Fox Cities Essity Employee Hits Steelworkers Union with Federal Charges for Illegal Termination Threat
Longtime employee of paper products company exercised right to leave union and stop dues deductions, Steelworkers union now demands her firing
Fox Cities, WI (February 16, 2023) – Greenville, WI, resident Kerri Wenske has just filed federal charges against United Steelworkers Local 2-1279 union officials at her Essity workplace in Neenah, WI. Wenske, who has worked for decades at Essity, maintains that Steelworkers officials ordered the company to fire her after she exercised her right to end her union membership and cut off dues deductions. Wenske filed her charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
Wenske argues that Steelworkers union officials are violating her rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which ensures that American private sector employees can abstain from any or all union activities. Wisconsin’s Right to Work law also forbids union officials from forcing Wisconsin workers to join or pay dues to a union as a condition of employment. In non-Right to Work states like neighboring Illinois, union chiefs can have workers fired for refusal to pay for union “representation” they don’t support.
Steelworkers President Hurls Termination Threat at Veteran Employee Who No Longer Supports Union
According to Wenske’s charge, she submitted a letter to Steelworkers president Bill Kilishek in early February in which she resigned her union membership and requested that all dues deductions from her paycheck stop, as is her right under the state’s Right to Work law. Because the dues deduction authorization form she signed allows for an immediate cessation of deductions upon resignation of her union membership as permitted by long-established NLRB precedent, Wenske’s resignation letter should be sufficient to end both her membership and any flow of union dues from her paycheck.
However, Kilishek told Wenske shortly after receiving her letter “that she would be terminated from her employment based on her decision to resign her union membership,” Wenske’s charge states. Afterward, a union agent from Steelworkers International even showed Wenske a copy of a letter written by the union ordering Essity to fire Wenske for resigning from the union.
“The Employer has yet to act on this request,” says Wenske’s charge.
Steelworkers Union Has Recent Streak of Employee Rights Violations
Wenske’s case is the latest in a number of recent cases in which Foundation staff attorneys have defended workers from Steelworkers union officials’ coercive practices. Just last month, metal workers at Latrobe Specialty Metals/Franklin Carpenter Technology in Franklin, PA, successfully voted Steelworkers officials out of their facility with free Foundation legal aid, after Steelworkers chiefs tried to trap workers under a contract they voted against twice. Also last month, Foundation attorneys spurred the NLRB’s prosecution of Steelworkers Local 832 for illegally seizing months of dues from Kentucky employee Melva Hernandez.
“Steelworkers union officials are continuing their nationwide campaign of punishing workers who disagree with the union’s agenda,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “That Steelworkers chiefs tried to get Ms. Wenske – a veteran Essity employee – fired merely because she no longer supports the union demonstrates just how little they care about the free choice rights of workers and winning over employee support voluntarily.”
“Essity officials should not become complicit in Steelworkers bosses’ illegal scheme, and Foundation attorneys will fight this and any further attempts to violate Ms. Wenske’s right to abstain from union activity,” Mix added.
Louisville Ford Assembly Plant Worker Slams UAW Union with Federal Charges for Seizing Money from Her Paycheck Illegally
Charge detailing violation of employee’s rights comes after multiple top UAW chiefs have been sentenced to prison for widespread corruption and embezzlement of workers’ dues money
Louisville, KY (October 27, 2022) – Shiphrah Green, an employee at Ford’s Louisville Assembly Plant, has filed federal charges against the United Automobile Workers (UAW) Local 862 union at the plant. Her charges contend that union officials are violating her rights by seizing dues money from her paycheck after she resigned her membership and requested a stop to all dues. Green, who is represented for free by National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys, also hit Ford with federal charges for their officials’ role in the unlawful deduction of union dues.
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 9 in Cincinnati will now investigate Green’s charges. The charges detail UAW and Ford officials forcing Green to navigate several unnecessary and unlawful steps to end her financial support for the union. They even state that the Local 862 president made threatening comments regarding Green’s job just because she exercised this basic free choice right. To date, the charges state, Ford and the UAW have not stopped collecting full union dues from Green’s paycheck.
Green’s charges argue that both the UAW union and Ford infringed on her rights under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which protects American private sector employees’ right to refrain from any or all union activities. Additionally, Kentucky is a Right to Work state, meaning union officials are forbidden by state law from getting workers fired merely for refusal to join or financially support a union.
UAW Officials Block Employee from Exercising Basic Rights
According to her charges, Green sent correspondence to both UAW and Ford officials on April 21, 2022 informing them she was resigning her union membership and cutting off union dues deductions from her wages. Neither party granted her request, and Green instead received an email from UAW Local 862’s president notifying her that she needed to be shown the purportedly “correct” method to leave the union.
At a meeting with union officials at the UAW union hall on April 25, UAW officials forced Green to answer questions about why she wanted to leave the union. They also demanded she sign a letter listing “benefits” Green would supposedly forgo if she went through with exiting the union.
The charge contends that NLRB precedent prohibits requiring workers to sign such a document just so they can exercise their right to end their union membership and stop dues deductions. UAW Local 862’s president apparently went even further. According to the charge, he told Green “if it were up to me, you’d lose your job for leaving the union.”
As this chain of events was ongoing, Green was also trying to get Ford management to end the dues deductions. This also proved fruitless, as Ford officials gave her several confusing responses and even told her at one point that she could only cease dues deductions in February 2023 – even though the previously authorized dues deduction document stated it could be revoked at will.
The charges contend that Ford violated federal law by “continuing to take full union dues” from Green’s paycheck at union bosses’ behest even after she had requested that they stop, and that UAW Local 862 violated federal law by continuing to accept those illegally-seized dues, by “restricting her union membership resignation, and by making threatening comments that would chill an ordinary employee’s exercise of Section 7 rights.”
New Evidence of UAW Corruption Emerges After Top UAW Chiefs Receive Jail Sentences
Green’s charges come as the UAW union is still reeling from the effects of a years-long investigation by federal prosecutors into massive corruption within the union hierarchy. The probe, as of July 2022, has already resulted in convictions of at least 17 people, including two former UAW presidents and at least nine other UAW top officials. The convicted former UAW presidents, Gary Jones and Dennis Williams, were sentenced to a combined 49 months in prison.
UAW officials were convicted most notably of embezzling millions from the union’s dues-stocked coffers for luxury golf vacations, expensive liquor and cigarettes, steak dinners, amusement park tickets, and more.
“The past few years have shown how deep anti-worker corruption runs within the UAW hierarchy. Ms. Green’s case is just one more manifestation of a culture that clearly values the ability to siphon money from rank-and-file employees far above respecting employee rights,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Workers under UAW control in Kentucky should know that they have the right to cut off all union dues payments to union officials, and the right to end their memberships at will. Any obstacles created by union officials to hinder the exercise of these rights are illegal, and employees should reach out to Foundation staff attorneys for free legal aid if they encounter such roadblocks.”
Freight Company Worker Wins More Than $10,500 for Being Illegally Fired for Not Joining Teamsters Union
Back pay award ends case against employer, federal charge against union for instigating illegal termination still under NLRB investigation
Jackson, MN (August 25, 2022) – Jannie Potgieter, who was a freight employee at industrial park USF Holland in Jackson, Minnesota, filed federal charges against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 120 union and his employer in May for illegally terminating him for exercising his right not be a union member. Now Mr. Potgieter has received approximately $10,512 in back pay from USF Holland in exchange for dropping the charge against the company. The charge against the union for union officials’ role in the illegal termination is still pending.
Mr. Potgieter’s charges were filed on May 27, 2022, at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 18 with free legal representation from National Right to Work Legal Defense Fountain staff attorneys. The charges stated that on May 18, 2022, a USF Holland manager fired Mr. Potgieter because he exercised his rights under the Communications Workers of America v. Beck (1988) U.S. Supreme Court precedent not to join the union.
In the non-NLRB settlement with USF Holland, Mr. Potgieter agreed to withdraw his unfair labor charge in exchange for the back pay plus employer-provided training for management about workers’ Beck rights and a prohibition on firing workers who refuse to join a union. The NLRB Regional Director approved the settlement, but continues to investigate the charge against Teamsters Local 120.
Because Minnesota lacks Right to Work protections for private sector employees, unions can force them to pay union fees as a condition of keeping their jobs. However, under Beck, a U.S. Supreme Court decision won by Foundation staff attorneys, formal union membership cannot be required, nor can payment of the part of dues used for non-bargaining expenditures like union political activities. In contrast, in the 27 states with Right to Work protections, union membership and financial support are strictly voluntary.
“Mr. Potgieter’s illegal firing for exercising his basic rights shows why Minnesota workers need the protection of a Right to Work law to ensure all union membership and financial support is strictly voluntary,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “While we’re glad USF Holland has belatedly taken responsibility for its role, union bullies must also be held accountable for instigating this blatantly illegal firing.”
“With Labor Day right around the corner, this case serves as a reminder that being pro-worker must mean rejecting compulsion and allowing each and every working American the freedom to decide for themselves whether or not to spend their hard-earned paycheck on union dues,” added Mix.
