to hold a vote to remove the union. The petition contained signatures from enough of his colleagues to prompt the election, and this September, the Good Karma employees voted to send WU officials packing.

Signs of SEIU “Salt” Tactics in Philly

“After the Workers United union was installed, there was a lot of employee turnover, and we soon found ourselves very short-staffed,” Camponeschi commented before the vote. Employee turnover after a union’s installation often indicates “salts” may have been present.

Pennsylvania, because of its lack of Right to Work protections for its private sector employees, permits union officials to make deals with employers that require workers to pay union dues just to stay employed. So by nixing the union, Camponeschi and his coworkers ended both forced union representation and the threat of forced dues. In states with Right to Work laws, in contrast, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary and the choice of each individual worker.

Coffee Workers Leading Nationwide Charge to Boot Out Unwanted Unions

Since the beginning of this year, Starbucks employees in Manhattan, NY; Buffalo, NY; Pittsburgh, PA; Bloomington, MN; Salt Lake City, UT; Oklahoma City, OK; and Greenville, SC, have all sought free Foundation legal aid in pursuing decertification efforts against Workers United union bosses at the NLRB.

Outside of coffee shops, union decertification efforts are becoming much more common. Currently, the NLRB’s data shows a unionized private sector worker is far more likely to be involved in a decertification effort than their nonunion counterpart is to be involved in a unionization campaign. NLRB statistics also show that the number of worker-filed decertification petitions has increased each of the last three years.

“Workers United union officials seem to have a penchant for trying to expand their control over employees without regard for the employees’ interests,” commented National Right to Work Foundation Vice President and Legal Director William Messenger. “So it’s unsurprising that coffee employees nationwide are banding together to vote Workers United out.

“While we’re glad the Good Karma employees were able to successfully exercise their right to oust the unwanted union, it should be noted that NLRB officials across the country are blocking Starbucks employees from exercising that same right at the behest of Workers United union officials,” Messenger added. “Workers should be allowed to vote out unwanted unions, and the NLRB should not stifle that right based on union officials’ whims. That’s especially important as the Biden NLRB seeks to make several rule changes which will make it harder for workers to vote out union officials.”

18 Jan 2024

Second Group of Philly Ultimo Coffee Employees Successfully Remove Unwanted “Workers United” Union

Posted in News Releases

Employees submitted nearly unanimous petition seeking union decertification vote, become fourth recent group of Philly coffee workers to kick out unwanted union

Philadelphia, PA (January 18, 2024) – Ultimo Coffee employee Jacob Johnston and his coworkers have successfully removed unwanted “Workers United” (WU) union officials from the Southwest Center City location of the coffee shop. Johnston and his coworkers’ effort, which comes on the heels of WU’s ouster by employees at Ultimo’s Germantown-area shop, received free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation.

Johnston initiated the effort by filing a petition earlier this week asking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a vote to remove the union among his colleagues. The petition contained signatures from nearly all the employees (“full-time and regular part-time Baristas, Bakers, Coffee Quality Managers, Inventory Coordinators/Baristas, and Trainers”) at the shop, greatly exceeding the required threshold to trigger a union decertification vote under federal law. However, before the NLRB could schedule a vote, union officials instead filed a “disclaimer of interest” in continuing their control of the store, likely to avoid an embarrassing loss at the ballot box. Pending the NLRB’s approval of the disclaimer, Johnston and his colleagues are free of the union.

Because Pennsylvania lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, WU union bosses could compel Johnston and his coworkers to pay union dues and fees as a condition of keeping their jobs. In Right to Work states, in contrast, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary. However, in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work states, union officials are empowered by federal law to impose union representation on all employees in a work unit, including those who oppose the union. A successful decertification vote strips union officials of that monopoly power.

“Workers United union officials have had over a year in power in our workplace, and in that time have made it increasingly clear that our interests are not aligned,” commented Johnston. “That’s why we’re joining other Ultimo employees in exercising our right to remove this union.”

Coffee Employees Across Philly and U.S. Seeking Freedom from Union Control

Johnston and his colleagues join Starbucks workers and other coffee employees across the country in banding together to oust the WU union (also referred to as “Starbucks Workers United,” or SBWU), which has targeted coffee shops nationwide for unionization. WU’s unionization activities are funded and directed in significant part by the large Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Within the last year, Starbucks employees in Manhattan, NY; two Buffalo, NY locations; Pittsburgh, PA; Bloomington, MN; Salt Lake City, UT; Greenville, SC; Oklahoma City, OK; and San Antonio, TX, have all sought free Foundation legal aid in navigating NLRB processes to decertify the WU union. Workers from a Center City Starbucks in Philadelphia are also pursuing a decertification petition against WU with Foundation legal assistance.

Coffee employees in the Philadelphia area have scored a string of recent victories in removing unpopular union officials. In May 2023, workers at Guava and Java’s location at Philadelphia International Airport successfully voted to oust UNITE HERE union officials, and a few months later Good Karma Café employees cast ballots to remove the WU union. This month, Ultimo Coffee barista Samuel Tarasenko and his colleagues successfully forced WU out of the coffee shop’s Germantown-area location.

Many workers targeted by this campaign are demanding decertification votes roughly one year after a WU union was installed at their store, which is the earliest possible opportunity afforded by federal law to do so.

WU Officials Using Legal Maneuvers to Stop Coffee Employees from Removing Union

Unfortunately, union officials have many ways to manipulate federal labor law to prevent workers from voting them out, including by filing unverified charges. Currently, WU union officials are attempting to block Starbucks workers nationwide (including at the Center City Starbucks in Philadelphia) from exercising their right to decertify the union by filing a blizzard of charges against company management.

“The ‘Workers United’ union’s aggressive unionization campaign may have generated plenty of headlines, but the growing number of decertification efforts by coffee workers in Philadelphia and around the country demonstrates that many rank-and-file workers have come to the conclusion that remaining unionized is contrary to their best interests,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “While it’s encouraging that some coffee shop employees have been successful after fighting for their right to remove WU union bosses, others are being trapped by union legal tactics which only demonstrate further that the union is more concerned with maintaining power than respecting worker rights.”

“Workers who encounter coercive maneuvers from WU union officials should contact Foundation attorneys for free legal aid in defending their free choice rights,” Mix added.