Posts tagged National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
New Case to Test Whether California Charter Schools Are Subject to PERB or NLRB Jurisdiction?
February 2, 2026 // On January 10, teachers and other employees at the St. HOPE Public Charter Schools submitted an RD Petition with Region 20 of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to decertify and to no longer be represented by the Sacramento City Teachers Association (SCTA) union, an affiliate of the California Teachers Association (CTA) and the National Education Association (NEA). The teachers filing the petition have the support of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation (NTW), a nonprofit organization whose declared mission is to eliminate union power and compulsory unionism abuses
Beyond the assembly line: Auto workers’ labor union emerges as key player in anti-Israel activism
January 26, 2026 // A number of labor unions have seen a rise of antisemitism and anti-Israel activity since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks, despite many being historically supportive of Israel, dating back nearly a century, when many American unions donated money to the Histadrut, Israel’s national labor union. Multiple groups have now taken legal action against UAW branches in response to certain campaigns, which some legal experts allege were discriminatory against Israelis and Jews.
With holiday season underway, temporary workers notified they don’t have to join a union
December 7, 2025 // The notice provides information and legal rights about union membership, union fees and union documents. It explains that “Employees have a right not to be members of unions. Employers and unions thus cannot legally require temporary employees to be full union members to get or keep their jobs. However, as discussed below, if you do not work in a Right to Work state, you may be required to pay union fees as a condition of employment.” Even in 24 states that don’t have Right to Work protections, if temporary employees work less than 30 days they are not legally obligated to pay union fees, the foundation explains.
Compulsory Union Dues Are Illegal – Liberty Justice Center Sues Puerto Rico Industrial Commission for Repeated Violation of First Amendment Rights
November 22, 2025 // Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, the case asserts that PRIC and UFCW Local 481 have been deducting dues from Mr. Rigau’s paycheck since December 2022 despite his repeated written objections and his 2018 resignation from union membership following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Janus v. AFSCME. In Janus, the Court held that public employers and unions cannot deduct dues or fees from a public employee’s pay without the employee’s affirmative consent and a knowing, voluntary waiver of First Amendment rights.
Anonymous graduate student worker group files unfair labor practice charge against SWC-UAW
October 1, 2025 // Graduate Researchers Against Discrimination and Suppression, a new group, alleges that the union is halting bargaining for issues unrelated to employment.The group filed the charge amid stalled negotiations between the University and the union for a new contract after its first contract expired on June 30. The negotiations have halted over the University’s refusal to let the union broadcast bargaining sessions over Zoom for its members or let its president Grant Miner, who the University expelled in March, attend negotiations. The parties have not met since March. The union’s bylaws state that bargaining sessions must be “made accessible to the entire membership via Zoom or an equivalent platform.” The union conducted negotiations for its first contract in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic over Zoom and argues that its members who have fled the country fearing deportation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, such as Ranjani Srinivasan, a Ph.D. candidate at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, deserve to witness bargaining.
Union accused of forcing Jewish students at MIT, Stanford, and Cornell to fund pro-Hamas agenda
August 12, 2025 // At MIT, following the October 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, the UE affiliate supported campus protests favoring Hamas, the letter states. Five Jewish graduate students requested religious accommodations to avoid paying dues to the union, citing conflicts with their faith. UE General Secretary-Treasurer Andrew Dinkelaker reportedly denied the requests, saying, “no principles, teachings, or tenets of Judaism prohibit membership in or the payment of dues or fees to a labor union.” At Stanford, three graduate students faced similar challenges. Their requests for accommodations were met with what the letter calls an “abusive” questionnaire, which the union dropped after legal pressure.
Under Trump, Student Labor Organizers Face New Challenges
August 7, 2025 // Anticipating a rollback of recent NLRB precedent, some unions have withdrawn petitions for recognition, looking for other paths to continue their work.
Will Sussman: Columbia Students Should Decertify Their Union
August 5, 2025 // Columbia students are fed up with their union’s focus on radicalism over bread-and-butter issues. “As a Jewish Israeli student at Columbia, the union has done absolutely nothing for me,” said Alon Levin, a graduate student in electrical engineering. “I have heard more blatantly racist and discriminatory language from them than anything that would remotely resemble aiding me in, say, addressing my cost of living or my health insurance concerns.” The problem with graduate student unions is not limited to Columbia, as I learned at MIT.
Hammond poultry facility employee asks board to allow workers to vote union officials out of workplace
August 2, 2025 // Hally's request says that he submitted a petition early this month with signatures from more than 50% of his 550-person unit demanding a vote to oust the union. Normally, NLRB policy only requires 30%. “Region 15 dismissed Hally’s petition consistent with the Board’s contract-bar doctrine,” the Request for Review says. “This bar contradicts the Act’s well-established ‘bedrock principles of employee free choice and majority rule’…because it grants monopoly bargaining status…even in the face of objective evidence proving the union has lost majority support."
San Fernando Valley Kaiser Permanente Nurse Hits UNAC Union With Federal Charges for Forcing Nurses to Fund Union Politics
July 19, 2025 // Sarah Warthemann, a nurse at Kaiser Permanente’s branch in Woodland Hills, has just filed federal charges against the United Nurses Association of California (UNAC) union at her workplace. She maintains that UNAC officials threatened that she would lose her job if she did not formally join the union, and have ignored her attempt to exercise her legal right to opt out of paying for union political expenses. Warthemann filed her charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.