Pittsfield, IL (May 7, 2010) \u2013 With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, four Pittsfield-based Help at Home employees have filed federal unfair labor practice charges against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for threatening workers with termination if they refused to sign union authorization cards.<\/p>\n
The cards, which the employer counted as \u201cvotes\u201d in favor of unionization, were then used to force employees to accept SEIU officials as their exclusive bargaining agents at the Pittsfield Help at Home office. <\/p>\n
Tina Evans and three of her Help at Home coworkers allege that employees were unlawfully compelled to attend a mass meeting with union organizers during work hours. Independent-minded workers who opposed unionization were also threatened with layoffs if they did not sign union authorization cards. Despite lacking the un-coerced support of a majority of employees, SEIU bosses have now made the payment of union dues a condition of employment for workers at the Pittsfield Help at Home office.<\/p>\n
The union involved in this organizing scheme \u2013 SEIU Healthcare Illinois & Indiana \u2013 is a chronic offender. Officials from the same union are facing Foundation-assisted charges in Danville, Illinois for illegally forcing other nonunion Help at Home employees to pay full union dues. The union was also named in a Foundation lawsuit on behalf of Illinois home care providers, who allege that union officials collaborated with Governor Pat Quinn to force them into the SEIU\u2019s dues-paying ranks.<\/p>\n
The Foundation\u2019s charges seek immediate injunctive relief for Help at Home employees forced to pay SEIU dues. The charges will now be investigated by the National Labor Relations Board.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the union\u2019s history of workplace abuses, I can\u2019t say we\u2019re surprised by this latest scheme,\u201d said Patrick Semmens, legal information director of the National Right to Work Foundation. \u201cIt\u2019s unconscionable that union operatives would use threats to foist themselves on unwilling workers.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThese tactics also highlight the dangers of pending \u2018card check\u2019 legislation, which would effectively mandate the coercive card check organizing system,\u201d continued Semmens. \u201cWithout the privacy of the ballot booth during unionization elections, workers are regularly subjected to intimidation and harassment at the hands of aggressive union organizers.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pittsfield, IL (May 7, 2010) \u2013 With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, four Pittsfield-based Help at Home employees have filed federal unfair labor practice charges against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) for threatening workers with termination if they refused to sign union authorization cards.<\/p>\n
The cards, which the employer counted as \u201cvotes\u201d in favor of unionization, were then used to force employees to accept SEIU officials as their exclusive bargaining agents at the Pittsfield Help at Home office. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[888],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n