“I’m not real big on people threatening me”
Right to Work attorneys helped Montana timber trucker Michael Weller file federal charges against the Teamsters Local 2 after union officials unlawfully ordered him to pay hundreds of dollars in forced dues.
When Weller exercised his rights under Beck, Teamsters union officials responded by illegally threatening to have him fired from his job.
The Daily Inter Lake quoted Weller:
“It’s the principle of the matter. What prompted this was them threatening my job. I’m not real big on people threatening me.”
More on Pomona Nurses…
As Right to Work attorneys’ efforts on behalf of Pomona nurses grab headlines, one noteworthy comment comes from SEIU union official Sue Weinstein. Aside from the issues of threats of fines, arrests, and jail:
As for the dues, Weinstein said the local has a policy not to collect dues retroactively.
The union operatives that widely distributed this flier (see underlined portion) must be unfamiliar with that policy.
Transit Union Slapped With Federal Labor Charges for Muscling Back into a Facility After Employees’ Revolt Forced it Out
**Batavia, IL (November 2, 2007)** – The bus company First Group, Inc. and the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1028 have been hit with federal labor board charges for illegally bargaining over employees who the union does not even represent. First Group employee Russell Haasch filed the charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) earlier this week with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys.
As Haasch details in his charges, ATU union officials have been negotiating a contract with First Group, despite the fact that Haasch and his coworkers had successfully ousted the union earlier this year. According to First Group’s website, on October 1 the UK-based transit company completed the purchase of Haasch’s employer, Laidlaw Transit.
In Spring 2007, Haasch collected signatures from an overwhelming majority of his co-workers and in June presented the petition to their employer Laidlaw Transit, which legally and properly ended its recognition of the ATU union as the monopoly bargaining agent for the approximately 160 employees. Only recently did Haasch and his co-workers realize that their new employer, First Group, was negotiating a contract with ATU officials, despite the fact that the employees had successfully shown that the union did not have their support.
According to the National Labor Relations Act, by bargaining over the contracts of employees that the union does not legally represent, the union and First Group are engaging in illegal “pre-recognition” bargaining. As part of their negotiations, the union is once again seeking a forced-dues clause in the contract that makes payment of union dues a job requirement. Indeed, union officials have been given access to First Group facilities and are now demanding that employees pay union dues or be fired.
“Union officials and First Group management are illegally attempting to force this unpopular union down employees’ throats,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “With the lack of respect these union officials have for the employees, it is not surprising that workers rejected the union last June.”
The unfair labor practice charges ask the NLRB to seek an injunction to immediately stop First Group from continuing to negotiate a contract with the rogue ATU union and to cease all demands for union dues. The NLRB Regional Director will now investigate the charges and decide whether to prosecute the charges and seek injunctive relief.
Union officials to nurses: strike or face fines, jail, arrests
Union officials are threatening nurses in Pomona, California, with fines, arrests, and jail for refusal to walk off the job during a union ordered strike early in October. Right to Work attorneys helped a nurse challenge this coercion earlier this week at the National Labor Relations Board.
Employees that do not want to abandon their jobs during a strike can learn more here.
The arrest threats sound all too familiar.
Union Officials at Pomona Valley Hospital Illegally Threaten Non-striking Nurses with Arrest, Jail, and Fines
**Pomona, CA (October 31, 2007)** – A nurse at the Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center has filed unfair labor practice charges against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 121RN after SEIU union officials illegally threatened her and her coworkers with jail and fines. The nurses wished to resign from formal union membership, cut off union dues, and continue working during any union-ordered strike.
The charges come after the collective bargaining contract at the hospital expired and after union officials ordered a five day strike during October.
In response to the intimidation, nurse Carole Jean Badertscher filed the class action charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys. The charges detail how union officials misled and threatened employees in violation of the nurses’ rights under federal labor law. The charges also cite that union officials violated their so-called “duty of fair representation,” which is intended to prevent union discrimination against employees.
In a particularly egregious violation of the employees’ rights, a top local union official threatened that nurses who defied the union’s strike order could be subject to fines and criminal penalties, including 90 days in jail. The California law referenced by union officials is clearly pre-empted by federal labor law establishing that workers can remain at their jobs and avoid all union disciplinary fines if they first resign from formal union membership.
Union officials also distributed a flier illegally misleading the nurses, claiming that the NLRB requires employees to continue paying compulsory union dues after the expiration of a contract. The flier told nurses that, when a new contract goes into effect, union officials could require all employees to pay “back dues,” implying that they could be fired if they didn’t pay.
“Union officials are shamelessly flouting federal law in an effort to intimidate these nurses into heeding the union’s unpopular demands to turn their backs on their patients,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Unfortunately, in states like California where there is no Right to Work law prohibiting compulsory unionism, union officials face little accountability.”
The NLRB’s Regional Office will now investigate the charges and decide whether to issue a formal complaint and prosecute the union for unfair labor practices.
Right to Work Files Brief in Atlantic City Union Election Controversy
The Press of Atlantic City today wrote about the brief filed by Right to Work attorneys in the Trump Plaza union election dispute, which you can read more about here. The brief states that if the election is not set aside:
"…politicians can (and will) use the authority of their office to mislead employees that the government requires or favors a particular result in Board certification elections."
To watch video of the sham union "certification" event at issue, click here.
«Kryptonite for America’s Workers»
The AFL-CIO hierarchy has taken its latest beef with Right to Work attorneys’ victory for employees up with the International Labor Organization (ILO). About the complaint, AFL-CIO chief John Sweeney says:
"The Bush NLRB is kryptonite for America’s workers."
This is like Lex Luthor complaining that his kryptonite doesn’t work well enough. While the recent Dana victory was an encouraging step forward for employee freedom, the Bush NLRB still has lots of work left to do.
And as we see everyday, compulsory unionism abuse is the real kryptonite for America’s workers.
Hanson Trucking Driver Hits Butte-Based Teamsters Union with Federal Charges for Illegal Threats to Job
**Butte, MT (October 29, 2007)** – A Kalispell-based employee of Hanson Trucking and Resin Haulers Inc. filed federal charges against the Teamsters Local 2 union to protect himself from illegal threats to his job.
Michael Weller, a timber trucker for the resin hauling company, filed the charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with help from attorneys at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. The charges cite that Teamsters Local 2 union officials are attempting to collect ongoing and back forced union dues, and have failed to provide Weller with a verified audited breakdown of union chargeable and non-chargeable expenses, as required by law.
After learning of his right to refrain from formal union membership independent of Teamsters Local 2, Weller sent letters to union officials asserting his right not to be forced to pay more than the documented cost of monopoly bargaining. In response, Teamsters union officials acknowledged Weller’s request, but calculated that the mandatory dues requirement would be reduced by only 69 cents.
Moreover, although union officials failed to provide Weller with any of the legally-mandated financial disclosures, union officials sent Weller written notice that his position would be terminated if he failed to pay the reduced fees. Under duress, Weller had no choice but to pay hundreds of dollars in forced union dues by money order, just to keep his job.
“Union officials are making an example of Michael Weller in order to stifle dissent,” said Stefan Gleason, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “In states like Montana where there is no Right to Work law to ensure payment of union dues is strictly voluntary, union officials commonly trample the rights of employees to keep their coffers filled.”
In the Foundation-won U.S. Supreme Court decision Communications Workers v. Beck, the Court affirmed workers have the right to refrain from formal union membership and halt and reclaim the portion of forced union dues spent on activities unrelated to collective bargaining, such as union political activities. Unfortunately, they can still be forced to pay for monopoly bargaining costs, even if they do not want union “representation.” However, employees have the right to have an independent third party audit the union expenditures and verify that the percentage of dues that non-members are forced to pay does not include political spending and other non-collective bargaining expenses.
The NLRB’s Regional Office will now investigate the charges and decide whether to issue a formal complaint and prosecute the union.
Right to Work States Reap the Benefits
The National Institute for Labor Relations Research released its 2007 fact sheet that confirms those in Right to Work states benefit from faster growth and higher real purchasing power.
Among the most noteworthy, real personal income between 2001 and 2006 grew practically double in Right to Work states with 15.2% versus forced unionism states with only 8.0%. The national average was also higher than that of forced unionism states at 10.5%.
Not only that, but percentage growth in construction employment, manufacturing, privately-owned single family homes, number of the people covered by private health insurance, and the number of children covered by private health insurance all grew in Right to Work states too. In fact, Right to Work states growth repeatedly beat out the national average in all of these categories.
Check out the complete report here to see what other benefits those in Right to Work states enjoy.
Union Officials Selling Out Workers’ Pensions
Yesterday, John told us how employee John McHenry was told that to get out of the Teamsters-controlled pension plan he would have to “quit, be fired or die.”
An article in yesterday’s New York Post demonstrates why McHenry was wise to opt out of the union pension plan. In addition to being massively under-funded (only 3.2% of multi-employer union pension plans have enough assets to pay the promised benefits), it seems that NEA union officials have taken to getting kickbacks for endorsing under-performing, high-fee investment plans to teachers:
Not including management fees, the NEA’s only officially endorsed "retirement program" – the Security Benefit Life Insurance Corporation’s Valuebuilder annuity – charges 0.9 percent to 2.6 percent a year. Throw in management fees, and the least expensive option costs a teacher 1.73 percent of her account balances each year, while the most expensive costs 4.85 percent.
Over time, a fee that large is devastating. Without inflation, the educator would have to earn nearly 5 percent each year simply not to lose money. Consider a teacher who socks away $500 a month and earns an average yearly return of 10 percent for 35 years: She’d wind up with $1,788,760 upon retirement – quite a sizeable nest egg. But if she were paying 4.85 percent in fees, she’d accumulate less than one-third as much – just $587,854.
It appears that the NEA is willing to endorse a shoddy plan in exchange for a contribution to its coffers. In 2004, the union collected nearly $50 million from the investment vehicles it endorsed.
