Washington, D.C. (September 27, 2004)<\/b> – National Right to Work Foundation attorneys have persuaded the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to order the federal labor prosecution of Heartland Industrial Partners LLP and the Steelworkers union for corralling unsuspecting employees of acquired corporations into unionization.<\/p>\n
David Stockman, President Reagan\u2019s former budget director, heads the firm that entered the arrangement with the Steelworkers union. Foundation attorneys argue that the agreement is an unlawful \u201csecondary boycott,\u201d as it imposes unionization on other companies which they purchase or with which they conduct certain business.<\/p>\n
NLRB General Counsel Arthur Rosenfeld\u2019s order addresses an increasingly common \u201ctop-down organizing\u201d tactic that is used to short-circuit traditional grassroots-driven union organizing drives that have been increasingly unsuccessful due to a lack of interest among rank-and-file employees.<\/p>\n
With the help of attorneys from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Linda Kandel, Galen Raber, Juanita Miller, and Renate Croll filed the unfair labor practice charges with the NLRB against the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) union and Heartland in August 2003.<\/p>\n
As part of their pact with the USWA union, Heartland agreed to force any company in which it has substantial investments to accept a so-called \u201cpartnership agreement.\u201d Under the terms of the \u201cpartnership agreement,\u201d the company must deny employees an opportunity to vote in a traditional secret ballot election, give union organizers employees\u2019 private information including home addresses, and ultimately force workers to pay union dues as a condition of employment. <\/p>\n
Moreover, a newly acquired company must also impose the provisions of the \u201cpartnership agreement\u201d on corporations it acquires or with which it does substantial business. <\/p>\n
In return for this arrangement, Steelworkers union officials agreed to stifle employee rights under federal law and to limit employees\u2019 ability to influence their own wages, benefits, and working conditions. <\/p>\n