WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 15, 2003) — Attorneys with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation today filed as amicus curiae (friend of the court) in opposition to the AFL-CIO’s motion for a preliminary injunction to block implementation of new union financial disclosure requirements.

Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao issued the final regulations on October 9, 2003, in response to a national epidemic of union corruption. This revision in the long-standing union disclosure requirements was the first such reform in over four decades.

As the only amicus curiae so far in the case, Foundation attorneys filed arguments on the deadline in the U.S. District Court for the Department of Labor to respond to the motion for a preliminary injunction. Foundation attorneys argue that Secretary Chao responded to a clear need for union accountability and transparency, and she acted within her authority by issuing the new requirements to disclose more financial information to rank-and-file union members.

“The AFL-CIO hierarchy is going all out to keep rank-and-file workers in the dark about union finances,” said Foundation President Mark Mix. “Not only did Secretary Chao have the authority to do what she did, but she should have gone much further, such as requiring independent audits as well as more functional reporting of union expenditures.”

The National Right to Work Foundation has also been critical of the curious raising of the threshold for itemization of expenditures in the final disclosure rules. At the last minute, the itemization level was set at $5,000 from an originally proposed level of $250, allowing the concealment of many union disbursements on the new forms.

The AFL-CIO union hierarchy claims the new regulations are “prohibitively expensive,” arguing that unions will be required to keep records in a new way. However, contrary to these claims, to comply with several landmark U.S. Supreme Court rulings, unions are already required to track expenditures in a fashion that the new forms will require.

Under the Foundation-won rulings in Communications Workers v. Beck and Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson, union officials already must maintain accounting systems, record keeping, and infrastructure to provide forced-dues-paying nonmembers with information about how resources are spent on various union functions. With these reporting mechanisms already in place, Foundation attorneys assert that most unions should be able to satisfy the new reporting requirements with little additional financial burden.

Pensacola, Fla. (December 12, 2003) – With free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys, an employee at the Naval Air Station has today asked the federal government to prosecute a large international union for requiring employees to object annually if they do not want union officials to spend their compulsory union dues for political activities.

Robert Prime, an employee of Vertex Aerospace, LLC, filed the unfair labor practice charges against the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union, as well as District Lodge 75 and Local Lodge 2777, at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Prime alleges that union officials have violated his rights by refusing to honor his request to be a “continuing objector,” instead forcing him to renew every single year his objection to funding union political activities.

A United States District Court ruling in 2000 struck down the IAM union’s nationwide policy requiring annual objections from employees seeking a rebate of dues spent for activities unrelated to collective bargaining, but the ruling technically only applied to employees covered by the Railway Labor Act. In another case, a U.S. Court of Appeals also ruled earlier against the union’s policy

“Union officials use these annual objection schemes to hamstring and demoralize employees so that their forced-dues money continues to flow into union political coffers,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the Foundation. “This arrogant union hierarchy has repeatedly violated the rights of nonmembers, and is attempting to make an example of Robert Prime in order to keep other rank-and-file workers in line.”

In January, Prime filed a related round of unfair labor practice charges against IAM union officials for illegally collecting full union dues from him as a nonmember. This recidivist union settled the charges by paying retroactive refunds to Prime and many other employees.

The union requirement that employees object year after year – rather than once – has dramatically hampered the effect of the well-known Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court Communications Workers v. Beck decision. That decision established that employees cannot be compelled to pay for costs unrelated to collective bargaining, such as union political activity.

Prime’s situation is somewhat unique, as Florida has a highly popular Right to Work law that bans compulsory unionism. However, because Vertex Aerospace employees work on federal property under exclusive federal jurisdiction, the state’s Right to Work law does not protect them.

Milwaukee, Wisc. (December 12, 2003) — With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a worker at the Miller Compressing recycling plant today filed federal charges after he was fired in retaliation for circulating a petition seeking a workplace election on forced union dues.

Daniel Zizzo filed unfair labor practice charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against both the union and his former employer. Zizzo alleges officials from the Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical & Energy Workers (PACE) Union Local 7-364, an AFL-CIO affiliate, successfully pressured his employer to fire him in retaliation for obtaining signatures on an NLRB prescribed form requesting a deauthorization election.

Deauthorization elections are conducted by NLRB officials. If successful, they simply void collective bargaining agreement provisions that require workers to pay dues to a union as a condition of employment – thereby creating conditions of voluntary unionism and forcing union officials to be more responsive to the concerns of rank-and-file workers. To succeed, at least 30 percent of workers in a bargaining unit must sign a petition requesting the secret ballot election, and a majority of the entire bargaining unit (not just of those actually voting) must cast a vote in favor of deauthorization.

“Union officials feared losing the power to mandate dues payments from all workers. Without the power to get employees fired for refusal to pay union dues, union officials could actually be held accountable,” stated Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation.

Zizzo asserts that while he was circulating a deauthorization petition, the papers, including the signatures he had gathered from co-workers, were taken out of his work locker. According to Zizzo, he had already gathered the necessary signatures to trigger the election and ultimately to succeed in the deauthorization. He also asserts that union officials trumped up charges against him to get him fired.

The federal charges state that Zizzo’s retaliatory firing at the union hierarchy’s behest violates provisions of federal law intended to protect the rights of individual workers to refrain from participating in union activities. Zizzo also asks that Miller Compressing be prosecuted for providing the union hierarchy with unlawful assistance in firing him.

“Daniel Zizzo’s firing shows just how zealously union officials guard their government-granted power to collect forced union dues,” added Gleason. “Until Wisconsin workers enjoy the protections of a Right to Work law, workers throughout the state will inevitably continue to suffer such abuse.”

San Francisco, Calif. (December 8, 2003) — Three local station engineers for Univision’s KDTV-Channel 14 have filed federal charges against a local union for failing to give them adequate notice of their right to pay less than full union dues and threatening to have them fired unless they pay a union initiation fee (amounting to three weeks’ pay) as well as several months of back dues.

Enjoying free legal assistance from attorneys with the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, the employees, led by William Sanders, filed the unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board based in San Francisco.

The charges fault officials from the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET) Union Local 51, and its national affiliate, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union for failing to give workers adequate notice of their right to pay reduced dues, not providing a legally mandated audit of union expenditures, and illegally attempting to collect full dues and the initiation fee from the nonmembers.

Though Sanders and his co-workers never joined the NABET union, and objected to paying for union political activity, they have received numerous letters threatening them with discharge if they do not pay an initiation fee, equal to three weeks’ pay, as well as full dues since a new contract provision was instituted.

“Union officials want professionals like William Sanders to simply shut up and pay up,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This shows that union officials are more concerned with using workers as their personal ATMs than standing up for the interests of those whom they supposedly represent.”

By failing to give Sanders and his fellow workers adequate information about their right to pay reduced dues, NABET union officials violated worker protections recognized by the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Communications Workers of America v. Beck, a case Foundation attorneys argued and won. Under Beck, workers have the option to refrain from formal union membership and may be forced only to pay an agency fee to cover the union’s proven collective bargaining costs.

Furthermore, under U.S. Supreme Court precedents, union officials must provide non-member workers an independent audit of union expenditures to ensure they are not funding activities unrelated to collective bargaining, such as politics. Both NABET and CWA union officials never provided Sanders or his fellow workers with such an audit.

“No one should be forced to pay dues to an unwanted union just to get or keep their job,” stated Gleason. “This is especially true when union officials go out of their way to keep workers in the dark about their rights.”

Santa Monica, Calif. (December 4, 2003) – Six employees at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel today filed federal charges to challenge a joint effort by union and company officials to corral the hotel staff into union membership against their wishes.

Evidence suggests that Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) Union Local 11 operatives repeatedly attempted to bribe and intimidate employees into supporting the union during a recent organizing drive. Feeling coerced, the group of employees contacted the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, and the Foundation’s legal-aid attorneys filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) alleging unfair labor practices against both the union and the hotel.

The union organizers used the harassment and alleged bribes as part of an effort to induce employees to sign union authorization cards that would be counted as a vote for unionization. Because workers were harassed into signing union authorization cards, and many revoked signed cards, the employees also dispute the union’s claim that a majority of Sheraton workers actually support the union. The employees, therefore, contend that HERE officials should be prevented from bargaining on their behalf.

“Union officials knew they could not win a traditional, government-supervised secret ballot election of the employees,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “That’s why they resorted to bullying employees one-by-one into signing union recognition cards.”

During the union organizers’ push for signatures, HERE officials reportedly made significant rent payments on behalf of multiple workers and offered fruit baskets and other special favors to certain hotel employees. Now that the HERE union is recognized by hotel management as the workplace representative for all employees, HERE officials are demanding that all employees be forced to pay union dues or fees as a job condition.

The card-check organizing campaign came about as a result of a so-called “neutrality agreement,” under which union organizers did not have to face a secret ballot election of the employees and were granted broad access to the workplace to pressure employees into signing union cards. Union organizers even followed employees to their homes. While the NLRB charges are pending, Foundation attorneys are also investigating whether the City of Santa Monica imposed the scheme on Sheraton. Such action by a local government body would be preempted by federal law.

Pittsburgh, Penn. (December 1, 2003) – Obtaining free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, two Renaissance Hotel workers today asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for permission to intervene in a high-profile suit, to challenge a joint effort by union and city officials to corral all hotel staff into union membership against their wishes.

After workers throughout the hotel suffered a harassment campaign at the hands of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE) Union Local 57 officials, hotel employees Faith Jetter and David Harlich filed the petition to intervene in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The workers’ seek to block implementation of a so-called “neutrality agreement” which required their employer, Sage Hospitality Resources (Sage), to actively assist union organizers.

Meanwhile, many other workers have been reluctant to step forward publicly. Foundation attorneys have received numerous reports of incidents involving HERE union officials including physical intimidation, harassment in the workplace, and intimidating home visits — all aimed at coercing employees to sign union authorization cards which would be counted as a vote for unionization.

“Faith Jetter and David Harlich show real courage by coming forward to stand up for worker freedom,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “The reluctance of their coworkers to speak out shows just how far union operatives have gone to strike fear into the hearts of dissenting workers.”

Jetter and Harlich seek intervenor status to block implementation of the “neutrality agreement,” under which union organizers have broad access to their workplace to pressure employees into union membership. Union officials have also gained access to personal employee information such as names and home addresses.

Harlich and Jetter allege that the City of Pittsburgh unlawfully required Sage to give up certain rights that are protected by federal law, and that the neutrality agreement interferes with the rights of individual workers to decide their own representation.

Cleveland, Ohio (November 24, 2003) — A civil rights lawsuit affecting 223 Cleveland State University (CSU) employees came to a close this week, as a local union has been forced to mail refunds totaling $38,755 in previously seized union dues.

The U.S. District Court-approved settlement ends a two-year-long standoff in the case brought by National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys for university employees alleging that the union had illegally deducted forced dues from the paychecks of nonunion workers. These illegal deductions made it possible for the union to spend nonmembers’ funds on politics and other activities unrelated to collective bargaining.

“CWA union officials simply wanted nonmembers to shut up and pay up,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Their actions serve as clear examples of the greed and corruption that flow from compulsory unionism.”

Led by five non-union maintenance workers – Ronald Walker, Ed Burkhart, Thomas Ensley, Julius Gipson, and Joseph Sirna – the workers filed suit in February in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio against the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union Local 4309 and CSU administrators.

The workers alleged union officials and University administrators violated their First Amendment and due process rights by forcing them to pay full dues as a condition of employment.

From February 2001 to July 2002, CWA union officials illegally seized a so-called “agency fee” equal to full union dues from non-union employees without providing any explanation of how the agency fee is justified. In July 2002, when CWA officials belatedly sent a letter to non-union employees claiming that the agency fee was 75% of full union dues, they failed to provide the workers with an independent audit verifying Local 4309’s claims.

The actions of CWA union officials directly violate the Foundation-won Supreme Court decision in Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson, which requires union officials to provide objecting employees an advance reduction of forced union dues used for politics and other non-bargaining activities. Under Hudson, union officials must also provide audited disclosure of their books and justify expenditures made from forced union dues seized from employees who choose to refrain from full union membership.

The settlement forces the union to return to each union-abused employee an average of $178.80 in back union dues and interest.

“No one should be forced to pay dues to an unwanted union, especially when union officials abuse that government-granted special privilege,” stated Gleason.

Jeffersonville, Ind. (November 7, 2003) – A Jeffboat factory worker at the company plant outside Louisville, Kentucky, today filed a second round of federal charges against the Teamsters union for failing to provide employees with a legally mandated independent audit of both the local and international unions’ books and records.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to pursue a related case after finding that the union illegally demands that employees to sign union membership forms and agree to payroll deduction of union dues.

Enjoying free legal aid from attorneys with the National Right to Work Foundation, Jeffboat worker Michael Bell filed the unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the Teamsters Union Local 89. Meanwhile, the NLRB has scheduled a January 14th hearing to prosecute the union for the earlier charges.

“Teamsters union officials have tried to make an example of Michael Bell so that other workers will think twice before defying their edicts,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “This kind of abuse is inevitable until Kentucky passes a Right to Work law which would prohibit union officials from forcing employees to pay union dues in order to keep a job.”

In July 2002, Bell resigned his formal membership from the union and asserted his right to pay only a reduced fee to the union for its proven collective bargaining costs. Teamsters union officials retaliated by banning Bell from ever rejoining the union while continuing to demand that he pay dues and fees – a practice that the courts and the NLRB have repeatedly found to be illegal.

The actions of Teamsters union officials violate worker protections recognized by the Foundation-won Communications Workers v. Beck U.S. Supreme Court decision. Under Beck, workers are allowed to resign from formal union membership and halt and reclaim the portion of forced union dues spent on activities unrelated to collective bargaining, such as politics, lobbying, organizing, and public relations.

San Diego, Calif. (November 7, 2003) — With free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys, two San Diego city employees have moved to block San Diego Municipal Employees Association (MEA) union officials from imposing mandatory union dues on local government workers through a mail-in ballot election, scheduled just after the union’s chief method of compelling employees to join the union was found to be illegal.

Simultaneously filing charges with the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) and State Mediation and Conciliation Service (SMCS), police criminologist Tanya DuLaney and public information clerk Juanita Torres allege that MEA union officials have illegally promised to lower dues if the union institutes a forced-dues clause into its contract with the city. The charges also state that the “MEA and the City’s unremedied unfair labor practice taints the election process,” because a PERB administrative law judge recently found the union and employer are discriminating against nonmembers by denying them eye and dental coverage.

“MEA union officials are using this election as a last-ditch effort to corral San Diego public employees into union ranks,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Without the ability to illegally withhold benefits paid for by the employer, the union knows that many employees will have no use for the union and therefore resign and withhold financial support. This is an attempt to take away that option.”

DuLaney’s charges come on the heels of the City of San Diego’s decision to drop its appeal to the full PERB to uphold the union’s discriminatory health policy. A United States District Court decision also recently rejected an MEA union attempt to dismiss a federal action against the union for violating the First Amendment freedom of association rights of nonmembers.

The health benefits scheme, part of the Memorandum of Understanding between the union and the city, was designed to pressure employees into signing up as formal union members, thereby causing them to give up certain rights, including the ability to refrain from funding union political activities.

Mail-in ballots were sent to city workers in mid-October. The outcome of the election would affect more than 3,000 San Diego public employees.

New Haven, Conn. (November 5, 2003) — With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, a group of food service workers at the Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) filed federal charges today against local union officials for illegal retaliation after employees honored their commitments to their employer and refused to walk off the job during a strike that began in August.

Thirteen YNHH food service employees, led by Arleen DeMaio, filed the unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the New England Health Care Employees Union District 1199, SEIU/AFL-CIO (NEHCU). The workers allege that union officials illegally refused to honor resignations from formal union membership and then illegally ordered them to appear before a union tribunal to accept formal discipline – possibly including monetary fines – for exercising their legally protected right to go to work during a strike.

“Employees should not be punished for disagreeing with a union’s self-serving strike and for continuing to do their jobs,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “These union officials have demanded that employees march in lock step with the union – or else.”

Union officials also are maintaining an illegal resignation scheme in the union’s bylaws in which workers wishing to resign must appear before a “chapter hearing board” to gain formal permission to resign their union memberships. The employees also allege that the union hierarchy has failed to inform all employees of their right to resign full membership and instead pay a reduced fee to the union.

The actions of NEHCU union officials violated workers’ protections recognized in the U.S. Supreme Court cases of Patternmakers v. NLRB and Communications Workers v. Beck. Under Patternmakers, union officials must allow employees to resign from formal union membership, at any time and without restriction. Union officials have no legal right to enforce internal union rules – including rules that require union members to strike – against nonunion members. Meanwhile, Beck requires union officials to specifically inform employees of their right to refrain from formal, full dues-paying union membership and their right to pay a reduced fee to cover only the union’s proven collective bargaining costs.

The charges seek an order that the union hierarchy drop all disciplinary proceedings, rescind its illegal resignation policies, as well as inform all workers represented by the union of their unqualified right to resign their full union membership at any time and to pay only a reduced fee.