Federal Charge: Union Official Threatened Violence Against Concrete Workers Seeking to Vote Out Union
Delaware GFP Mobile Mix Supply driver attacked for opposing the IUOE Local 542 Union
Wilmington, DE (March 20, 2023) – GFP Mobile Mix employee Tanner Bradigan has filed federal charges against the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 542 after union officials threatened violent retribution against workers who refused to support the union and later led an effort to remove it. Bradigan and his coworkers are receiving free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation in this and a related case.
On March 8, 2023, Foundation attorneys filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for Bradigan against the union. In the charges, Bradigan stated that IUOE union officials threatened to physically attack every worker who opposed union control in a December union meeting.
According to the charge, some of the Mobile Mix workers, including Bradigan, went to the union meeting in an attempt to learn more about what union officials were claiming it could obtain for employees at the bargaining table. When they stated that they would not be supporting the union, IUOE union officials became aggressive and began screaming at Bradigan and his coworkers, threatening to fight anyone who refused to support the union.
Vance Pennington, Bradigan’s coworker, later submitted a petition on February 2 to the NLRB requesting a decertification election whether to formally remove the union from their workplace. Their petition included the signatures of more than the enough workers in the bargaining unit to trigger the decertification election.
Threatening opponents of the union with violence isn’t the only tactic IUOE union officials have deployed in their attempt to counter the decertification effort, however. IUOE officials have so far been able to stop the vote from taking place using so-called “blocking charges,” a commonly used union tactic meant to delay or shut down decertification petitions entirely.
Foundation staff attorneys recently responded to the union’s allegations by submitting five affidavits from Mobile Mix workers corroborating that the petition for dismissal was completely unrelated to the allegations in the union’s blocking charges against GFP Mobile Mix, but rather legitimate grievances, like the union official’s threats of violence.
The supply drivers at Mobile Mix are not the only workers who are attempting to remove an unwanted union. The NLRB’s own data show that, today, a unionized private sector worker is more than twice as likely to be involved in a decertification effort as a nonunion worker is to be involved in a unionization campaign.
Unfortunately, the NLRB’s union decertification process is prone to Board-created roadblocks, with the Mobile Mix workers’ situation being just the latest example. However, Foundation-backed NLRB reforms from 2020 have made it somewhat easier for workers to remove unwanted union officials.
Without these Foundation-backed reforms, workers could have their decertification votes delayed virtually automatically by any unproven union blocking charges, giving union bosses the power to trap workers in union ranks they oppose nearly indefinitely. Under the Foundation-backed reforms most votes will take place promptly, with union blocking claims adjudicated later after the votes have been counted.
“The Foundation will not stop fighting for the workers of Mobile Mix regardless of the malicious union tactics at play in this case,” stated Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. “Workers should never fear retaliation from union bosses for exercising their rights—physical or otherwise.”
“The very fact that IUOE bosses will physically threaten workers who oppose them shows these workers have ample reason, independent of whatever claims union lawyers have made in blocking charges, for wanting to end this union’s so-called ‘representation,’” added Mix.
New Jersey Energy Workers Win Bid to Remove Unwanted Union
So-called ‘SMART’ Local 137 union officials disclaim representation rather than face a decertification vote of rank-and-file workers
Fairlawn, NJ (March 23, 2023) – Calmac Corp employee Carlos Flores and his coworkers have won their effort to free themselves of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation (“SMART”) Local 137 union. The worker’s decertification effort recently became official when the SMART Local 137 union officials preemptively “disclaimed” interest in representing the Calmac Corp workers, rather than face a vote on whether to remove the union.
Flores, during the course of the decertification effort, received free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys. The decertification petition, filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), included the signatures of a significant portion of his coworkers.
The Calmac Corp employee petition was filed on March 7, 2023. The petition was quickly followed by a letter from union officials, disclaiming interest in “representing” Calmac Corp workers. Luckily for the Calmac workers, the entire decertification process was completed rather quickly. However, this is not always the case for many workers around the nation who are also working to remove overbearing unions.
For example, the NLRB’s union decertification process is prone to union boss-created roadblocks. That includes “blocking charges”, or charges union officials levy against employers in an attempt to postpone or de-legitimize decertification efforts. These charges often have little to no basis and are used specifically to delay decertification petitions.
Foundation-backed reforms the NLRB adopted in 2020 made it somewhat easier for workers to remove unwanted union officials, and made it harder for unions to file blocking charges. However, the Biden NLRB is attempting to roll back these protections and make it much more difficult to decertify a union.
Worker interest in removing unwanted unions is growing nationwide, with National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys fielding numerous requests for free legal assistance in decertification cases, with Flores and his coworkers just being one of these cases.
The NLRB’s own data show that, currently, a unionized private sector worker is more than twice as likely to be involved in a decertification effort as a nonunion worker is to be involved in a unionization campaign.
“While we are extremely satisfied Calmac Corp workers were able to exercise their right to be union-free, had the 2020 Foundation-backed reforms to the NLRB not been in place this could have been a different story with union officials dragging out the process even though they clearly knew any vote would go against the union,” observed Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation.
“Should the Biden-appointed NLRB Members be successful in their goal to roll back these reforms, workers like those at Calmac Corp could face enormous hurdles in their decertification efforts and be trapped within union ranks for months or even years,” Mix continued.
San Diego Gompers Preparatory Academy Educators Begin New Effort to Oust SDEA Union Bosses from School
Union bosses stymied last attempt with unproven allegations and pressure from elected officials, majority of teachers now back new effort
San Diego, CA (March 13, 2023) – Teachers at Gompers Preparatory Academy, a public charter school in the Chollas View neighborhood of San Diego, have banded together again to exercise their right to vote San Diego Education Association (SDEA) union bosses out of power at the school.
With free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys, Gompers computer teacher Sean Bentz just submitted a petition to the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB), requesting the agency hold a vote among his colleagues on whether to oust the union. The petition contains signatures of a majority of the teachers under the SDEA union’s control.
Bentz’s petition marks the second time in just over three years that Gompers educators have attempted to boot the SDEA union from the school. Gompers chemistry teacher Dr. Kristie Chiscano submitted a decertification petition with Foundation legal aid in October 2019. Despite this petition also having the backing of the requisite number of teachers to spur a decertification vote, SDEA union bosses attempted to avert the election by filing so-called “blocking charges” containing allegations of employer misconduct.
Union officials often manipulate “blocking charges” at the PERB and other state and federal labor relations agencies to stifle worker attempts to eliminate unpopular union “representation.” Despite the PERB never holding a hearing into whether SDEA union bosses’ claims had any merit or whether they were related to the workers’ dissatisfaction with the union, PERB officials denied a decertification election to Chiscano and her colleagues in October 2020.
State Labor Agency’s Rule Aided Union in Blocking Vote
Chiscano’s case defending the first petition to remove SDEA union agents from the school also sought to overturn PERB Regulation 32752, which requires PERB agents and attorneys to accept union bosses’ “blocking charge” allegations as true – a stipulation almost guaranteeing union defeat of any worker attempt to vote a union out.
The initial union decertification effort took place not long after SDEA officials gained power at the school in January 2019 via “card check,” a process that bypasses the traditional secret-ballot vote system to install a union. Gompers made an impressive transition to being a union-free charter school in 2005 after years of being plagued by unresponsive union bureaucracies, violence, and poor academic achievement, so many teachers and parents viewed the reinstallation of union power at the school with suspicion. Some accused SDEA agents of actively sowing division at the school, including by supporting anti-charter school legislation and needlessly disparaging the school’s leadership.
“I chose to work at a school that didn’t have a union and now they’ve come in and they’re running everything about my contract and my work,” Chiscano said at the time.
Union Agents Targeted Teachers Who Led Effort to Vote Out Union
Even worse, shortly after the PERB’s ruling halting the original decertification effort, Chiscano and another Gompers educator filed charges maintaining that SDEA agents targeted them on social media for opposing the union hierarchy. California law makes it illegal for union officials to intimidate or retaliate against employees who exercise their right to refrain from union membership.
Union boss-aligned state legislators even chimed in to pressure Gompers management to give in to union demands. In a letter to Gompers management, then-Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez attacked the National Right to Work Foundation simply for providing legal aid to Gompers educators as they sought to exercise their right to hold a decertification election. Gonzalez was best known during her tenure for authoring AB5, a California law that drastically reduced opportunities for freelance workers and independent contractors across the state.
Teachers’ Union Decertification Efforts Expose Massive Power of California Public Sector Unions
Sean Bentz filed the new decertification petition renewing the fight to oust the union at the earliest time permitted by California labor regulations, which immunize union officials from employee-led decertification efforts for all but a tiny window while union contracts are active. But the new decertification attempt will likely face the same roadblocks of “blocking charges” as the old one.
“The new decertification effort at Gompers Preparatory Academy pits concerned educators against California’s most entrenched special interest – public sector union bosses,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “In their last endeavor, Gompers teachers, who simply wanted to exercise their right to vote on whether SDEA union bosses deserved to remain in power, faced specious allegations meant to block the vote, union attacks on social media, and even pressure from union-label politicians.”
“Foundation attorneys will proudly fight alongside Gompers teachers to vindicate their rights, but ultimately this effort should expose how California’s labor laws prioritize union bosses’ desire for control over schools and other public services far above the rights of the employees who provide these services,” Mix added.
California Trucking Company Workers Win Freedom from Unwanted Teamsters Local 665 Union Officials
Rather than face vote to strip union officials of their forced representation powers, Teamsters officials concede defeat
Santa Rosa, CA (March 9, 2023) – Valdivia Trucking Co. workers in California are finally free of unwanted Teamsters Local 665 union officials after three months of delays created by the union officials. The workers’ bid to remove the union recently became official when, rather than face a decertification vote of Valdivia workers whether to strip the union of its power, the union preemptively “disclaimed” interest in representation and walked away from the workers.
Valdivia Trucking worker John Murdick received free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation while filing for a decertification vote. His decertification petition filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) included the signatures of a significant majority of the workers at the facility.
The workers’ petition was filed on December 16, 2022, and quickly resulted in a stipulated election agreement for a decertification vote on January 6. However, the vote was delayed by preexisting “blocking charges” the union filed with the NLRB. This is a union tactic often used to delay workers’ decertification elections, because union officials fear if the vote goes forward the union may lose.
As a result of these blocking charges against the employer the vote was delayed three months, until March, when the blocking charges were finally closed. This permitted the vote to proceed. It was at that point the union officials notified the company’s lawyers and the NLRB that it disclaimed interest in “representing” the Valdivia Trucking employees. That gave the workers the outcome they sought, albeit delayed by nearly three months.
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, designed to delay the process further. Had these reforms not been in place, the three-month delay for these workers could have been extended indefinitely.
Worker interest in removing unwanted unions is growing nationwide, with National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys fielding numerous requests for free legal assistance in decertification cases, like the one brought by Murdick and his coworkers.
The process to decertify a union should be simple. Federal law provides that workers can hold decertification votes in most instances as long as they have a petition with the signatures of at least 30% of workers in a bargaining unit. However, rules created by NLRB bureaucrats combined with legal tactics deployed by union lawyers often mean workers face legal hurdles in just getting the opportunity to hold a vote whether to remove an unwanted union.
The NLRB’s own data show that, currently, a unionized private sector worker is more than twice as likely to be involved in a decertification effort as a nonunion worker is to be involved in a unionization campaign.
“The Valdivia Trucking decertification situation shows how union officials often use underhanded tactics to remain in power and collect dues from hard-working people as long as possible, even though they know a majority of workers oppose their so-called representation,” observed Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation.
“Although we are extremely satisfied that the Valdivia workers have exercised their legal right to be union-free, we cannot neglect the importance the 2020 Foundation-backed reforms played in this case,” Mix continues. “If the Biden-appointed NLRB is able to roll back these reforms, as they are attempting to do, workers like those at Valdivia may be trapped in union ranks they oppose for many months and even years.”
Foundation Helps Healthcare Workers Remove Unwanted Unions
The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s bi-monthly Foundation Action Newsletter, September/October 2022 edition. To view other editions of Foundation Action or to sign up for a free subscription, click here.
Evidence of union boss “serious financial malpractice” exposed as workers seek to vote out SEIU
Nurse Brittany Burgess (front, center) led her fellow Mayo Clinic nurses in decertifying the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) union. She’s “extremely grateful” for Foundation support.
DETROIT, MI – Workers across America are increasingly fed up with union bosses’ self-serving so-called “representation.” National Right to Work Foundation legal aid requests are spiking from workers seeking assistance in filing decertification petitions to end union monopoly bargaining control in their workplaces. In 2021 alone, Foundation attorneys provided legal assistance in 54 National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decertification efforts, which together sought to end union boss control of more than 7,000 workers.
This increased demand has continued in 2022, with healthcare workers in particular seeking the Foundation’s legal aid in exercising their legal right to free themselves from union ranks. In one such ongoing case, Foundation staff attorneys assisted Crystal Harper, an employee at Detroit’s Sinai-Grace Hospital, who along with coworkers battled to oust SEIU Healthcare Michigan union officials.
Harper’s initial petition was rejected after an NLRB regional official dubiously dismissed the petition on the grounds that “Midnight, February 8th” in the union monopoly contract was actually unambiguously a reference to the minute after 11:59 p.m. on May 7. This questionable interpretation of union officials’ sloppily written contract meant that the petition filed on the 8th was actually late under the controversial NLRB-created “contract bar” policy.
Undeterred, that decision was appealed and a second petition for a decertification vote was filed in May after the contract bar had expired and a vote was scheduled. Meanwhile, “substantiated allegations of serious financial malpractice” have come to light involving the SEIU local that were so glaring even SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry couldn’t ignore them, as she was pushed to use the SEIU’s “trusteeship” procedures to oust local officials and take full control of the local.
As a result, in June, Foundation President Mark Mix formally asked the Department of Labor and Department of Justice to investigate the serious allegations of financial and other wrongdoing by SEIU local officials. The letter calling for the federal investigation noted that “any internal SEIU International investigation will be insufficient [given the] long history of union officials attempting to ignore or downplay corruption in their own ranks.”
Foundation Counters Union Legal Tricks to Block Vote
Elsewhere in Michigan, lab technicians at Ascension Providence Rochester Hospital have finally won their effort to be free of unwanted so-called “representation” by union officials of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 40.
During the protracted process, Foundation staff attorneys successfully fought off OPEIU union lawyers’ efforts to block the vote which cited the pending sale of the facility by Ascension to LabCorp as grounds for rejecting the workers’ request for an election. Union lawyers had urged the NLRB regional office to block a vote whether to remove the union on the grounds of an upcoming “cessation of operations” by the employer, a policy previously applied only to certification elections.
In briefs to the NLRB, Foundation staff attorneys countered that union attempts to block the vote were unjustified as a matter of law. Foundation attorneys also noted that the attempt to block the vote was likely a cynical attempt to keep power over the bargaining unit. If the sale ultimately went through, the union would have likely sought to block a decertification vote citing the NLRB-created “successor bar” that insulates union officials from decertification votes after a workplace’s change in ownership.
The Board ultimately rejected the union lawyers’ arguments and scheduled a decertification vote by mail-in ballot. However, rather than go forward with a vote they seemingly knew they were going to lose, OPEIU officials instead disclaimed interest in the unit, finally giving the workers the freedom from unwanted union representation they sought.
Meanwhile in Minnesota, multiple groups of healthcare workers are seeking decertification votes with Foundation legal aid. At the Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato, Minnesota, approximately 500 nurses filed a petition for a vote to remove the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) union, while two separate units of Cuyuna of the lawsuit, Regional Medical Center healthcare workers located at facilities in Crosby, Baxter, Longville, and Breezy Point, Minnesota, filed for decertification votes to free themselves from the SEIU.
Hundreds of Minnesota Nurses Petition to Be Union Free
“I’m extremely grateful to have the free legal assistance of the National Right to Work Foundation in fighting for our right to hold a vote to remove the union,” commented Mayo Clinic Mankato nurse Brittany Burgess. “I can’t wait until the day when we are all finally free of the MNA.”
One likely reason for the increased decertification activity is Foundation-advocated reforms that were adopted by the NLRB in 2020 to curtail union officials’ abuse of so-called “blocking charges,” which they use to delay or block workers from exercising their right to decertify a union. However, with the Biden-appointed NLRB majority recently announcing it was starting rulemaking to overturn those reforms, Foundation staff attorneys are now gearing up to challenge the Biden Board’s attempt to give union bosses more power to trap workers in union ranks they oppose.
“Foundation staff attorneys will continue to assist workers in exercising their rights under federal law to hold decertification elections to remove so-called ‘representation’ opposed by most workers,” commented National Right to Work Foundation Vice President and Legal Director Raymond LaJeunesse. “The Biden NLRB is clearly prioritizing union boss power to the detriment of the rights of rank-and-file workers. Look no further than the fact that just as the Board seeks to expand the ability of union officials to impose unionization on workers through coercive ‘Card Checks’ without even secret-ballot votes, it simultaneously plans to make it easier for union lawyers to block workers from holding votes to remove a union.”
Spanish Broadcasting System Radio Host Appeals Case After Labor Board Blocks Vote to Remove SAG-AFTRA Union Officials
Request for Review: In vote to remove union, NLRB Regional Director ordered employee ballots destroyed and never counted
Los Angeles, CA (December 19, 2022) – With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, Spanish Broadcasting System radio host Adal Loreto is defending his and his coworkers’ right to vote unwanted Stage Actors’ Guild (SAG-AFTRA) union officials out of their workplace. In July, Loreto filed a petition for a group of his coworkers seeking a vote to end union officials’ so-called “representation” over on-air talent of KLAXFM and KXOL-FM radio stations.
That National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decertification petition resulted in a mail ballot election conducted in August and September. However, the workers’ ballots were never actually counted. Now, Loreto and his National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have filed a Request for Review at the National Labor Relations Board in Washington, DC, asking the Board to overturn NLRB Region 31 Director Mori Rubin’s order that the workers’ ballots be destroyed and never counted.
Loreto’s appeal says that regional NLRB officials are illegally refusing to count votes that he and his colleagues have already cast in their decertification election to decide whether SAG-AFTRA officials should be booted from the workplace. According to Loreto’s Request for Review, regional NLRB officials not only improperly relied on unverified charges (also called “blocking charges”) from SAG-AFTRA union officials to block the vote, but ignored the NLRB’s own election rules and polices.
NLRB Rules and Regulations state that, if NLRB regional officials do not issue a complaint related to a union decertification election within 60 days of the election, the votes “shall be promptly opened and counted.” Because no timely complaint was issued and NLRB Region 31 nevertheless ordered the ballots tossed, Loreto’s Request for Review argues that the regional officials are clearly disobeying NLRB Rules and Regulations in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and are violating the workers’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
SBS Radio Host Fights Unpopular Union’s Scheme to Stay in Power
In July 2022, Loreto submitted a valid employee-backed petition to the NLRB, asking the agency to hold a vote in his workplace on whether to remove, or “decertify,” the SAG-AFTRA union. The NLRB is the agency responsible for enforcing federal private-sector labor law and will normally conduct a “decertification vote” among workers when the required number express support, by petition, to remove the union from their workplace.
Loreto and his coworkers began voting in the decertification election on August 26, and the scheduled date for the ballot count was September 20. However, in response to SAG-AFTRA union officials’ “blocking charges,” NLRB Region 31 impounded the ballots for 60 days while it investigated the union charges.
National Right to Work Foundation-backed reforms adopted in rulemaking by the NLRB in 2020 eased the process by which employees can free themselves of an unpopular union. Under the reforms, union officials in most cases can no longer unilaterally derail an employee-requested decertification vote simply by filing “blocking charges,” which often contain unrelated and unverified allegations of employer misconduct.
In most cases, employees can still exercise their right to vote, though in some limited cases NLRB officials can impound ballots for up to 60 days while dealing with “blocking charges.” After that period, however, the vote counting must commence absent the filing of a formal complaint by the NLRB Regional Director based on the union-instigated “blocking charges.”
Loreto’s Request for Review notes that, instead of counting the votes as mandated by NLRB rules, NLRB Region 31 instead continued impounding the ballots past 60 days and later dismissed Loreto and his coworkers’ petition. This order effectively ends the workers’ effort to oust the unpopular union and would destroy the workers’ ballots without them ever being counted, despite no complaint being issued at the time when Regional Director Rubin ordered the workers be disenfranchised.
Loreto’s petition now asks the NLRB in Washington to reverse the NLRB Regional Director’s ruling and to immediately order the counting of ballots in the election as mandated by the NLRB’s own rules.
Foundation Fights Union Boss Moves to Scale Back Worker Free Choice Rights
Foundation staff attorneys aid workers across the country in exercising their right to vote out union officials who don’t serve their interests. Foundation attorneys have recently guided workers in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and many other states in navigating the NLRB decertification process. Foundation attorneys will also oppose the Biden NLRB’s recently-announced plan to reverse the 2020 Foundation-backed reforms to the NLRB’s election rules, an action which would make exercising decertification rights significantly harder for countless workers across the country.
“Mr. Loreto’s situation illustrates perfectly how the NLRB, an agency that is supposed to neutrally enforce federal labor law, puts its thumb on the scale to assist union boss schemes to retain power over the wishes of rank-and-file workers,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “This situation is even more egregious as the NLRB is disobeying its own rules and regulations to disenfranchise workers who simply want their votes to remove SAG-AFTRA from their workplace counted.”
“Workers should not have to endure months of litigation simply to exercise their right to oust a union they no longer want, and Foundation attorneys will fight with Mr. Loreto to right this injustice,” Mix added.
Teamsters Union Officials Flee Albany XPO Logistics Workplace After Vast Majority of Workers Seek Vote to Remove Them
XPO Logistics employees in California and New Jersey have also recently ousted Teamsters officials
Albany, NY (December 13, 2022) – XPO Logistics truck driver William Chard and his coworkers are free from the control of unpopular Teamsters Local 294 union officials, following Chard’s filing of a worker-backed petition earlier this month requesting a vote to remove the union. Chard received free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation in filing the petition for his coworkers.
Chard submitted the petition, which 65 percent of his coworkers signed, at National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 3 in Buffalo. The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal private-sector labor law and will generally conduct a “decertification vote” among workers when at least 30 percent of them express interest in ousting a union. However, likely unwilling to face a ballot-box rejection by the workers they claimed to “represent,” Teamsters bosses filed paperwork with the NLRB just days later disclaiming interest in Chard’s work unit.
Although the NLRB’s decertification process is still prone to union boss-created roadblocks, Foundation-backed reforms the NLRB adopted in 2020 have made it somewhat easier for workers to remove unwanted union officials.
Before the reforms, for example, union officials could stop workers who had requested a decertification vote from casting ballots by filing so-called “blocking charges,” which often contain unverified and unrelated allegations of employer misconduct. The rule changes improved the process so employees can usually at least have a chance to vote before any allegations surrounding the election are handled.
Because New York lacks Right to Work protections for its private sector employees, Teamsters union officials had the power to force Chard and his colleagues to pay dues or fees to the union hierarchy just to stay employed. In contrast, in Right to Work states, union membership and all union financial support are the choice of each individual worker and can’t be required as a condition of employment.
Foundation Aids XPO Logistics Employees from Coast-to-Coast in Kicking Out Teamsters Officials
Chard and his coworkers’ successful decertification is not the first in which Foundation staff attorneys have assisted XPO Logistics drivers in booting Teamsters officials out of their workplaces. In March 2021, Miguel Valle and his colleagues at XPO Logistics’ facility in Cinnaminson, NJ, voted 90 percent in favor of removing Teamsters Local 107 officials.
And that October, Los Angeles-based XPO Logistics employee Ozvaldo Gutierrez and his coworkers submitted a petition requesting a decertification vote to remove Teamsters Local 63 union bosses. Just as Local 294 officials did in Chard’s situation, Local 63 officials abandoned the Southern California facility before the NLRB scheduled an election.
Currently, the NLRB’s own data show that a unionized private sector worker is more than twice as likely to be involved in a decertification effort as the average nonunion worker is to be involved in a unionization campaign, with one analysis finding decertification petitions up 42 percent this year.
“Officials of the Teamsters union – a union that has spent a large portion of its history under federal supervision – have a well-earned reputation for prioritizing power and control over the needs of rank-and-file workers,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Foundation attorneys were happy to assist Mr. Chard and his fellow drivers in exercising their right to throw out a Teamsters union that didn’t serve their interests, just as they’ve been happy to assist other XPO Logistics workers around the country in doing the same.”
“However, even as workers across a number of industries are exercising this right at a rising rate, the Biden NLRB has announced rulemaking to roll back the Foundation-backed reforms that make decertifying unpopular unions easier,” Mix added. “The Foundation will oppose this move to hamper workers’ free choice rights, and will also continue to aid workers nationwide in voting out unions they oppose.”
Western Louisiana Chemical Workers Vote Out Unpopular Steelworkers Union Bosses
Several more efforts by employees are ongoing across the country to vote out union officials
DeRidder, LA (October 31, 2022) – GEO Specialty Chemicals employee Ryne Fox and his coworkers have just voted unwanted United Steelworkers (USW) Local 13-725 union bosses out of power at their workplace. The vote, in which 75% of the work unit voted to remove the union, came after Fox filed a petition for a “decertification vote” with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.
Fox filed the “decertification petition” on September 24, 2022, asking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a vote among employees on whether the union should be removed. Because of a union boss-friendly NLRB policy known as the so-called “contract bar,” Fox timed the filing of the petition to coincide with the expiration of USW officials’ contract with GEO management. The non-statutory “contract bar” arbitrarily immunizes union officials from being voted out of a workplace during the life of a union contract, typically lasting one to three years.
Though many non-statutory NLRB policies like the “contract bar” still exist which prevent workers from voting out union bosses they oppose, Foundation-supported reforms adopted by the NLRB in 2020 have made the decertification process easier. The reforms pared back union officials’ ability to block decertification votes by filing so-called “blocking charges,” which often contain unrelated and unverified accusations of employer wrongdoing. Now, employees usually have a chance to at least cast ballots before any allegations surrounding the election are resolved.
Foundation Also Aiding Pennsylvania Employees in Ousting Corrupt, Unaccountable Steelworkers Officials
Fox and his coworkers’ endeavor is the third Foundation-assisted employee effort to vote out USW union officials in just the past couple months. Just last week, New Jersey building materials employee Michael Cobourn and his coworkers at Gold Bond Building Products in Burlington, NJ, voted out USW bosses by a nearly 70-30 margin. In Pennsylvania, Foundation attorneys are currently helping Carpenter Technologies/Latrobe Specialty Steel employee Kerry Hunsberger and her coworkers in their bid to decertify USW officials who blatantly ignored two votes by workers rejecting contracts union officials had negotiated.
In the situation at Hunsberger’s workplace, USW officials sought to trigger the “contract bar” and avoid an attempt by employees to vote the union out by secretly “ratifying” a contract that workers had voted against. USW bosses even held a second contract vote after the unpopular contract took effect. Union officials misled the workers, who unsurprisingly voted the contract down again, to believe their second vote would count, even though it was meaningless because the contract had already been “ratified.”
“Workers across the country are increasingly exercising their right to vote out union officials they oppose, and we at the Foundation are happy to aid workers in defending this essential element of free association,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “However, we’re also acutely aware of the obstacles that stand in the way of this freedom, and one of those, which Steelworkers officials seem to have no reservations about exploiting, is the ‘contract bar.’”
“The unjustified ‘contract bar’ is always wrong because it prevents workers from voting out unions they oppose when they want to. But even worse, this NLRB-invented doctrine actually incentivizes union officials to rush ahead and impose unpopular, self-serving contracts for the very purpose of insulating the union’s forced representation powers from a vote of the workers they claim to ‘represent,’” Mix added.
