Freightliner signed a neutrality agreement with the United Auto Workers (UAW) in early 2003 that covers its truck plants in the United States.<\/p>\n
Under the neutrality agreement, Freightliner agreed to hand over its employees to the UAW by purposefully making it ?easier? for the UAW to represent them. The exact provisions of this agreement are a closely guarded secret. However, based on prior experience with UAW neutrality agreements, provisions of this agreement are believed to include:<\/p>\n
No Secret Ballot Election:<\/strong> Workers are denied the ability to vote on UAW representation through a secret ballot election. Rather, union operatives are allowed to sign up workers under a \u00abcard check\u00bb authorization scheme. Once UAW officials sign up a majority of the workers, the company will automatically declare the UAW the exclusive representative of all the workers, even those who did not sign a card. In \u00abcard check\u00bb unionization drives, workers are often misled, harassed, or threatened into signing union authorization cards.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Access to Information:<\/strong> Freightliner must provide UAW operatives with wide access to company facilities and to personal information about employees, including their home addresses. Armed with a company-provided list of the names and addresses of each employee, UAW organizers can conduct home visits to pressure employees to sign union authorization cards.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Gag Rule:<\/strong> Freightliner, including its managers and supervisors, is forbidden from saying anything negative about the UAW or unionization during an organizing drive. Employees are only permitted to hear one side of the story: the version UAW officials want employees to hear.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n If the UAW and Freightliner can successfully cause a majority of employees in a facility to sign union authorization cards, the UAW becomes the \u00abexclusive bargaining representative\u00bb of all employees, even those who did not sign a card and do not desire such \u00abrepresentation.\u00bb Unless the facility is in a Right to Work state (click here<\/a> for a list of Right to Work states), all employees will undoubtedly be forced to pay hundred of dollars in dues and fees to UAW each year or be fired from their jobs. The union cannot be removed (decertified) for at least one year or during most of the three-year life of a collective bargaining agreement. <\/p>\n Employees’ rights of free choice are sacrificed and lost under such coercive neutrality agreements. Instead of being able to freely choose for themselves whether they desire union representation through a secret ballot election, Freightliner employees are having unionization imposed on them from the top down by the joint efforts of union officials and management.<\/p>\n The Foundation has established a Neutrality Task Force to help employees who find themselves forced (or potentially forced) into unwanted union representation as a result of these devices. The Foundation stands ready, willing and able to help employees who are victims or potential victims of these schemes. Workers who wish to request legal assistance may write us, call us toll-free at 800-336-3600, or send an e-mail message to legal@nrtw.org<\/a>. Address your request for assistance to Legal Department. <\/p>\n The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, is assisting thousands of employees in more than 250 cases nationwide. <\/p>\n