Coercive «Card Check» Instant Organizing Puts Bull’s-eyes on Employees’ Backs
Brian Howard, a Toyota employee in Georgetown, Kentucky, who runs NoUAW.com to keep his workplace free of unwanted unionization, was featured over the weekend in the Cincinnati Enquirer.
"The UAW knows they do not have and will never have the votes to win an election," says Howard’s co-worker Marvin Robbins. "So they want to take the rights of the workers away and not have an election."
"The majority are sick of the harassment," Robbins said. "You would
think the UAW would get the message after 20 years, but they are so
desperate for membership they continue to show up where they are
clearly not wanted or needed."
UAW officials are among the most aggressive in using coercive "card check" unionization drives, as Right to Work Foundation-aided employee Mike Ivey can tell you. And if the Card Check Instant Organizing bill becomes the law of the land, not only will employees like Mr. Howard and Mr. Robbins have bull’s-eyes on their backs, but it will undermine the freedom to choose of all of their coworkers.
Follow Up on Timber Trucker’s Win Against Teamsters Union
Montana timber trucker Michael Weller, who received free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, won an agreement that requires Teamsters Local 2 union officials to reimburse him all forced dues and initiation fees, plus interest.
The Associated Press reported:
Weller said he paid the [forced dues] charges out of fear of losing his job, and sought financial disclosure documents from the union to determine if he was paying the correct amount.
However, even though it was an encouraging victory for Weller, without a Right to Work law in Montana, there are countless more workers who are forced to pay hundreds of dollars to an unwanted union each year or lose their jobs.
The Daily Inter Lake and the Flathead Beacon also covered Weller’s victory.
Foundation-Won U.S. Supreme Court Ruling Resonates on the Strip in Las Vegas
A Las Vegas Review-Journal editorial today highlights the importance of the National Right to Work Foundation’s Beck U.S. Supreme Court victory.
Unfortunately, union officials commonly ignore and violate that principle, as borne out by the number of Beck enforcement cases the Foundation has. However, the article recognizes that as a Right to Work state, employees can go beyond cutting off union dues for politics.
With union officials in this context squabbling over which candidate to support, employees in Nevada deserve to know that they can not only cut off their dues going towards union political activities- they are free to pay none at all.
Right to Work Again Advances Arguments @ U.S. Supreme Court
The National Right to Work Foundation just filed a "friend of the court" brief supporting employee free choice at the U.S. Supreme Court in the Chamber v. Brown case. At issue is a controversial 9th Circuit decision that basically forces coercive union organizing on private companies receiving state funds.
Foundation attorneys have successfully helped contest similiar laws in Wisconsin, and through this brief in New York. Additionally, with 13 trips to the U.S. Supreme Court on record, most recently the 2007 Davenport defensive victory, Foundation attorneys are no strangers to the highest court in the land.
Butte-Based Teamsters Union Backs Down After Timber Trucker Files Federal Charges for Illegal Threats to Job
Butte, MT (January 16, 2008) – To avoid federal prosecution by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a local union had no choice but to withdraw illegal termination threats against a Kalispell-based employee of Hanson Trucking and Resin Haulers Inc. and return all forced dues plus interest to the timber trucker.
The agreement, won by National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys, requires Teamsters Local 2 union officials to reimburse Michael Weller full union back dues plus 10 percent interest on all dues paid. Teamsters officials also promised to provide full financial disclosure of the use of Weller’s forced dues, as required by law.
With help from Foundation attorneys, Weller filed charges in October 2007 at the NLRB against the Teamsters Local 2 union to protect himself from union threats that he would be fired from his job for refusing to join the union. The charges cite that Teamsters Local 2 union officials attempted to collect ongoing and back forced union dues, while failing to provide Weller with a verified audited breakdown of union chargeable and non-chargeable expenses.
After learning of his right to refrain from formal union membership independent of Teamsters Local 2, Weller sent letters to union officials asserting his right not to be forced to pay more than the documented cost of monopoly bargaining. Because the union responded with threats against his job, Weller had no choice but to pay under protest hundreds of dollars in forced union dues – using a money order.
“This legal battle would never have been necessary if the State of Montana did not have an outrageous policy of forced unionism,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Until Montana passes a Right to Work law that ensures that payment of union dues is strictly voluntary, union officials will inevitably continue to victimize and extort money from dissenting employees.”
In the Foundation-won Communications Workers of America v. Beck decision, which applies to forced unionism states, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employees working under the National Labor Relations Act are entitled to resign from formal union membership, but can still be forced to pay for activities related to union monopoly bargaining. However, they cannot be compelled to pay for other costs such as union political activities.
Additionally, a union collecting forced dues must have an independent third party audit its expenditures and verify that the percentage of dues that non-members are forced to pay does not include political spending and other non-collective bargaining expenses.
Auto Union Runs Over Casino Workers
Since last spring, United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials have had Foxwoods Resort Casino workers in its sights. Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation runs Foxwoods Resort Casino, which happens to be one of the most successful casinos in the world.
Following an election held in November, Foxwoods filed unfair labor practices at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)—citing a whopping 12 objections to the UAW union’s organizing tactics.
TheDay.com has the story:
The tribe also questioned why the ballots were not multilingual and alleged that UAW representatives harassed and intimidated eligible voters before the election.
Sadly, it’s all too common for union organizers to mislead or even harass employees during a unionization drive.
With the charges, the NLRB began its hearings over the dispute yesterday. A casino employee described the UAW union’s threatening tactics:
…one dealer…“was chased by car out of the employee parking lot and almost forced into a concrete barrier.”
The outcome of the NLRB hearing could have national implications, as union officials could be granted monopoly bargaining privileges over the largest tribal casino in the nation—leaving the door open for the UAW union (and others) to sink their teeth in at other tribal casinos.
Colorado Executive Order Leaves Door Open for Forced Union Dues
Following up on last week’s post, Stan Greer of the National Institute for Labor Relations Research spoke out last week against a recent executive order in Colorado extending union monopoly bargaining over state employees. (NRTW Foundation Vice President and Legal Director Raymond J. LaJeunesse, Jr. spoke at the event.)
According to an article in the Denver Business Journal:
Greer also said that even if legislators approve a law prohibiting
government workers from striking — and Ritter signs it — 48 percent
of public sector strikes are technically illegal, meaning that
legislation is not an effective deterrent against strikes."By all economic measures, Colorado would be better off without
forced dues and fees and everyone would be better off with right to
work laws."
How true- if strike prohibitions work, how did union officials shut down New York City just before Christmas in 2005″ They didn’t seem to mind the illegality of that strike. The imposition of forced union dues has also prompted state employees in Washington and Maine to fight back.
Caught on Tape: Union Boss Accepts Cash Bribes
The following movie clip is actual FBI undercover footage of a United Transportation Union (UTU) bagman accepting a cash bribe on behalf of the union’s president.
The footage underscores why the National Right to Work Foundation is leading the fight to free America’s workers from forced unionism, and how compulsory unionism and corruption go hand-in-hand.
Imposition of Forced Union Dues a «Dirty Deal»
The Denver Post published an article earlier this week featuring the NRTW Foundation’s work on behalf of state employees in Washington in 2006, including Patricia Woodward. Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) union officials ordered Ms. Woodward fired for refusal to pay dues. In the Post article, her niece, Darla Branif, called the imposition of forced dues on Washington state employees a "dirty deal."
In 2006 WFSE spokesman Tim Welch told dissenting employees exactly what he thought when asked by a local newspaper:
"You can choose to be a member of the union, you can choose to pay a fee. But ultimately, if you don’t like that, you can choose to be unemployed."
Sadly, with no Right to Work law in place in Washington, Welch is right. However, employees in Washington did fight back with the Foundation’s help. Watch Patricia Woodward’s statement at a related press conference below.
Republican NLRB Appointee Allows Union Featherbedding
In a disturbing move that further underscores the Bush administration’s mismanagement of the National Labor Relations Board, NLRB General Counsel Ronald Meisburg has inexplicably added activist Democrat Dennis Walsh to his staff in recent days. Walsh is a militant union-boss partisan who had just vacated an expired recess appointment to the five member NLRB — a recess appointment that he should never have received from President Bush in the first place. Rather than receiving a make-work job within the bureaucracy while he pines away for yet another Board seat, Walsh should instead return to private employment. As a voting member, Walsh had worked to undermine employee free choice and to empower union bosses to coerce workers into union ranks. It’s outrageous that he would be rewarded with a new post at Bush’s NLRB.
