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.
Grand Rapids TerryBerry Workers Vote to Remove Unwanted Machinists Union from Workplace
Once final, vote to boot IAM union officials strips union of ability to impose forced dues in wake of Right to Work repeal legislation
Grand Rapids, MI (May 16, 2023) – Workers at the TerryBerry Company in Michigan recently voted to remove International Association of Machinist of Aerospace Engineers (IAM) District Lodge 60/Local Lodge 475 union officials’ forced representation powers. A petition filed by Mary Soltysiak with the National Labor Relations Board Region 7 (NLRB) led to this successful vote. Soltysiak received free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
Mary Soltysiak and her coworkers at TerryBerry Company filed for a decertification vote on April 14, 2023, with free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys. Her decertification petition contained signatures of a majority of the employees in the unit. Soltysiak has been under the protections of the Michigan Right to Work law since 2018.
Under federal labor law, workers can trigger such a decertification vote with the support of 30% of workers in a unionized workplace. The NLRB should then promptly schedule a secret ballot election to determine whether a majority of workers want to end union officials’ power to impose a contract, including forced dues, on workers. The NLRB scheduled a vote for May 15, 2023.
On May 15, TerryBerry employees made their position on the union clear, voting to remove the union from their workplace. Barring any objections by union officials that seek to overturn the vote, the workers will be officially free of the union in one week.
The workers’ decertification petition comes in the wake of Michigan legislators ramming through a bill to repeal their state’s decade-old and highly popular Right to Work law. When the repeal law takes effect, union officials will once again have the power to force workers to pay up or be fired in workplaces where the union has forced “representation” powers. Luckily for Soltysiak and her coworkers, however, due to the successful decertification vote they will continue to be free of union coercion.
The TerryBerry decertification is one example of growing distrust in unionization, especially in Michigan. Currently, the NLRB’s data shows a unionized private sector worker is far more likely to be involved in a decertification effort as their nonunion counterpart is to be involved in a unionization campaign. NLRB statistics also show a 20% increase in decertification petitions last year versus 2021.
“As Michigan workers again face the prospect of mandatory union dues, we expect more will follow these TerryBerry workers and seek to decertify unions,” stated Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. “Numerous polls showed that Michigan voters overwhelmingly supported Michigan’s Right to Work law, which doesn’t prevent a single person from voluntarily joining or paying dues to a union, but merely protects workers from being fired for non-payment.”
“Being forced under a union you oppose is bad enough, but then being told to pay up or be fired is even worse,” continued Mix. “Michigan workers can turn to the National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys who stand ready to assist them in exercising their right to decertify unwanted unions.”
Boeing Technician Files Federal Lawsuit Against Machinists Union Over Illegal Forced Dues Demands
Instead of reducing nonmember worker’s payments in accordance with Supreme Court precedent, union bosses charged him arbitrary higher amount
Seattle, WA (May 24, 2022) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Seattle Boeing technician Don Zueger is suing International Association of Machinists (IAM) union officials in federal court for violating his right to refrain from paying for unwanted union activities.
Zueger, who is not a member of the IAM union, is defending his right under the Foundation-won 1988 CWA v. Beck U.S. Supreme Court decision, in which the Court ruled that union officials cannot charge full union dues to objecting private sector workers who have abstained from formal union membership. Under Beck, union officials can only charge union nonmembers “fees” which exclude expenses for things like union political activities.
Because Washington State lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers, nonmembers like Zueger can be forced to pay the reduced amount under Beck as a condition of keeping their jobs. In Right to Work states, in contrast, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary.
IAM Officials Continue to Overcharge Worker in Violation of His Rights
According to Zueger’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, he submitted a request to IAM union officials in February resigning his union membership and asking for his dues payments to be reduced under Beck.
Zueger’s lawsuit reports that IAM officials’ response to his Beck request claimed that, under IAM’s nationwide policy, the portion of union dues he is required to pay is based on averages of selected audits that in each case include nine other local and district IAM affiliates. This means the forced union fee amount is not calculated using the actual amounts determined in the audits of the local and district IAM affiliates that Zueger is required to fund as a condition of employment. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in Zueger’s dues reduction being significantly less than it would have been had union officials only used the audits for the district and local affiliates Zueger is forced to fund.
According to his lawsuit, union officials are still demanding from Zueger dues in excess of the amount Beck permits. The lawsuit seeks to force IAM union bosses to return all money demanded in violation of Beck and to properly reduce his future union payments in accordance with Beck.
Workers Should Be Wary of Illegal Union Dues Schemes as Union Political Activity Increases
Zueger’s lawsuit comes after union bosses spent near-record sums on politics during the 2020 election cycle. A report by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR) released in 2021 revealed that union officials’ own Department of Labor filings show about $2 billion in political spending during the 2020 cycle, primarily from dues-stocked union general treasuries. Moreover, other estimates strongly suggest that actual union spending on political and lobbying activities actually topped $12 billion in 2019-2020.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out when union officials are trying to strong-arm employees into subsidizing union activities, including politics, against their will. IAM officials’ nonmember dues scheme doesn’t pass the smell test,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “While we’re proud to help Mr. Zueger defend his Beck rights, ultimately no American worker should be forced to pay fees determined by the whims of union officials simply in order to keep their jobs.”
“This case shows why Right to Work laws are needed nationwide to ensure that the decision to join or financially support a union is strictly a matter of each individual worker’s own conscience. Workers should be especially aware of attempts by union officials to force them to fund union activities as union political activity heats up in advance of this year’s elections,” Mix added.
