San Antonio Airport Fuel Workers Opposed to Forced Dues Win Freedom from Unwanted Machinists Union Bosses
Faced with overwhelming, majority-backed petition to remove the union, IAM union officials left rather than face election defeat
San Antonio, TX (August 21, 2026) – Fueling employees with Allied Aviation Fueling Company of San Antonio have regained their workplace freedom from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), District 142. The workers, who operate and maintain the fueling facilities of San Antonio International Airport (SAT), filed a petition for a “decertification” election earlier in August. Employee Matthew Garwood, the lead petitioner, received assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
The petition was filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, a task that includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. The petition was signed by the majority of fuel workers, easily surpassing the threshold of signatures needed for the NLRB to schedule a decertification vote.
However, before the vote could be scheduled, IAM District 142 union bosses, likely fearing a defeat in a secret-ballot election, formally “disclaimed interest” in the bargaining unit, meaning that they withdrew their claim of monopoly bargaining powers over the workers. As a result, the approximately 38 airline fueling workers are now free to negotiate directly with their employer.
“The IAM was not negotiating in our best interests,” said Garwood. “We are grateful to have regained control over our workplace after being confronted with a poorly-written contract that negatively impacted employees in multiple ways and threatened us with forced dues just to stay employed.”
Union Bosses Tried to Circumvent State and Federal Law
Texas is one of 26 states with a Right to Work law, which safeguards workers by making union membership and dues payment strictly voluntary. However, the IAM was attempting to claim the employees were subject to the Railway Labor Act, which overrides worker protections against forced dues provided by state Right to Work laws.
Ultimately though, despite pushing for mandatory dues in the union contract, IAM union officials were apparently unwilling to defend the claim that these workers were covered by the Railway Labor Act before the NLRB.
“Union bosses have no shortage of tricks to use when trying to maintain their stranglehold on hardworking Americans’ paychecks, but in this case, the workers of Allied Aviation made their will abundantly clear,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “We are grateful to have assisted these workers as they exercised their rights, and especially pleased that they were able to regain their workplace so quickly.
“Cases like these demonstrate why all hardworking Americans need Right to Work protections to ensure union affiliation and financial support is strictly voluntary, including those who might fall under the jurisdiction of the Railway Labor Act because they work in the railroad or airline industry,” added Mix.
Atlantic Aviation Employees Win Freedom from Unwanted Union
Incompetent Machinists union bosses fly away to avoid worker vote
IAM union officials loafed around at Tiffany Lipyanic’s workplace for years, all the while siphoning dues from her and her coworkers. She’s thankful to the Foundation for aid in navigating the complex process to vote them out.
PHILADEPHIA, PA – Atlantic Aviation PNE, Inc. employees have freed themselves from unwanted union monopoly “representation” after filing a decertification election request with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Tiffany Lipyanic, a line service technician, filed the petition to end the union’s monopoly bargaining powers for all workers at the Atlantic Aviation facility at Philadelphia Northeast Airport. International Association of Machinists (IAM) union officials then abandoned their “representation” rather than face an overwhelming vote against the union.
‘We Were Paying Union Officials and Got Nothing in Return’
Lipyanic and her colleagues received free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys in filing their petition for a vote to oust union officials. The petition, filed on February 15 by tire service and customer service representatives, was signed by more than twice the number needed to trigger an NLRB-supervised “decertification” secret-ballot election, after which union officials lose monopoly bargaining power if a majority of workers vote to remove them.
Rather than proceed to a vote, IAM District Lodge 142 and Local Lodge 1776 officials filed documents with the NLRB disclaiming their monopoly bargaining powers on February 28.
“After trying to work with union officials for years, it became apparent our pleas fell on deaf ears. We were paying union officials and got nothing in return, so we’re glad to finally be free of them,” Lipyanic commented. “Having the National Right to Work Foundation’s assistance gave us confidence in our journey to finally free ourselves from union bureaucrats that took our money and disregarded us at every turn.”
Foundation-Backed Rules Aid Workers in Removing Unpopular Union Bosses
This is the latest in a series of successful worker efforts to oust unwanted union officials aided by National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys. Just since the beginning of 2021, Foundation attorneys provided legal assistance in well over 50 NLRB decertification efforts, which together sought to end union boss control of over 7,000 workers.
Recent Foundation efforts to break down union boss-created legal barriers to unseating unwanted union officials have allowed more workers to free themselves from unwanted union ranks. In 2020, following detailed formal comments submitted by Foundation attorneys, the NLRB adopted rules eviscerating union bosses’ ability to stop a decertification effort with “blocking charges,” i.e., accusations made against an employer that are often unverified and have no connection to workers’ desire to kick out unwanted union officials.
“Under the protection of a Right to Work law each individual worker can decide whether or not to join or financially support a labor union. Unfortunately, current law empowers union bosses in many states to use their monopoly bargaining status to force workers to pay up or be fired,” commented National Right to Work Foundation Vice President and Legal Director Raymond LaJeunesse.
“The Foundation is glad to have helped the workers at Atlantic Aviation exercise their right to free themselves of a union they oppose. But to better protect all workers’ freedom of association, Right to Work laws should be on the books in all states,” LaJeunesse added.
