Majority of Harpers Ferry quarry workers support petition seeking end of union monopoly “representation”

Harpers Ferry, WV (November 10, 2025) – With the support of a majority of his coworkers, Holcim Millville Quarry employee Curtis Mills has filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking a “decertification” election to end International Brotherhood of Boilermakers (IBB) Local DNCL union officials’ monopoly “representation” powers.  The petition was filed with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation.

The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the National Labor Relations Act, a task that includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions.

Mills’ petition, which was signed by a majority of approximately 36 workers in the bargaining unit, is requesting that the NLRB hold a secret ballot election for all the drivers, loaders, maintenance, and laborers at the Millville Quarry Harpers Ferry, WV, facility to oust IBB Local DNCL union officials from their workplace.

“Many of us are not happy with the union and feel it is time for a change to reclaim our voices,” commented Mills. “Though the NLRB is currently closed, we hope they will open soon so we can exercise our right to vote out this unwanted union.”

West Virginia is one of the 26 states with a Right to Work law that guarantees workers cannot be fired for refusing to pay union dues or fees. However, even under Right to Work, union bosses can still impose monopoly bargaining control over all employees in a workplace, even those who are opposed to the union’s representation. A successful decertification would end the union’s monopoly bargaining powers.

The decertification petition is just the latest example in a long history of the Foundation defending the rights of West Virginia workers. For example, Foundation staff attorneys filed 10 briefs in a long-running, but ultimately unsuccessful, union boss lawsuit seeking to overturn West Virginia’s popular Right to Work law.

In the West Virginia Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in the case upholding the Right to Work law, the justices relied heavily upon the Foundation-won Janus v. AFSCME U.S. Supreme Court decision, which established that all public employees in America enjoy Right to Work protections under the First Amendment.

“Mills and his coworkers have filed a majority-backed petition to free themselves from union officials’ so-called ‘representation,’ but ejecting an unwanted union is often far harder than it should be,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Overly complex rules, including NLRB-invented ‘bars’ to decertification, contribute to the fact that a recent study found that just one in 20 employees has ever voted for the union that purports to represent them.

“The Foundation is proud to assist a growing number of workers seeking to throw off the chains of unions they oppose,” added Mix. “Ultimately, though, full worker freedom will only be accomplished when no worker anywhere can be forced under a union monopoly against their will.”

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, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.