National Right to Work Foundation Adds Experienced Virginia Attorney to Expert Legal Staff
**Springfield, VA (October 17, 2007)** – The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation announced today that it has hired Derek A. Poteet, a member of the Virginia State Bar since 1997 and graduate of the Washington & Lee University School of Law in Lexington, Virginia.
“Derek A. Poteet brings to National Right to Work a real commitment to helping employees fight back against the abuses of compulsory unionism,” said Ray LaJeunesse, vice president and legal director of the National Right to Work Foundation.
As the newest of the Foundation’s eleven staff attorneys, Poteet will help build on the Foundation’s successful litigation record for union-abused workers that includes 13 cases at the United States Supreme Court. In the most recent case, National Right to Work staff attorneys represented 4,000 teachers in the case of Davenport v. WEA, in which the High Court unanimously agreed unions have “no constitutional right” to spend forced dues for politics.
A United States Marine Corps Reservist, Poteet was recently promoted to Major. He was called for active duty in 2005 and served in Iraq through 2006. While abroad, he conducted compliance inspections of U.S. and Iraqi detention facilities throughout Al Anbar province. Currently, he continues to serve as a Judge Advocate for the Marines.
Poteet brings superior discovery and litigation skills to the Foundation’s expert legal staff. As a law clerk for a federal judge, he helped to interpret and apply federal and state laws to specific cases. In serving with the Marines, he has also provided legal assistance to service members and their families.
Before joining the Foundation, Poteet served as an associate attorney at a private law firm, where he defended property rights and advised business clients on employment law. He is experienced in civil and criminal litigation in state and federal courts, and won reinstatement and full back pay for a state employee who was unjustly terminated.
Poteet also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Virginia where he double majored in political and social thought as well as foreign affairs.
Mark Mix on Fox and Friends
Right to Work President Mark Mix made a national TV appearance on "Fox and Friends" on the Fox News Channel last week. He discussed the so-called "Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act" with Congressman Joe Sestak (D-PA).
Safeway Employees Win in Montana
Jerry Rasmussen and Carla Crandall (along with their coworkers) forced the UFCW Local 4 to sign a settlement after union officials tried to bar them from exercising their legal rights at a Safeway in Polson, Montana.
National Right to Work attorneys helped the two through their battle against illegal termination threats and forced dues seizures after union officials denied their requests to resign from formal membership.
The Associated Press covered the story:
"I got a hold of the (National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation) attorneys, and they said, ‘That’s absolutely not right. They have to acknowledge those Beck rights and let you be a nonmember,’" Rasmussen said.
Although the settlement requires UFCW Local 4 officials to reimburse the employees of their forced dues plus interest and to inform them of their legal right to resign from formal membership, it is an incremental victory in the broad fight against compulsory unionism in Montana.
Until Montana has a Right to Work law that makes the payment of union dues strictly volunatary, this type of intimidation will likely continue throughout the Treasure State.
Hollywood Union Hit with Federal Charge After Union Officials Threaten Musicians With Arrests
**Hollywood, CA (October 11, 2007)** – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, a Symphony on the Glen musician filed a federal charge today against the American Federation of Musicians (AFM) Local 47 responding to an ugly union campaign of intimidation, coercion, and retaliation against employees exercising their legal rights.
Sai-Ly Acosta, a violinist for the film score orchestra, filed a federal unfair labor practice charge at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after union officials enforced an illegal policy requiring all musicians to be “in good standing” with the union in order to practice in a union-owned rehearsal facility used by their orchestra. Union officials informed Acosta, who is not a formal member of the AFM union, she and others would be arrested if they attended rehearsal tonight.
Of course, musical groups require that all musicians, as a condition of employment, participate in certain rehearsals – many occurring in facilities owned by AFM Local 47. However, Acosta and several of her coworkers exercised their legal right to resign from formal union membership and pay a reduced fee to cover the cost of union bargaining. As a result, union officials are attempting to unlawfully prevent her from practicing with the orchestra. Union operatives have harassed and intimidated the dissenting musicians, calling them “scabs.”
“These thuggish actions by union officials are both despicable and illegal,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. “But this union intimidation is all too common in states like California where there is no Right to Work law on the books.”
Under the Foundation-won Supreme Court decision in *Communications Workers v. Beck* and subsequent NLRB rulings, union officials cannot require formal union membership or the payment of union dues unrelated to collective bargaining as a condition of employment. Employees are also entitled to notice of their right to refrain from union membership, an independent audit of union expenditures, and notice of their right to object to paying for non-bargaining activities, such as union political activities.
Because Acosta and other musicians exercised their legal rights under *Beck*, they have been unlawfully targeted for retaliation. The unfair labor practice charge will be reviewed by the NLRB’s Regional Director who will decide whether to take the union to trial before a federal labor judge.
“No one should be forced to pay dues to an unwanted union just to get or keep their job,” continued Gleason.
NYC Transit Strike Aftermath
After only three months without the ability to automatically deduct dues from workers’ paychecks, Transit Workers Union officials are in court asking that one of their many special privileges be restored. They lost the ability to automatically deduct dues after TWU bosses illegally ordered a strike in December 2005 that crippled New York City.
According TWU’s own newsletter, without the automatic dues deduction, less than half of the over 30,000 workers have paid their dues in full, including four union officials who have been prosecuted by the TWU International, for their failure to pay up. Demonstrating that when given the choice, rank-and-file employees (and even, apparently some union bosses) don’t find the union’s “services” valuable enough to warrant their hard earned money.
“Paycheck Protection” Regulation Nixed
Another so-called "paycheck protection" campaign finance regulation has been struck down in federal court. (A similar law has been struck down in Utah.)
As noted by former Federal Election Commission chair Brad Smith in The Washington Times in the wake of the Right to Work Foundation’s defensive victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in June, such regulations are both bad policy and bad politics.
Safeway Employees Win Settlement Against Union After Illegal Threats and Dues Seizures
**Butte, MT (October 10, 2007)** – In order to avoid federal prosecution by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a local union had no choice but to ink a settlement with several Safeway employees after union officials tried unlawfully to keep them from exercising their rights.
The settlement, secured by National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys, requires the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 4 union to reimburse Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) employees’ forced union dues seizures plus interest, to stop threatening their jobs, and to honor employees’ resignations from formal union membership.
UFCW Local 4 officials must also stop “requiring employees’ resignation letters be notarized, mailed by certified mail, set forth case law citations, and be individually submitted.” UFCW union officials had previously rejected the grocery workers’ requests to resign from formal union membership after union officials said the requests did not meet the union’s bogus and illegal rules for resigning.
With help from National Right to Work attorneys, Safeway employees Gerald Rasmussen and Carla Crandall originally filed federal charges against the UFCW Local 4 union in April and May, respectively. After an initial investigation, the NLRB combined the complaints into one case. A hearing was scheduled for September 18, but in an eleventh-hour decision, union officials signed a settlement in order to avoid embarrassing federal prosecution.
“This is a victory for this group of courageous workers,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “But this ugly union intimidation and abuse will continue to plague workers in Montana because there is no Right to Work law to ensure that payment of union dues is strictly voluntary.”
The employees’ original charges cite that UFCW Local 4 union officials were attempting to enforce a compulsory unionism clause requiring employees to join or pay dues to the union or be fired from their jobs, despite a formal deauthorization election held in late April where a large majority of employees voted to strip union bosses of their forced unionism privileges. UFCW Local 4 union officials continue to challenge the election results.
After learning of their right to resign from formal union membership from sources independent of UFCW Local 4, Rasmussen, Crandall and other employees sent letters to union officials resigning from formal union membership. Union officials rejected their requests and never provided any of the legally-mandated financial disclosure statements to the Safeway employees.
In the Foundation-won *Communications Workers of America v. Beck* decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that employees laboring under the National Labor Relations Act are entitled to resign from formal union membership but can still be forced to pay for activities related to union monopoly bargaining. However, they cannot be compelled to pay for other costs such as union political activities.
Forced Dues Dust Up
The Sacramento Bee says that the 87,000 member SEIU Local 1000 behemoth faces an internal battle in one of its bargaining units over forcing employees to pay dues.
If they are successful, the "fair share" employees, who are not union members but are required to pay fees every month for representation services they receive from SEIU 1000, won’t have to pay the money anymore.
"Fair share" is a euphemism union officials use when they mean forced union dues. Not only that, but it is doubly offensive to employees since not every one of them necessarily wants to be subject to or benefits from union monopoly barganining.
MD Child Care Providers Wary of Compulsory Unionism
With the specter of forced union dues looming over child care providers in Maryland, some providers worry it could hurt those at the very bottom.
"My understanding of the union is that they would automatically take out of our Purchase of Care vouchers as union dues," Sarecia Powers, child care provider in the Cresaptown area, said. "Having to pay what might be an astronomical amount of dues might make providers consider signing on families based upon being paid privately, where the provider gets everything they are being paid. You could have providers turning down Purchase of Care families, and they are the families that need it most. If they can’t find care, it will have a domino effect."
While Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley proclaimed Friday that "no one should be forced to join a union," his is one of 28 states without a Right to Work law where employees can be fired if they refuse to pay union dues.
Public-Safety Officers at Risk from Monopoly Bargaining
Currently in Congress, Big Labor politicians are pushing a bill that would strip thousands of police, firefighters and other public-safety employees of their right to negotiate contracts with their local city and state governments for themselves. The bill would federally impose monopoly bargaining onto the state and local government employees, instead of the current system under which each city determines whether or not to impose monopoly bargaining.
But in addition to eliminating the public-safety officers’ right to negotiate for themselves, the bill also helps put these employees’ lives at greater risk, as evidenced by a recent incident in Boston where such monopoly bargaining is already law:
There are a lot of troubling questions regarding the reported autopsy results showing alcohol and cocaine in the blood of two Boston firefighters killed in August…
The results of the autopsies, which are not considered public documents, reportedly show that Cahill, a father of three, had a blood alcohol content of .27, more than three times the legal limit for driving.
Payne’s autopsy showed traces of cocaine in his blood, but it is unclear what the amounts were or how long before his death he ingested the drug.
Boston, like many other fire departments, does not have mandatory random drug testing because of collective bargaining agreements. That’s not to say that the tests would have found the men impaired, but the threat of testing would be a way to reduce the possibility.
[Emphasis added.]
