KATU Photojournalist Hits IATSE Union, Station with Federal Labor Board Charges after Being Illegally Fired
Union officials and complicit management illegally demand photographer join union and authorize dues deductions, then had him fired when he refused
Portland, OR (September 17, 2026) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a former employee for KATU-TV has filed federal charges against the television station and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) union for violating his rights, culminating in his illegal termination.
Devon Carroll was employed as a photojournalist for ABC local affiliate KATU television station in Portland, Oregon. His federal charges detail how both IATSE Local 600 officials and KATU-TV demanded that he sign the union’s membership and dues check-off authorization, then violated federal law by terminating his employment when he declined to give in to their clearly illegal demands.
Because Oregon lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, union officials can require workers to pay money to the union or lose their jobs. However, IATSE union officials’ demands – which were later enforced by a complicit KATU human resources official – went far beyond what is legally permissible, even in a state without Right to Work protections for employees.
Union Bosses and Employer Ignore Supreme Court Precedent, Clear Federal Law
The Supreme Court’s decision in NLRB v. General Motors, decided in 1963, forbids mandatory, formal union membership as a condition of employment. Further, longstanding law says employees can never be required to sign a union dues deduction card. Federal law also says union officials cannot require payment of dues or fees without a union contract that includes a valid forced dues clause, and that, even when such a contract is in effect, no forced dues can be required of new hires until after 30 days of employment.
IATSE also ignored the NLRB’s 1962 Philadelphia Sheraton Corp. precedent, which includes mandatory procedural safeguards a union must follow when union officials are seeking to have an employee terminated for non-payment of union dues or fees. Furthermore, IATSE union bosses failed to inform Carroll of his Beck rights, a Supreme Court victory the Right to Work Foundation won in 1988.
According to his charges, an IATSE Senior Business agent told Carroll that he must join the union. When Mr. Carroll requested more information about the forced-dues requirement, the IATSE official responded by demanding he sign a union membership and dues check-off authorization.
At no point did the union officials provide information required under Beck or Philadelphia Sheraton. In addition, union officials’ initial demand for payment was based on an expired union contract, something the KATU HR official knew. Despite this, KATU ignored the union’s known misrepresentations and complied with union officials’ illegal demand that Carroll be fired.
Mr. Carroll’s federal charges will now be investigated by National Labor Relations Board Region 19 officials. A win in his case would result in Carroll being offered reinstatement, and issued back pay and reimbursement of other expenses associated with the unlawful termination. The union and station would also likely be required to post a notice to inform other employees of their legal rights.
“It is bad enough that Oregon workers can be forced to pay fees to union bosses just to earn a living,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “In this case – aided by complicit company officials – IATSE union bosses violated numerous longstanding legal requirements in their rush to extort forced dues from Mr. Carroll.
“This case is a clear example of why more fundamental reform is needed, and especially why all American workers deserve Right to Work protections, so they can freely choose for themselves whether or not to fund a union with their hard-earned money,” Mix added.
Faced with Prosecution, NY IATSE Film Production Union Bosses Settle Case Over Illegal Discrimination Against Nonmembers
National Labor Relations Board settlement pulls back curtain on pervasive discriminatory practices among entertainment industry unions
New York, NY (November 2, 2022) – New York-based movie production electrician James Harker has scored a victory against International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 52 union officials, who have been unlawfully denying jobs to non-union film industry workers. With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Harker has won a settlement requiring IATSE Local 52 officials to stop a series of discriminatory practices designed by union officials to sideline nonmembers in favor of union members.
IATSE Local 52, based in New York City, has monopoly bargaining agreements with film production companies that give it control over movie, television, and commercial shoots in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and parts of Pennsylvania and Delaware. Harker filed these NLRB charges against IATSE Local 52 in March 2021 and January 2022.
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 29 has agreed that many of the practices cited in Harker’s charges violate the law. The NLRB issued a complaint in May 2022 against the union, which is the NLRB’s formal step towards prosecuting infringements of federal law before an NLRB Administrative Law Judge.
The complaint, issued by the NLRB Regional Director, stated that IATSE union officials had broken federal law by forbidding production companies to hire nonmembers without permission from union bosses, forcing nonmembers to go through the union to apply for jobs, requiring union members with hiring authority to exhaust all union member hiring options before hiring nonmembers, and more.
Most notably, IATSE union officials facilitated a practice called “bumping,” in which the union required employers to release from work any crewmembers on a film shoot who were not members of the union when a union member became available to work and wanted that position. The complaint says that this and other practices violate employees’ rights to refrain from all union activity and causes “employers to discriminate against employees,” both of which are prohibited by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
Settlement Requires IATSE Bosses to Stop Letting Members Kick Nonmembers Off Jobs
Now, to stop the case from proceeding to trial, IATSE Local 52 union officials have entered into an NLRB settlement that includes requirements that they cease these illegal activities and notify workers of the rights the union’s practices infringed on. The settlement vindicates Harker, who filed the charges after seeing the ongoing illegal practices harm fellow production workers.
The settlement orders IATSE Local 52 to comply with a number of requirements, including that union bosses will no longer “require nonmember…employees to obtain work through the Union,” “will not interfere with employers and their agents hiring nonmembers without first obtaining approval from the Union,” and “will not require employers to allow members to bump nonmembers off of productions because of the nonmembers’ lack of membership with the Union.”
IATSE union officials are required to disseminate the settlement notice to union members and nonmembers under the union’s control, as well as to production companies. The settlement notice must also appear in IATSE Local 52’s newsletter, and IATSE union officials are ordered to attend mandatory training on employee rights and hiring procedures.
“IATSE union officials’ scheme to keep nonmember production workers off the job is a classic example of union officials prioritizing power and control over workers’ individual rights,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “The Foundation was proud to back Mr. Harker, who recognized the patent injustice of this arrangement.”
“Film crew members who have exercised their right not to affiliate with a union should know that they can’t be required to go through union officials to look for work, and can’t be ‘bumped’ off a job just so a union member can get it,” Mix added. “Unfortunately, Foundation attorneys’ experience is that these types of unlawful schemes are ubiquitous in the entertainment industry, where near-total union boss control combined with the fear of union retaliation keeps most victims too scared to defend their rights.”
Disneyland Technician Hits Union and Disney with Federal Charges for Illegally Seizing Union Fees
Union officials collected thousands in forced fees ignoring U.S. Supreme Court mandates
Los Angeles, CA (July 25, 2019) – A Disneyland stage technician has filed federal unfair labor practice charges against the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 504 union and Walt Disney Parks & Resorts for demanding and seizing union fees from his paycheck in violation of his legal rights. The charges were filed at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.
The employee asserted his rights under the Foundation-won Communications Workers of America v. Beck U.S. Supreme Court decision, which requires unions to reduce the compulsory fees charged to workers who refrain from union membership so they are not forced to fund activities such as lobbying and political activism. The Beck decision additionally requires union officials to provide nonmember workers an independently verified audit justifying the amount of the mandatory union fees.
Because California private-sector employees lack the protection of a Right to Work law, they can be fired for refusing to pay fees to a union. However, union officials must charge as a condition of employment only the part of dues Beck permits and follow the Beck procedures before seizing such forced union fees from workers who are not union members.
Mark Stacy is not a member of IATSE and notified the union that he objects to paying the lawfully nonchargeable part of its dues. His charges filed with the NLRB Region 21 office allege that, at IATSE officials’ behest, Disneyland has nonetheless violated Stacy’s rights under federal law by continuing to seize union fees from Stacy’s pay without reducing the fees as Beck requires.
According to Stacy’s charges, IATSE union agents have also never provided him with the financial disclosures Beck requires. Further, neither Disneyland nor IATSE has a dues deduction authorization signed by him, making any and all deductions from his wages illegal.
Other Disney employees in recent years have obtained free legal aid from the Foundation to halt the illegal seizure of dues. Last June, Foundation staff attorneys secured a favorable NLRB ruling for several Walt Disney World employees who had their requests to cut off dues ignored by Florida Teamsters officials. For months, full dues were illegally deducted from their wages by Disney and accepted by Teamsters agents in a blatant breach of federal law and Florida’s Right to Work law.
“The ‘Happiest Place on Earth’ can’t be very happy if its owners and union are violating federal law by ignoring worker rights when it comes to union dues and fees,” observed National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Cases like this show why the workers of the Golden State deserve the protection of a Right to Work law to ensure that union membership and financial support are strictly voluntary.”
