Workers at Americold Logistics Win Campaign to Remove Teamsters Union from Workplace
Facing imminent workers’ vote in a decertification election, Teamsters Local 695 officials end forced “representation”
Darien, WI (June 6, 2024) – Employees at Americold Logistics in Darien, Wisconsin have won their freedom from Teamsters Local 695. Americold Logistics employee, Leo Garcia, originally filed a petition on behalf of a majority of workers at the facility seeking a vote to remove the Teamsters from their workplace. The decertification petition was filed with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
Garcia filed the petition on May 16 with the NLRB, the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Garcia’s petition contained support from a majority of employees, which is more than is required to trigger a decertification vote under NLRB rules.
When it became clear that the election would be scheduled, Teamsters Local 695 disclaimed recognition on May 23, 2024, stating in an email to the employer that the union “unequivocally disclaims its interest in representing and collectively bargaining for the unit at Americold in Darien, Wisconsin…that this will end processing of the Petition.” On May 24, NLRB Region 18 acknowledged the union disclaiming recognition, meaning no election would be needed since the workers’ desired result – the removal of the union – had already been accomplished.
Because Wisconsin is a state with Right to Work protections, union officials can’t force employees like those at Americold Logistics to join the union or pay union dues as a condition of getting or keeping a job. In contrast, non-Right to Work states like neighboring Illinois and Minnesota let union officials push for terms with employers that compel workers to pay dues as a condition of employment.
But even in Right to Work states, federal law grants union officials the power to impose their “representation” on all workers in a unit, even those who oppose the union or voted against its presence. However, workers can choose to exercise their right to decertify a union they disapprove of.
Until the union disclaimed representation, the workers’ were subjected to a one-size-fits-all union monopoly contract. Under the NLRB-created “contract bar” policy, workers cannot get a decertification vote for up to three years as long as a union monopoly bargaining agreement is in place. However, at Americold, the union contract was five years long and had already been in effect for over three years.
“Having already been subjected to Teamsters’ bosses so-called ‘representation’ and monopoly contract for years, these workers had more than enough information to decide they would be better off without the union, and apparently Teamsters officials knew it too since as soon as the vote became inevitable they left rather than contest it,” said Foundation President Mark Mix. “While we are pleased these employees have succeeded in their effort to remove an unwanted union, cases like this show why the NLRB’s non-statutory contract bar policy should be eliminated entirely.”
“Workers shouldn’t be trapped under a union contract they oppose for three years until they can avail themselves of their clear right under federal law to petition for a vote to end union affiliation they oppose,” added Mix.
DHS Security Guard’s Federal Lawsuit Forces IGUA Union Bosses to Stop Illegal Forced Union Dues Demands
After union officials did not provide legally required financial disclosures, guard wins reduction in mandatory union fees
Washington, DC (June 6, 2024) – Rosa Crawley, a security guard at the Department of Homeland Security’s Nebraska Avenue Complex, has triumphed after filing a federal lawsuit charging the International Guards Union of America (IGUA) with unlawfully demanding and seizing union dues from her paycheck. Crawley, who is employed by Master Security, forced the union to back off its illegal dues demands with free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
Crawley is not a member of the IGUA union, but is still subject to IGUA’s monopoly bargaining power over the security guards at the DHS Nebraska Avenue Complex. As part of the settlement, IGUA union bosses must reduce the compulsory fee that they seize from Crawley as a condition of keeping her job. Before she filed suit, union bosses demanded the equivalent of full membership dues from her.
In her federal lawsuit, which she filed at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Crawley sought to defend her rights under the 1988 Right to Work Foundation-won CWA v. Beck Supreme Court decision.
While union officials can force private sector workers in non-Right to Work jurisdictions like the District of Columbia to pay dues or fees just to keep their jobs, the Beck decision prevents union bosses from forcing employees who have abstained from union membership to pay for anything beyond the union’s core bargaining functions, such as union bosses’ political activities. Full membership dues often contain charges for these unrelated items.
Beck also requires union bosses to furnish nonmembers who invoke their rights under the decision with an independent audit of the union’s finances and a breakdown of how union officials spend forced contributions.
Beck protections aren’t necessary in Right to Work states like neighboring Virginia, where union membership and all union financial support are fully voluntary.
IGUA Union Bosses Took Full Dues from Guard, Provided No Financial Disclosures
According to the suit, Crawley sent a letter to union officials resigning her union membership back in July 2023. Instead of immediately providing her with her Beck rights, union officials informed her that she would be charged a so-called “agency fee” which “is the same exact cost as what the union members pay.”
“So there will be absolutely no change in a financial sense,” the union’s reply letter stated.
Not satisfied with that explanation, Crawley in September 2023 formally invoked her Beck rights and asked union officials to reduce her dues payments in accordance with the decision. She also asked them to “provide [her] with an accounting, by an independent certified public accountant, that justifies Local 160’s calculation of its agency [forced] fee,” according to her lawsuit.
In an October 2023 reply to her Beck request, union officials used a confusing percentage averaging calculation to determine a fee amount that contradicted what they told Crawley when she resigned her membership. An independent audit of the union’s finances was nowhere to be found. Despite that, Crawley’s lawsuit reported that IGUA bosses continued to collect full union dues from her paycheck, and tried to impose extra steps that would need to be completed if she wanted to see the union’s financial info.
Workers Must Be On Guard for Illegal Union Uses of Worker Funds as Election Nears
After the filing of her lawsuit, Crawley expressed concern that her money was flowing toward union politics while IGUA bosses dragged their feet on honoring her Beck rights. “I shouldn’t have to pay for the IGUA union’s political activity just so I can continue to do my job,” commented Crawley. “Union officials have a legal obligation to stop charging me for politics and provide me with an accounting of how they are using my money, and so far they have done neither. This isn’t how they should treat the workers they say they ‘represent.’”
“We’re pleased that Ms. Crawley was able to terminate IGUA union officials’ outrageous seizure of full union dues from her paycheck,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “However, IGUA union officials’ inability to follow even the modest limitations that Beck places on their ability to impose mandatory dues on workers is ridiculous, and no worker should have to file a federal lawsuit to force union bosses into recognizing those rights.
“Workers’ right to prevent their money from going toward unwanted union activities, particularly politics, is especially important as union bosses try to push forward their agendas in advance of the 2024 election,” Mix added. “So workers should be vigilant of Beck violations, and remember they can contact Foundation attorneys for free legal aid in exercising their rights under that decision.”
St. Louis KIPP Charter High School Educators’ Vote to Remove Unwanted AFT Union Bosses is Now Official
Federal Labor Board has now certified majority decertification vote to end AFT union officials’ “representation” at the school
St. Louis, MO (May 30, 2024) – Teachers, advisors, nurses, and other employees at KIPP St. Louis High School are officially free of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 420 union. Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) certified the results of the educators’ May 17 decertification vote in which a majority voted to end AFT union officials’ monopoly bargaining powers at the charter high school.
KIPP teacher Robin Johnston filed a petition to decertify the union on May 2 with NLRB Region 14 in St. Louis using free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. The petition included the signatures of enough employees at the school to trigger the decertification election, resulting in the 19-17 vote against the AFT.
Because Missouri lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers (which includes employees at public charter schools like KIPP), union officials have the legal privilege to enforce contracts that force workers to pay union dues or fees to get or keep their jobs. In contrast, in Right to Work states, union membership and union financial support are strictly voluntary.
However, in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work states, union officials in a unionized workplace are empowered by federal law to impose a union contract on all employees in the work unit, including those who oppose the union. The successful decertification vote at KIPP St. Louis High School strips AFT union officials of both their forced-dues and monopoly bargaining powers.
“AFT union officials never stood up for us and instead undermined our students’ success,” stated Johnston. “This was especially on display when union officials called a divisive strike to demand we abandon our classrooms and our students. I’m grateful for my colleagues who have decided to set our school on a better path without the union.”
The KIPP High School educators are not the only charter school employees who have removed unwanted unions with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation. In 2023 in San Diego, CA, employees of Gompers Preparatory Academy prevailed in 2023 after a nearly four-year effort to vote out the San Diego Education Association (SDEA) union, an affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA).
“The decision by KIPP High School educators to remove the union from their school isn’t the first, nor will it be the last time charter school employees decide they are better off without teacher union officials,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “The fact is, if it were up to national teacher union bosses at the AFT and NEA, charter schools wouldn’t exist at all. So, it is hardly surprising that the educators at these schools, which provide an alternative to the public schools that are so often under union monopoly control, are choosing to kick out the union officials that oppose their very existence.”
NYC Electrical Workers Prevail in Year-Long Battle to Kick Out Union
The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, March/April 2024 edition. To view other editions of Foundation Action or to sign up for a free subscription, click here.
Union and NLRB colluded to stop worker vote with unsupported allegations
Shloime Spira and his coworkers fought for months against IUJAT union allegations designed to stop him and his coworkers from ousting the union — only to see NLRB officials admit there was no evidence at all to support them.
NEW YORK, NY – National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) bureaucrats frequently rush to advance flimsy union boss allegations (or “blocking charges”) as a justification for stopping or delaying employees’ efforts to remove an unwanted union. Yet as a recent Foundation decertification victory for a group of workers in New York City demonstrates, sometimes NLRB officials get especially creative when it comes to assisting union bosses’ efforts to trap workers in unionization they oppose.
Take the obstacles Shloime Spira and his colleagues, who work for Brooklyn, NY-based contracting company Horsepower Electric, faced in their effort to remove the International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades (IUJAT) from their workplace. In December 2022, Spira submitted a petition asking the NLRB for a vote to decertify the union.
Labor Board Stalled Litigation to Keep Union in Power
The petition contained the requisite number of employee signatures to trigger such a vote. While the vote eventually took place in March 2023, NLRB bureaucrats sat for months on charges that IUJAT officials had levied against Horsepower Electric management, which delayed the ballot count and permitted IUJAT union officials to stay in power. Months later, following litigation at the NLRB and in federal court, it became apparent the NLRB lacked any evidence that could justify that delay.
Spira received free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation in defending his coworkers’ right under federal law to remove the union, and in suing the NLRB for the delays. Only at the end of 2023, after a year of delays and litigation, did IUJAT union officials finally back down and file a “disclaimer of interest” to end their control over the Horsepower Electric workers.
“While my colleagues and I are pleased with this result, it’s simply ridiculous that the NLRB sat on our ballots for so long over union charges that were apparently meritless,” Spira commented on his experience. “The NLRB is supposed to protect employees’ right to choose whether or not they want a union, not delay that process indefinitely to maintain union officials’ power.”
Federal Court Action ‘Shocks’ Labor Board into Ending Delays
Union “blocking charges” contain claims of employer misconduct that are usually unverified and often have no connection to employees’ desire to vote out the union. NLRB officials inexplicably refused to hold a hearing or otherwise advance the IUJAT’s “blocking charge” case for months, effectively using it as a pretense for delaying the vote count in Spira and his coworkers’ effort to remove the union.
The delayed ballot count meantIUJAT union bosses stayed in power, and also meant that forced union dues continued to flow out of Spira and his colleagues’ paychecks. Because New York lacks Right to Work protections that make union affiliation and financial support strictly voluntary, union bosses could force the Horsepower Electric workers to pay the union as a condition of keeping their jobs.
Eventually, the NLRB faced a federal lawsuit in the Eastern District of New York, alleging due process violations because the delay in the “blocking charge” case was being used to justify the delay of the decertification ballot count. That case, initially bought by the employer, was soon joined by Spira who successfully intervened with the help of his Foundation attorneys. The District Court demanded an explanation from the NLRB about the delay.
NLRB Agents Found Zero Witnesses to Back Union ‘Blocking Charges’
Faced with the threat of a federal court order to proceed with the ballot count, NLRB officials finally moved forward on the “blocking charge” case. But just minutes before a December 2023 hearing the NLRB had scheduled in the case — which Spira’s Foundation-provided attorneys had traveled all the way to New York to attend — NLRB lawyers conceded they could produce no witnesses to testify in support of the union’s charges against Horsepower Electric.
The NLRB formally dropped its complaint against Horsepower Electric that very day, clearing the way for the ballots to be counted. To avoid facing a vote result that would have very likely been an embarrassing loss, IUJAT union officials announced a “disclaimer of interest” that would finally result in the union leaving. With the union conceding defeat, both the NLRB and federal cases surrounding the union decertification election wrapped up in January.
Workers’ Struggle Shows NLRB Needs Reform
“That union officials were so easily able to manipulate NLRB processes to block Mr. Spira and his colleagues from exercising their basic right to choose whether they want union representation shows that the agency is desperately in need of reform,” commented National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens. “It is outrageous that it took a federal court case to force the NLRB to admit that it had no evidence to back up union officials’ allegations that were being used to trap workers in a union they opposed.
“Worker free choice is supposed to be the center of the National Labor Relations Act. Foundation attorneys will continue to defend this principle, even as the Biden Labor Board continues to grant union officials sweeping new powers to coerce workers into union ranks,” Semmens added.
Penske Truck Rental Employees in Minneapolis and Nashville Overwhelmingly Vote to Remove Machinists Union
Majority of workers in both work units have prevailed in effort to free themselves of unwanted IAM union bosses’ so-called ‘representation’
MINNEAPOLIS, MN & NASHVILLE, TN – Majorities of Penske Truck Rental employees at locations in Minnesota and Tennessee have voted to remove the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union from their respective workplaces. The decertification petitions were filed by workers with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation in April with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), asking the agency to hold votes to formally remove IAM union officials’ monopoly bargaining power.
On May 1 in Minneapolis, Minnesota workers voted 26 to 7 to remove IAM District Lodge No. 77 union officials. The NLRB-supervised decertification election took place after Penske employee Kyle Fulkerson submitted a petition on April 4, 2024 signed by a majority of his coworkers asking the NLRB to hold a vote to remove the union from the facility.
“This lopsided vote is a testament to the fact that after having seen the IAM up close and personal in our workplace, my colleagues and I are confident that we are better off without union officials so-called ‘representation,” said Fulkerson about the outcome, which became final on May 8 after a one-week objection period passed with no union challenge to the outcome being filed.
Meanwhile in Tennessee, Penske employee David Saylor filed his decertification petition on April 11 backed by a majority of the employees at the downtown Nashville Penske location. On May 8, they voted 15 to 8 to oust IAM District Lodge No. 735. Today, on Thursday, May 16, 2024, the vote became finalized absent a last ditch attempt by union officials to overturn the workers’ vote.
The Minneapolis and Nashville-based workers are not the only Penske employees to remove unwanted union so-called “representation” with legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation. In 2022, every worker but one as a Penske facility in Indiana signed a petition seeking to decertify the Teamsters union officials at that location. Before an NLRB-supervised decertification election was scheduled, Teamsters officials issued a statement, disclaiming representation in an apparent attempt to spare themselves the embarrassment of an overwhelming vote by workers to reject the union’s so-called “representation.”.
“Workers across the country are increasingly exercising their rights to remove unwanted unions, with more decertification elections held last year than in any year since 2017,” said National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “No worker anywhere should be forced under the so-called ‘representation’ of a union they oppose, and Foundation staff attorneys stand ready to assist workers wanting to hold a decertification election to oust a union they oppose and believe they would be better off without.”
Majority of Employees at Emporia Rehabilitation and Healthcare Seek to Remove SEIU Union
Decertification election to remove “Workers United Mid Atlantic Regional Joint Board” union officials set for Thursday
Emporia, VA (May 8, 2024) – A majority of employees at Emporia Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Emporia, Virginia, have petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for a secret ballot vote to remove the Workers United Mid Atlantic Regional Joint Board union from their workplace. A decertification election has been scheduled for Thursday, May 16. Emporia employee Christy Smith filed the petition requesting the vote with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
Smith filed the union decertification petition on April 18 with the NLRB, the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Smith’s petition contained support from over half of her 60 coworkers, well more than required to trigger a decertification vote under NLRB rules. SEIU affiliate, “Workers United” [sic] Mid Atlantic Regional Joint Board union officials have maintained monopoly bargaining power at Smith’s workplace for over a decade.
Virginia is a Right to Work state, which means that union financial support is strictly voluntary for employees. In contrast, in states that do not have Right to Work laws, union officials can require employees to pay union dues or fees under threat of termination. However, in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work states, union officials are empowered by federal law to impose a union contract on all employees in the work unit, including those who oppose the union.
A successful decertification vote strips union officials of such monopoly bargaining powers. Nursing staff, Dietary staff, and Housekeeping staff, comprising of the 61 employees at the facility, are eligible to vote in this NLRB-supervised election.
“This majority-backed decertification petition at Emporia Rehabilitation and Healthcare is yet another example of the growing interest among workers in unionized workplaces to reconsider union affiliation,” said Foundation President Mark Mix. “The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation stands ready to provide free legal aid to workers seeking to exercise their right to remove an unwanted union from their workplace and to defend workers against any attempts by union officials to undermine or block workers from freeing themselves from unwanted so-called union ‘representation.’”
Healthcare Employees in PA, MN Oust Unions with Foundation Aid
The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, March/April 2024 edition. To view other editions of Foundation Action or to sign up for a free subscription, click here.
Over 270 workers now free of AFSCME at Philly hospital; Steelworkers union booted in MN
After being told by a union official that “the union isn’t going anywhere,” outpatient service coordinator Shidiah Jackson (back right) and her coworkers led a successful effort to kick the AFSCME union out of St. Christopher Hospital.
PHILADELPHIA, PA – In December 2023, National Right to Work Foundation-supported workers added two new victories to the growing string of successful union decertification efforts around the country.
In Philadelphia, a 270+ worker unit comprised of medical assistants, office coordinators, medical secretaries, and many other support employees voted by a nearly 60% margin to remove the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union from St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children.
Outpatient service coordinator Shidiah Jackson led the union decertification effort with free legal advice from the Foundation.
In Austin, MN, patient care specialist Erin Krulish and other support workers at the Austin Mayo Clinic location forced Steelworkers union officials out of their facility. That ouster follows multiple recent union removals involving other Minnesota healthcare employees, including nurses at Mankato Mayo Clinic, support staff at Mankato Mayo Clinic, and nurses at St. James Mayo Clinic, all of whom received free Foundation legal aid.
Both Krulish and Jackson kick-started these efforts by submitting decertification petitions to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Each petition contained enough signatures from employees interested in having a union removal vote to prompt the NLRB to hold such a vote.
Healthcare Professionals Free of Monopoly Bargaining and Forced Dues
Both Pennsylvania and Minnesota lack Right to Work protections for their private sector workers, meaning that union officials had the power to enter into contracts with management that would force Krulish, Jackson, and their coworkers to pay union dues or fees just to keep their jobs. In contrast, in Right to Work states, union membership and all union financial support are strictly voluntary.
Steelworkers Officials Depart MN Clinic to Avoid Likely Embarrassing Vote
If a majority of workers vote against a union in a decertification vote or otherwise force a union out, the union loses not only its ability to demand forced dues from employees, but also its monopoly bargaining power.
Such power permits union officials to dictate the contract provisions of all employees in a unit, even those who oppose or voted against the union’s presence in the first place.
The effort by Krulish and her coworkers at Mayo Clinic Austin to remove the Steelworkers union was unique in that they had already stripped union officials of their forced dues power through a “deauthorization election,” which can be petitioned for in the same way as a decertification election. In December 2022, Krulish and her fellow employees voted 49-17 to revoke the union’s power to compel them to pay dues.
Deauthorization is the only way employees in non-Right to Work states can stop a union from seizing dues from workers as a condition of employment, outside of completely decertifying the union.
Krulish and her coworkers resorted to this option because the NLRB’s questionable “contract bar” doctrine prevented them from kicking the union out in December 2022, simply because the union’s contract was still active.
After experiencing a big loss in the deauthorization election, Steelworkers officials likely knew another devastating defeat was coming after Krulish filed her decertification petition. They departed the hospital before the election could take place.
Philly Workers Reject One-Size-Fits-All Union Bureaucracy
In an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer, Jackson related that she had no contact with the union until she tried to ask for a raise she felt she had earned, at which point hospital administrators said her salary and benefits were a union matter. When she voiced her displeasure with the situation to the union and asked what the union actually did for her, a union official suggested her views didn’t matter anyway because “the union isn’t going anywhere.”
“OK, we’ll see about that,” she told the union agent, according to the Inquirer. Soon after, she proceeded with her decertification effort, which ultimately resulted in the overwhelming vote among her colleagues for ending the union’s so-called “representation.”
“It seems that American medical employees are discovering that union officials’ one-size-fits-all ‘representation’ doesn’t always work to their benefit, nor does it help them take better care of their patients,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “It’s easy to see why healthcare workers would want to avoid compulsory dues payments, or being ordered to strike and abandon their patients during a busy time.
“Those in the healthcare industry should know that they have a right to petition the NLRB for a vote to remove a union, and that National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys can assist them through this daunting process,” Mix added.
DC-Area ‘Union Kitchen’ Employees Vote 24-1 to Remove UFCW Union
The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, March/April 2024 edition. To view other editions of Foundation Action or to sign up for a free subscription, click here.
Foundation now defending workers against union attempt to overturn employee vote
Union Kitchen, a unique grocery concept that helps local DC entrepreneurs get their food products to market, was the target of a dangerous UFCW picket scheme.
WASHINGTON, DC – Ashley Silva, an employee at independent DC-area food store Union Kitchen, could sense in July 2023 that her coworkers had had enough of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union in their workplace.
UFCW union officials had been ordering contentious boycotts and pickets on the stores, and some of the demonstrations even required police intervention after union picketers blocked store exits.
“The vast majority of the workers at Union Kitchen are sick and tired of the UFCW’s picketing, harassment of employees, and constant disruptions of our day-to-day work life,” Silva said at the time.
Despite Searing Worker Rejection, UFCW Bosses Trying to Cling to Power
With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, Silva filed a decertification petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), asking the federal agency to hold a vote among the employees of Union Kitchen’s five stores on whether the union should be ousted. The vast majority of her coworkers signed the petition.
UFCW union officials levied allegations against Union Kitchen management in an attempt to stop the vote from happening. Despite some delays, Silva and her coworkers cast ballots in October 2023, and a January 2024 vote count revealed that she and her colleagues had voted against the union 24-1.
The union challenged eight employee ballots, meaning the full tally of votes against the union is most likely 32-1.
Once the NLRB certifies this election result, Silva and her coworkers will be free of the union. However, in an attempt to stop this, UFCW officials continue to press the “blocking charges” against Union Kitchen management that they filed at the NLRB before the vote, and have also piled on objections to the election that contain the same basic accusations as the blocking charges.
Blocking charges are often unverified or unrelated charges of employer misconduct that union officials can manipulate to stall a ballot count or a certification of results in a union decertification case.
If the NLRB issues a complaint against an employer based on a union’s “blocking charges,” the decertification process is halted.
Foundation Will Fight UFCW Bid to Overturn Vote
Foundation staff attorneys are defending Silva and her colleagues’ victory at the ballot box from UFCW union officials’ bald-faced attempts to oppose their will.
“We’re happy that Ms. Silva and her coworkers were finally able to exercise their right to vote out a union they oppose,” commented National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens. “It’s unfortunate, though hardly surprising, that despite such an overwhelming rejection UFCW union officials won’t take a hint and stop attempting to impose their unwanted so-called ‘representation’ on Union Kitchen employees.
“The Foundation is proud to defend Silva and her coworkers against these union tactics as they seek freedom from coercive unionism,” Semmens concluded.
KIPP St. Louis Charter High School Educators to Vote This Week on Whether to Oust AFT Union Bosses
Union decertification election will take place among wide swath of school employees, including teachers, advisors, administrative staff, and others
St. Louis, MO (May 14, 2024) – Teachers, advisors, nurses, and other employees at KIPP St. Louis High School will vote this week on whether to remove American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union officials from power at the school. The union decertification vote follows KIPP teacher Robin Johnston’s submission of a “decertification petition” earlier this month to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 14 in St. Louis. Johnston filed the decertification petition with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, which includes administering elections to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Johnston’s petition contains signatures from enough of her coworkers to trigger a decertification vote under NLRB rules.
Because Missouri lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector workers (which includes employees at public charter schools like KIPP), union officials have the legal privilege to enforce contracts that force workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of getting or keeping a job. In contrast, in Right to Work states, union membership and union financial support are strictly voluntary.
However, in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work states, union officials in a unionized workplace are empowered by federal law to impose a union contract on all employees in the work unit, including those who oppose the union. A successful decertification vote strips union officials of both their forced-dues and monopoly bargaining powers.
Vote Set to Take Place May 17
“AFT union officials haven’t stood up for us,” commented Johnston. “I think the majority of my coworkers agree that they’ve only made it harder for us to help our students succeed, especially through a divisive strike order, and that’s a trend I hope we can reverse with this vote. We hope the election proceeds without delay and without interference from union officials.”
The NLRB has scheduled a vote to occur on Friday, May 17. According to Johnston’s petition, the vote will occur among “College and Career Advisors, English Language Learners, Leads, Lead Teachers, Learning Support Teachers, Mental health Professionals, School Nurses, Special Ed. Teachers, Specials Teachers, Speech Language Pathologists, Virtual Learning Facilitators, Behavior Support Specialists, High School Registrars, Long Term Subs, Office Coordinators, Paraprofessionals, Permanent Building Subs and Receptionists” at the school.
Foundation attorneys have recently aided other charter school educators in efforts to remove unwanted union officials, most recently in San Diego, CA, where employees of Gompers Preparatory Academy prevailed in 2023 after a nearly four-year effort to vote out the San Diego Education Association (SDEA) union, an affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA).
“Top teacher union officials, including Randi Weingarten of the AFT and Becky Pringle of the NEA, seem to regularly make headlines for political radicalism and not for anything related to helping teachers, which seems to be a reality on the ground at KIPP St. Louis,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Ms. Johnston and her fellow educators join a growing number of workers across the country who are realizing that union boss agendas don’t align with what’s best for them, and Foundation attorneys are proud to help them exercise their right to vote away unwanted union control.”
