Los Angeles, CA (October 22, 2014) – A group of Los Angeles Unified School District workers have filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 99 for violating their rights.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation-provided staff attorneys, Los Angeles school district building and grounds keeper Douglas Kennedy; bus drivers Eduardo Berumen and Griselda Moran; and cafeteria worker Magi Shanagian filed the lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

In the complaint, the school employees detail how SEIU Local 99 union officials denied their several requests, in one case dating back to October 12, 2012, to refrain from full dues paying union membership.

Because California does not have Right to Work protections for workers, workers can be forced to pay union dues and fees to an unwanted union as a condition of employment. However, under Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court precedent, workers who refrain from union membership can also refrain from paying for union politics and members-only events.

Despite the workers’ requests to refrain from union membership and full union dues payments, the Los Angeles Unified School District continues to confiscate full union dues from the workers’ paychecks at SEIU Local 99 officials’ behest. The workers are also challenging SEIU Local 99’s agreement provision with the school district that illegally restricts workers’ ability to resign union membership and dues payments to a period of 30 days over the life of an agreement, which is often for a period of three years.

«SEIU officials are stonewalling workers’ attempts to refrain from paying for the union bosses’ radical political agenda,» said Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation. «This case underscores the need for California to pass a Right to Work law making union membership and dues payments strictly voluntary.»

L.A. School Employees File Class-Action Lawsuit against Local SEIU for Rights Violations

Union officials stonewall workers’ attempts to refrain from union membership and full dues payments

Los Angeles, CA (October 22, 2014) – A group of Los Angeles Unified School District workers have filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 99 for violating their rights.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation-provided staff attorneys, Los Angeles school district building and grounds keeper Douglas Kennedy; bus drivers Eduardo Berumen and Griselda Moran; and cafeteria worker Magi Shanagian filed the lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

In the complaint, the school employees detail how SEIU Local 99 union officials denied their several requests, in one case dating back to October 12, 2012, to refrain from full dues paying union membership.

Click here to read the full release.

Rogue Obama NLRB Appointee Again Moves to Prevent Workers from Removing Unwanted Union from Workplace

General Counsel seeks to block workers’ majority petition to end employer recognition of an unsupported union

Chicago, IL (October 23, 2014) – An Arlington Metals Corporation steelworker has moved to intervene to stop a federal agency from foisting unwanted union representation back on his workplace after he and his coworkers attempted to remove the union.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Franklin Park-area Arlington Metals employee Brandon De La Cruz filed the motion with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office in Chicago. Predictably, the NLRB General Counsel filed a brief in opposition to the workers’ motion.

De La Cruz and a majority of his coworkers petitioned their employer to remove the United Steelworkers (USW) union from their workplace. After the workers presented the petition, Arlington Metals management withdrew recognition of the union as the workers’ bargaining representative, as long-standing law permits.

Click here to read the full release.

Minnesota Homecare Providers Appeal Federal Challenge to SEIU Forced Unionization Scheme

SEIU seeks to push home-based personal care providers into forced-dues ranks against their will

Minneapolis, MN (October 30, 2014) – Today, a group of home-based personal care providers challenging a state law that authorizes the forcible unionization of Minnesota’s 27,000 care providers have asked a federal appeals court to overrule a lower court’s ruling issued last week in their case.

With free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Teri Bierman and eight other providers from around the state appealed the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota judge’s ruling denying the providers’ request for a court injunction that would immediately halt implementation of the law.

Click here to read the full release.

Local Confectioner Worker Files Federal Charges Challenging Union Officials’ Forced-Dues Sweetheart Deal with Employer

Candy company worker suspended without pay for trying to exercise rights

Oakdale, CA (November 7, 2014) – A Modesto-area Sconza Candy Company employee has filed federal charges against a local bakers union and her employer for a litany of rights violations.

With the help of National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Sconza employee Athena Manning filed the unfair labor practice charges Wednesday with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Manning charges that Sconza management and Bakers Union Local 125 officials failed to notify her of her rights to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership. In May, company and union officials also actively misled her about her obligations to the union, claiming that joining the union and paying full dues were required as a condition of employment.

Click here to read the full release.

Local Union and Food Service Contractor Face Federal Prosecution for Workers’ Rights Violations

Company and union officials obstruct workers from exercising rights to refrain from union membership and dues payments

Fort Leonard Wood, MO (November 7, 2014) – A local government union and an Overland Park, Kansas-based food services company are facing a federal prosecution for violating Fort Leonard Wood food service workers’ rights.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) prosecution comes in the wake of federal charges filed by two workers with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

Because Missouri does not have Right to Work protections for workers, workers can be required to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. However, under Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court precedent, nonmember workers can refrain from paying for union boss politics and many other activities.

Kimsha Rosensteel, an 11-year employee with food services provider EDP Enterprises, Inc, was president of the National Association of Government Employees (NAGE) Local R14-139 union for about one and a half years. While she was union president, Rosensteel discovered that the union was failing to follow federal disclosure requirements designed to better inform workers about their rights to refrain from full-dues-paying union membership.

Click here to read the full release.

Local Grocery Union Faces Federal Charges for Retaliatory Forced Dues Confiscations

Case underscores need for Right to Work protections for workers

Burlington, WA (November 12, 2014) – A local Fred Meyer grocery store worker has filed a federal charge against the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 21 union for refusing to follow federal disclosure requirements and confiscating more than the legally-permitted amount of forced union fees from her paychecks.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Deborah Kohut of Mount Vernon filed the federal unfair labor practice charge Monday with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Click here to read the full release.

Teamster Union Faces Another Federal Charge for Violating a Disney Company Driver’s Rights

Teamster union officials showing pattern of workers’ rights abuses

Lake Buena Vista, FL (November 17, 2014) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, a Walt Disney Company driver has filed a federal charge against a local Teamsters union.

Winter Garden resident Anthony Pirrelli filed the unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Teamsters Local 385 for ignoring his right to refrain from paying union dues. Under Florida’s popular Right to Work law, no worker can be required to join or pay fees to a union as a condition of employment.

In August, Pirrelli attempted to resign union membership and revoke his union dues deduction authorization – a document used by union officials to automatically collect dues from workers’ paychecks. Despite Pirrelli’s efforts, Teamsters Local 385 union officials have refused to stop collecting union dues from his paychecks or provide him a copy of his union dues deduction authorization.

Click here to read the full release.

Worker Advocate Urges Labor Secretary: Apply Federal Disclosure Law to German Union and VW Works Council

Foreign union boss groups conspire to force workers into union ranks without complying with federal disclosure requirements

Washington, DC (November 17, 2014) – Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, is urging U.S. Labor Department Secretary Thomas Perez to apply federal labor disclosure law to German union and Volkswagen (VW) officials involved in an international push to unionize workers at VW’s Chattanooga, Tennessee facility.

The Foundation – the nation’s premier advocate on behalf of workers who suffer from the abuses of compulsory unionism – assisted several workers who were subjected to coercive card check unionization tactics and pressure from VW management during the United Auto Workers (UAW) union’s multi-year campaign to unionize the workers. The Foundation also assisted some of those workers in filing a federal suit that challenged the company’s assistance to UAW union officials during the unionization campaign as an illegal exchange of «thing[s] of value» under the Labor Management Relations Act (LMRA).

In a letter to Perez, Mix spells out how officials from the German-based IG Metall union, VW’s Global Group Works Council (GWC), the UAW union, and VW Germany have participated in «high-profile public activities…that trigger Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) reporting requirements.» Mix notes that the U.S. Department of Labor has thus far ignored this fact, and if it continues to do so, union and company officials «may receive de facto immunity for their possible violations of the LMRDA’s criminal and civil protections.»

Click here to read the full release.

Chicago, IL (October 23, 2014) – An Arlington Metals Corporation steelworker has moved to intervene to stop a federal agency from foisting unwanted union representation back on his workplace after he and his coworkers attempted to remove the union.

With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, Franklin Park-area Arlington Metals employee Brandon De La Cruz filed the motion with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office in Chicago. Predictably, the NLRB General Counsel filed a brief in opposition to the workers’ motion.

De La Cruz and a majority of his coworkers petitioned their employer to remove the United Steelworkers (USW) union from their workplace. After the workers presented the petition, Arlington Metals management withdrew recognition of the union as the workers’ bargaining representative, as long-standing law permits.

USW union officials filed federal charges with the NLRB in an attempt to nullify the workers’ petition and force the union hierarchy back into the workplace. The NLRB’s General Counsel then issued a complaint to force the company to once again recognize the union as the workers’ monopoly bargaining representative.

This new policy, in direct violation of U.S. Supreme Court precedent, is being pushed by union lawyer Richard Griffin, who was installed as NLRB General Counsel in October 2013. Prior to being the Board’s top lawyer in charge of enforcing federal labor laws, Griffin’s «recess» appointment to the NLRB was deemed illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court in late June.

«The NLRB General Counsel’s rogue complaint and his opposition to employees’ right to intervene to protect their decertification efforts flies in the face of long-standing precedent allowing workers to remove a union from their workplace with a showing of majority support,» explained Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. «And the very workers who have a direct interest in the result of these proceedings have been thus far shut out.»

«Highlighting the Obama Board’s pro-forced unionism bias, the NLRB still maintains that a company can recognize a union if a majority of workers sign union ‘cards’ through the coercive and unreliable card check method, while its top lawyer works to eliminate workers’ ability to use the same procedure to oust an unwanted union,» added Mix.