Oregon Fred Meyer Grocery Store Worker Prevails Over Illegal UFCW Local 555 Strike Fine
UFCW union bosses abandon attempt to collect nearly $1,000 from worker for supposedly working four hours during strike
Portland, OR (April 16, 2026) – Portland-area Fred Meyer grocery store employee Robert Wendelschafer has prevailed in his nearly two-year dispute with United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 union officials. Wendelschafer filed federal charges against UFCW Local 555 after union bosses targeted him with a strike fine for exercising his right to continue working during a union boss-ordered strike action in 2024.
The charges were filed, with free legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, with National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 19 in early 2025. The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the National Labor Relations Act and adjudicating disputes between employers, unions, and individual employees.
Wendelschafer exercised his legal right to resign UFCW union membership in order to continue working on August 30, 2024. However, UFCW officials claimed the resignation letter was not delivered until after he had returned to work for four hours.
UFCW bosses then apparently attempted to use this supposed four-hour delay as a technicality to justify a fine for $992, announced in a December 2024 letter, after finding him “guilty” of violating internal UFCW rules. Longstanding law says union bosses cannot impose “union discipline” against workers who are not voluntary union members. Such discipline frequently takes the form of four- or five-figure monetary fines payable to union boss-controlled funds.
Eventually, faced with pending Unfair Labor Practice charges at the NLRB, UFCW Local 555 union officials backed down and rescinded their strike fine. At that point, with the union recognizing his resignation and no longer attempting to fine Wendelschafer, the NLRB decided not to move forward with the case against the UFCW.
Wendelschafer is one of many workers who have turned to the Foundation in recent years when faced with unlawful fines and/or fine threats by UFCW officials. In Colorado, Foundation staff attorneys assisted over a dozen King Soopers and Safeway grocery store employees after UFCW Local 7 sought to retaliate against workers who resigned their union memberships to continue working during a series of union-ordered strikes.
“We are pleased to have been able to defend Mr. Wendelschafer against UFCW union bosses’ attempts to punish him for exercising his legal rights,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “That union officials even attempted to claim that a four-hour delay in the delivery of a membership resignation letter should warrant ‘union discipline’ fines that amount to over $200 per hour is yet another demonstration that union boss greed and vindictiveness against rank-and-file workers has no limit.
“All American workers wishing to continue to work to support themselves and their families should be able to do so freely without illegal retaliation from union bosses,” added Mix.
Portland–Area Fred Meyer Employees Slam UFCW Union with Federal Charges for Illegal Threats Linked to Strike
UFCW union bosses begin dropping fines against workers, but union faces investigation on federal charges
PORTLAND, OR (November 7, 2024) – Two employees of a Portland-area Fred Meyer grocery store have filed federal charges against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 555. The charges state that union officials broke federal law by ignoring their requests to resign union membership during a union strike and are unlawfully retaliating against the workers by seeking to fine them for exercising their right to disagree with union boss strike orders and go to work.
The employees, Coyesca Vasquez and Reegin Schaffer, filed their charges at National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 19 with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), the federal law that governs private sector labor relations in the United States.
As detailed in the charges, on August 30, 2024, each of the employees exercised their right to resign union membership, and return to work. However, on September 24, 2024, UFCW union officials notified Vasquez, and on October 14, 2024, UFCW union officials notified Reegin Schaffer, that the union had started internal proceedings against them and their presence would soon be required at a union “trial,” which is the first step towards imposing fines.
If an employee is not a voluntary union member, he or she cannot be legally subjected to internal union discipline, like the kind UFCW union officials are attempting to impose on Vasquez and Schaffer. In such internal discipline tribunals, union bosses frequently levy punitive fines against workers amounting to thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars.
UFCW Officials Were Previously Caught Illegally Imposing Massive Strike Fines Against Workers
During past UFCW–instigated strikes, workers faced similar unlawful fines, which union officials claim can only be disputed at internal union courts. In 2022, union officials illegally levied fines against King Sooper’s grocery chain workers in Denver, Colorado, who chose to exercise their right to work during a strike.
The unlawful fines issued by union bosses against the workers were more per day than the workers earned in a day of work, in one case totaling nearly $4,000 throughout the 10 day strike. In that instance Foundation staff attorneys won multiple cases against the UFCW, ultimately resulting in union bosses rescinding the unlawful fines.
“UFCW union officials are again displaying their penchant for using strikes to consolidate power, by threatening rank-and-file workers who exercise their Right to Work during a UFCW strike,” said National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation President Mark Mix. “Workers have a clear legal right to resign from union membership and return to work without facing illegal fines or disciplinary actions.”
It’s Official: Oregon Masami Foods Workers’ Vote to Oust UFCW Union Officials is Certified
Despite union legal tactics delaying the certification of an NLRB decertification election, Masami Foods workers are free of unwanted union
Klamath Falls, OR (August 3, 2023) – A vote by workers at Masami Foods in Klamath Falls to remove United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 555 union officials’ forced representation powers has been certified. A petition filed by employee Scott Child with the National Labor Relations Board Region 19 (NLRB) led to this successful vote. Child received free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
Child and his coworkers at Masami Foods filed for a decertification vote on March 2, 2023. Under federal labor law, workers can trigger such a decertification vote with the support of at least 30% of workers in a unionized workplace. The NLRB then scheduled a vote for May 11, 2023.
On May 11, Masami employees made their position on the union clear, voting 54-25 to remove the union from their workplace. However, UFCW union officials had previously filed a number of “blocking charges,” presumably to delay the NLRB’s certification of the results. As a result of these blocking charges, the vote certification was delayed until August 1, 2023, when the NLRB Regional Director certified the election results.
The case is an example of how the NLRB’s union decertification process is prone to union boss-created roadblocks. Foundation-backed reforms the NLRB adopted in 2020 made it somewhat easier for workers to remove unwanted union officials. However, the Biden NLRB is attempting to roll back these protections and make it much harder to decertify a union.
For example, the 2020 reforms blocked union officials from resubmitting overlapping charges, which often contain unverified and unrelated allegations of employer actions and delay the process further. Had these reforms not been in place, the three-month delay for these workers could have been extended much longer, possibly effectively indefinitely.
The Masami Foods decertification is another example of a growing movement among workers to remove incumbent unions from their workplace. 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.
“We are honored to have been able to help the Masami Foods workers exercise their rights under federal law to remove a union they clearly, overwhelmingly, oppose,” stated Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. “While the outcome is favorable, the union-instigated delays in certifying the results of the decertification vote highlight the lengths UFCW officials are willing to go to in order to maintain control over workers, even those who clearly want nothing to do with them.”
“The blocking charge tactics used by UFCW union officials in this case demonstrate how wrong it would be if and when the Biden NLRB reverses the Election Protection Rules that cut back on such ‘blocking charge’ abuses,” continued Mix. “Without those modest 2020 reforms, these workers would almost certainly still be trapped in union ranks they oppose with no end in sight.”
Oregon ABC Cameraman Wins Ruling Against Illegal Dues-Seizing NABET Bosses
The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, March/April 2021 edition. To view other editions or to sign up for a free subscription, click here.
Administrative Law Judge orders union boss to refund all illegally taken money
He’s done playing games: After cameraman Jeremy Brown sought free legal aid from the Foundation, an NLRB Administrative Law Judge ruled against NABET bosses for violating his Beck rights for years.
PORTLAND, OR – Jeremy Brown, a “daily hire” cameraman for ABC who had worked on and off for the company since 1999, would not have thought that a new president taking over the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians (NABET) Local 51 union would mean anything for him when he resumed work in 2016. After all, he had worked for ABC for nearly three years, and the union had never even contacted him and he had never joined the union.
Then, in 2019, he received a series of letters from the new union honcho, demanding he pay nearly $10,000 in initiation fees and so-called “back-agency dues.” Brown quickly obtained free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys and asserted his rights under the Foundation-won CWA v. Beck Supreme Court decision.
Beck prevents private sector union bosses from forcing employees who have abstained from formal union membership to pay for anything unrelated to the union’s bargaining functions, such as political expenses. Moreover, it requires union officials to provide information on the union’s fee calculation and expenditures to non-members.
New NABET Chief Demanded Thousands, Then Snubbed Cameraman’s Beck Rights
Because Brown works primarily in non-Right to Work states, he can be legally forced as a condition of employment to pay some fees to union bosses.
After receiving the baffling, belated dues demands, Brown emailed the new union president, Carrie Biggs-Adams, asking for clarification. He also exercised his Beck rights by objecting “to the collection and expenditure by the union of a fee for any purpose other than” certain bargaining activities. Believing that he would be fired if he did not agree to pay union dues, he filled out a form authorizing NABET to take full dues from his paycheck, but did so under duress.
Biggs-Adams ignored several follow-ups by Brown. According to legal documents, she “believed Local 51 had no obligation to [reply to Brown] because Beck objections” are handled only by the union’s national headquarters under NABET rules. Even so, she never apprised Brown of NABET’s national mailing address, or provided him the dues reduction or any of the information mandated by Beck.
In December, Brown won a decision from a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) about the union’s Beck rights violations. The ALJ’s decision holds the NABET union violated Brown’s rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) through its officials’ omissions and the failure to reduce his dues.
The ALJ ordered NABET Local 51 to provide Brown with “a good faith determination of the reduced dues and fees objectors must pay,” and “reimburse Brown for all dues and fees collected” beyond what is required under Beck, with interest.
“While this decision vindicated Mr. Brown’s legal rights, it also demonstrates why every American worker deserves the protection of a Right to Work law to shield them from union boss threats to pay up or be fired,” commented National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens.
