Springfield, VA (September 13, 2013) – Recent media reports suggest that United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials are pushing Volkswagen AG (VOW.DE) to eliminate a secret ballot vote on unionization and instead unionize all workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee on the basis of an unreliable and abuse-prone «card check» process.

After UAW union officials claimed to receive a majority of workers signing union «cards,» UAW union president Bob King told Reuters yesterday that the VW employees should be put under union monopoly control through the card check, and that they should not vote in private because, he claimed, such a secret ballot vote would be «divisive.»

However, the National Right to Work Foundation has received a number of calls from workers at the plant who were told by UAW union organizers that a signature on the card was to call for a secret ballot unionization election.

Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, issued the following statement in response to King’s statement to Reuters:

«Despite their promises, UAW union officials are now trying to deny workers a secret ballot election to determine whether to unionize. Instead, they are pressuring Volkswagen to recognize them as the workers’ monopoly bargaining representative.

«Any worker who believes they may have been misled, pressured, or coerced into signing a union ‘card’ should contact the National Right to Work Foundation at 1-800-336-3600 or the Foundation’s website at www.nrtw.org immediately. It is not too late for workers to protect their legal rights.»

Rochelle, IL (September 19, 2013) – An Americold Logistics warehouse employee has filed a federal charge against a local union for violating her rights and posting coercive notices in the workplace designed to mislead workers into dues-paying ranks.

Karen Cox of Dixon filed the federal charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

In June 2012, a local affiliate of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) unionized Cox’s workplace. However, union and company officials did not reach a contract until June 2013. During that time, Cox began a campaign to remove the unwanted union from her workplace. In August, the workers voted in a secret-ballot election whether to remove the union from their workplace. At the request of the union hierarchy, the results of the election have been impounded pending review by the NLRB.

In September, union officials posted a notice in the workplace demanding workers become full dues paying union members, or they will be fired.

The notice did not inform workers of their rights to refrain from union membership and full dues payments — rights long upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Also the union falsely stated that the workers must fill out a union dues deduction authorization form as a condition of their employment, although workers cannot lawfully be required to fill out such a form to pay union dues.

Because Illinois does not have Right to Work protections for its workers, Cox and her coworkers could be forced to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment if the union is not removed as a result of the workers’ August vote. However, because the results of the election are unknown, Cox asks the Board to allow workers to retroactively refrain from union membership and full dues payments back to the time they were first subject to the union monopoly agreement.

Cox also asks that union officials be required to keep all dues and fees seized from workers in an escrow account pending the results of the August election with the condition that union officials must return the money to the workers if a majority of the workers had voted to remove the union from their workplace.

«Union officials are posting legally-suspect notices to coerce workers into paying full union dues when they may not have to,» said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. «Cases like this underscore the need for Illinois to pass a Right to Work law making union affiliation and dues payments completely voluntary.»

Minneapolis, MN (September 19, 2013) – Today, a federal appeals court ruled to delay implementation of Minnesota’s new law that seeks to forcibly unionize the state’s home-based childcare providers.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Jennifer Parrish from Rochester and 11 other providers from around the state filed an appeal last month after the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota dismissed their lawsuit on the grounds that it was filed too soon.

Parrish and other providers seek to halt implementation of a recently-passed law intended to designate American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) officials as the monopoly political representative of thousands of providers in the state, who are either owners of childcare businesses or family members who take care of related children.

Patrick Semmens, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation, issued the following statement on the appeals court ruling:

«Minnesota’s childcare providers are no longer under imminent threat to be forcibly unionized in a union they want nothing to do with.

«The court ruled to delay implementation of the law pending the outcome of a National Right to Work Foundation-led challenge pending at the U.S. Supreme Court of a similar law passed in Illinois.»

Home-based childcare and personal care providers have challenged similar forced-unionization-by-government-fiat schemes in several states across the country. Foundation attorneys argue that such schemes violate the providers’ First Amendment right to choose with whom they associate to petition the government.

Washington, DC (September 20, 2013) – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has hired Amanda Freeman of Woodbridge, Virginia as an addition to its cutting-edge legal team.

Freeman is a member of the Virginia State Bar and 2009 graduate of the Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

«Amanda brings a real commitment to defending and advancing individual liberty to the Foundation,» said Ray LaJeunesse, vice president and legal director of the National Right to Work Foundation.

«She will assist the Foundation’s legal staff in helping conscientious workers refrain from paying for Big Labor’s political agenda, enforcing individual employees’ rights against the abuses of compulsory unionism, and establishing new precedents increasing workplace freedom.»

As the newest of the Foundation’s 17 staff attorneys, Freeman will help build on the Foundation’s litigation record for union-abused workers that includes 16 cases at the U.S. Supreme Court, one of which will be argued in November. Currently, National Right to Work Foundation attorneys represent thousands of workers in nearly 200 active cases nationwide.

Before joining the Foundation, Freeman served as a judicial clerk for the Honorable Glen A. Huff of the Virginia Court of Appeals and was previously a judicial clerk for the Honorable Robert J. Humphreys of the Virginia Court of Appeals. She was also an intern for Lentz, Stepanovich & Bergethon, PLC, in Virginia Beach and was a paralegal at Mauck & Baker, LLC, in Chicago, Illinois.

While at Regent, Freeman was managing editor of the school’s Law Review and also studied abroad in Strasbourg, France. She holds a bachelors degree in Administrative Management with a minor in Political Science from Bob Jones University, where she graduated cum laude in 2005.

Washington, DC (September 23, 2013) – National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys filed a brief at the United States Supreme Court late Friday for a Florida casino worker challenging a much used union organizing scheme. The case, Mulhall v. UNITE HERE, could determine whether union organizers can receive workers’ personal information and other valuable organizing tools in exchange for concessions at employees’ expense.

In 2004, UNITE HERE Local 355 and Mardi Gras Gaming entered into an agreement in which union officials promised to devote over one hundred thousand dollars to help pass a gambling ballot initiative and guaranteed not to picket, boycott, or strike against Mardi Gras facilities.

In return, Mardi Gras agreed to give union operatives workers’ personal contact information (including home addresses), grant them access to company facilities during a coercive ‘card check’ organizing campaign, refrain from informing workers about the impact of unionization, and refrain from requesting a federally-supervised secret ballot election to determine whether employees unionized.

With the help of Foundation staff attorneys, Mardi Gras employee Martin Mulhall filed a lawsuit in 2008 challenging the organizing pact. Under the Labor Management Relations Act, employers are prohibited from handing over «any money or other thing of value» to union organizers, a provision that is supposed to prevent union officials from selling out workers’ rights in exchange for corporate support of unionization. Mulhall argues that the company’s assistance with organizing was of substantial monetary value because it made UNITE HERE’s organizing drive easier and less expensive.

Mulhall won a significant victory in 2012, when the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the company’s organizing assistance could constitute «a thing of value.» UNITE HERE lawyers quickly appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, prompting Foundation attorneys to file a cross-petition asking the Court to review certain aspects of the Eleventh Circuit’s ruling.

Foundation attorneys believe that the Eleventh Circuit’s decision was too narrowly tailored to always prevent companies from aiding union organizers with valuable assistance. The Supreme Court will now revisit whether the company’s organizing assistance constitutes «a thing of value.

«We hope the Supreme Court will expand upon the Eleventh Circuit’s landmark ruling and ensure that union organizers can’t cut backroom deals that harm the very people they claim they want to represent,» said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. «Companies shouldn’t be allowed to turn over employees’ personal information to unscrupulous Big Labor organizers as a negotiating tactic.»

The Court will hear the case on November 13.

Chattanooga, TN (September 25, 2013) – Today, eight Chattanooga, Tennessee, Volkswagen AG (VOW.DE) workers filed federal charges against the United Auto Workers (UAW) union for misleading and coercing them and other workers to forfeit their rights in what is now a «card check» unionization drive by the UAW.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, the eight workers filed the charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office in Atlanta.

After UAW union officials claimed to possess signature cards from a majority of workers, UAW union president Bob King demanded VW deny workers a secret ballot vote on unionization and instead unionize all workers on the basis of the unreliable and abuse-prone card check process.

The charges state that VW workers were told by UAW union organizers that a signature on the card was to call for a secret ballot unionization election. They also allege other improprieties in the card check process, including using cards that were signed too long ago to be legally valid.

After recent media reports suggested that workers were misled or bribed into signing union cards, workers who wanted to lawfully revoke their signatures were told by union officials that they had to physically appear at the union office if they wanted their cards returned to them.

«Despite making it so easy to sign union ‘cards’ at the workplace, UAW union officials are now demanding workers to go to the union office to exercise their right to reclaim their cards,» said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. «This case underscores how card check unionization schemes make it ‘easy to check in, but impossible to check out.'»

The charges ask the NLRB to order UAW union officials to cease and desist from demanding recognition based upon the tainted cards.

The workers contacted the Foundation for free legal assistance after learning about the Foundation’s special legal notice to Volkswagen Chattanooga employees being subjected to the UAW card check drive. The notice can be found online here: www.nrtw.org/vw-chattanooga

Other VW employees who were subjected to or have knowledge of cards being collected through abuse, fraud, bribes, or other illicit means are encouraged to contact the Foundation. Workers can call 1-800-336-3600 or visit www.nrtw.org to request legal assistance.

Washington, DC (October 1, 2013) – The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it is granting a writ of certiorari in a case that will decide whether Illinois homecare providers can be forced into union ranks against their will.

With the help of National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys, Pam Harris and seven other Illinois care providers are challenging a forced-unionism scheme enacted by Illinois Governors Rod Blagojevich and Pat Quinn on the grounds that it violates their rights to free expression and association by forcing them to subsidize union lobbying.

The case is a class-action lawsuit filed by the providers after Quinn signed an executive order designating 4,500 individuals who offer in-home care to disabled persons as «public employees,» thus rendering them vulnerable to unwanted union organizing. However, the scheme only designates providers as public employees for the purposes of unionization, leaving the homecare recipients as the employers for all other aspects of the providers’ work.

As a result of Quinn’s order, Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) bosses have been competing to acquire monopoly bargaining control over this newly-created class of public employees.

Quinn’s executive order mirrored one issued by disgraced former Governor Blagojevich, which designated over 20,000 personal care providers as state workers solely for the purpose of forcing them into union ranks. Quinn then expanded Blagojevich’s directive to cover an additional 4,500 providers who were not included in the original order.

In a 2010 mail-in vote, those homecare providers emphatically rejected unionization by a two-to-one margin. But because of Quinn’s executive order, they’ll continue to face unionization drives until they capitulate. The personal care providers covered by Blagojevich’s executive order have already been forced to pay union fees to the SEIU.

«Forcing homecare providers into union ranks is just plain wrong,» said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. «We hope the High Court will protect the rights of Pam Harris and thousands of other care providers by striking down this constitutionally-dubious scheme.»

Grand Rapids, MI (October 4, 2013) – A Wyoming, Michigan UPS (NYSE: UPS) worker has filed a federal charge against a local Teamster union for violating his rights.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Gary Frost filed the unfair labor practice charge Tuesday with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Frost, who is not a member of the Teamster Local 406 union, had to pay union dues and fees as a condition of his employment before Michigan recently enacted a Right to Work law making union dues payments completely voluntary.

Frost informed the Teamster Local 406 union that he was exercising his right under Michigan’s Right to Work law to refrain from union dues payments after the Teamster Local 406 union’s monopoly bargaining agreement with UPS expired on August 1, 2013. Under Michigan’s Right to Work law, contracts entered into after the law went into effect must respect workers’ right to refrain from the payment of any union dues.

Out of an abundance of caution, Frost attempted to comply with Teamster Local 406’s procedure to end forced dues payments by revoking his dues deduction authorization – a document union officials use to take dues or fees from workers’ paychecks.

Instead of complying with Frost’s request, Teamster Local 406 union officials told him that he would have to wait for a union-designated «window period» before he could revoke his dues deduction and opt out of union dues.

Teamster Local 406 union officials have refused to provide Frost with a copy of his dues deduction authorization and have not told him of the dates of the so-called «window period» for revocation.

«Teamster union bosses are trying to keep workers from exercising their rights under Michigan’s Right to Work law,» said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. «Schemes like this show that the ultimate goal of union officials is more forced dues collected from workers, even when rank-and-file employees want nothing to do with a union.

Howell, MI (October 9, 2013) – A school bus driver has filed a state charge against a local Teamster union for violating her rights under Michigan’s recently enacted public-sector Right to Work law.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Pauline Beutler of Howell filed the state charge late last week with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) in Detroit.

Beutler, who works as a bus driver for the Livingston Education Service Agency, informed the Teamster Local 214 union on September 9, 2013, that she was exercising her right under Michigan’s Right to Work law to refrain from union dues payments after the union’s monopoly bargaining agreement with her employer expired on June 30, 2013. Under Michigan’s Right to Work law, contracts entered into after the law went into effect must respect workers’ right to refrain from the payment of any union dues.

Instead of complying with Beutler’s request, Teamster Local 214 union officials told her that she would have to wait for a union-designated «window period» in July 2014 before she could revoke her dues deduction authorization and opt out of union dues. A dues deduction authorization is a document union officials use to take dues or fees from workers’ paychecks.

Beutler alleges that Michigan’s Right to Work law invalidates the union’s «window period» requirement under the former monopoly bargaining agreement. Moreover, Michigan’s Right to Work law requires that all dues deduction authorizations must be revocable at will.

«Across the state, Teamster union bosses are pulling out all the stops to keep workers from exercising their rights under Michigan’s Right to Work law,» said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. «Schemes like this show that the ultimate goal of union officials is more forced dues collected from workers, even when rank-and-file employees want nothing to do with a union.»

School Bus Driver Files Charge against Teamster Union for Ignoring Her Rights Under Michigan’s Right to Work Law

Teamster union officials stonewall worker’s attempt to refrain from dues payments

Howell, MI (October 9, 2013) – A school bus driver has filed a state charge against a local Teamster union for violating her rights under Michigan’s recently enacted public-sector Right to Work law.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Pauline Beutler of Howell filed the state charge late last week with the Michigan Employment Relations Commission (MERC) in Detroit.

Beutler, who works as a bus driver for the Livingston Education Service Agency, informed the Teamster Local 214 union on September 9, 2013, that she was exercising her right under Michigan’s Right to Work law to refrain from union dues payments after the union’s monopoly bargaining agreement with her employer expired on June 30, 2013. Under Michigan’s Right to Work law, contracts entered into after the law went into effect must respect workers’ right to refrain from the payment of any union dues.

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