Posts tagged IBEW
Evansville Electrician Files Federal Charges Against IBEW Local 16 for Union Bosses’ $1.29 Million Retaliatory ‘Fine’
July 1, 2025 // Putting such restrictions on workers’ right to resign their union memberships has no basis in law. Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and U.S. Supreme Court decisions like Pattern Makers v. NLRB spell out that workers have a right to end union membership and union officials cannot require such membership as a condition of getting or keeping a job (though states that lack Right to Work laws like Indiana’s let union officials force workers to pay dues or be fired). Union officials also may not impose union discipline, like fines, on workers who aren’t members. In the interim between the two letters, IBEW Local 16 pursued union discipline against Head for “purchas[ing] a non-union electrical contractor and…decid[ing] not to sign a Letter of Assent” that would have likely handed the business over to union control without any kind of worker vote. Notably, the union’s discipline took place after Head’s March 27 union resignation – meaning Head was legally beyond the union’s powers to impose any sort of internal punishment.
Commentary: The 2025 Battle of Trenton; Video
June 25, 2025 // The opposition to independent contractors was frustratingly predictable. Most of it, as usual, came from unions—including the AFL-CIO, Teamsters and IBEW. Others who testified against us were a representative of the union-affiliated National Employment Law Project (you may recall us crushing them in Congress last month), a couple of union-side lawyers, and a guy from the Workplace Justice Lab at Rutgers University, whose stated mission includes building unions.
Minnesota Electric Utility Employee Challenges IBEW Nationwide Policy Coercing Worker Contributions to Union’s Political Activity
April 10, 2025 // An employee of Agralite Electric Cooperative, an electric utility company in Western Minnesota, has just filed federal charges against the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union, challenging nationwide restrictions union officials impose on workers who wish to cut off financial support for union political activities. The worker, Theresa Klassen, filed charges against both the IBEW international union and IBEW Local 160 at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 18 in Minneapolis. Klassen is represented for free by National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.
IBEW Local 98 fined $25,000 for Dougherty lobbying
February 24, 2025 // Prosecutors alleged Henon, who worked as the union’s political director while also serving on City Council, was essentially on retainer to the union leader, using his council position to help Dougherty attack rivals in other unions and pressure large companies to hire union electricians. In November 2021, they were convicted on the majority of counts they faced. The jury found both men guilty of conspiracy and honest services fraud and Henon guilty of bribery.
Labor unions call on Trump to boost US shipbuilding against increasing Chinese dominance
February 20, 2025 // Last year under President Joe Biden, the unions filed a petition seeking to address China’s shipbuilding under Section 301 of the 1974 U.S. Trade Act, hoping to start a process by which tariffs and other measures could be enacted. The letter notes China manufactured more than 1,000 ocean-going vessels in 2023, while the United States made fewer than 10 ships. It adds that the Chinese shipbuilding industry received more than $100 billion in government support from 2010 to 2018, such that Chinese shipyards accounted for the majority of worldwide orders last year.
Sanders and Hawley’s Interest Rate Cap Would Ban Their Union Allies’ Credit Cards
February 10, 2025 // They should have checked with their union boss pals before taking such a position. Many major labor unions have deals with banks to offer branded credit cards as a member benefit. Some of them can charge interest rates in excess of the 25 percent rate Sanders finds extortionate, and nearly all of them charge higher than 10 percent. One of the most common credit card partnerships for unions is with Capital One, which offers a Union Plus Mastercard. It is marketed as “Built for Union Members. Backed by Union Members,” and accounts are limited to active or retired union members or their families.
Union bosses across the nation cut large paychecks to family
January 9, 2025 // Every year, millions of dollars in dues paid by rank-and-file union members are collected by labor organizations and passed off to the family members of union bosses in the form of lucrative salaries, a Washington Examiner review of public records has found. Union bosses regularly employ close family relatives, such as children and spouses, in high-paying roles within their unions. Some of these roles pay hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. While union leadership has splurged on handsome salaries for their family members, and political expenditures intended to boost the Democratic Party, private union membership has continued its downward trend in recent years.
Labor unions back Republicans in crucial U.S. House races in New York
October 17, 2024 // These endorsements in New York are the latest in a series of union breakups with Democrats, including two major unions deciding not to back Vice President Kamala Harris. Mr. Lawler has 37 labor endorsements, including law enforcement, firefighters and construction and trades unions. Mr. Molinaro has garnered many of the same endorsements. He’s in a rematch against Democrat Josh Riley. Some unions that supported Mr. Riley in 2022 have switched sides this year, like the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
Former IBEW head Johnny ‘Doc’ Dougherty heads to prison to begin 6 year sentence
October 3, 2024 // On Tuesday, former labor leader John "Johnny Doc" Dougherty reported to federal prison in Lewisburg to begin a six year sentence after being convicted of embezzling funds from the union he formerly led
Union Members Offered $100 To Attend Rally for Dem Rep. Susan Wild, Leaked Text Message Shows
September 23, 2024 // An official with the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers offered the stipend to union members to attend a "Labor Rally/Canvass Launch" on Sept. 7 in Allentown, the message shows. "Wear your Union Colors and there will be a $100 stipend for those that would like to participate," wrote Randy Eberly, the secretary treasurer of the local chapter of the bricklayers union. He signed off the message with, "In Union Solidarity."