Posts tagged National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
The Medieval Times Union Campaign Is Over
March 14, 2024 // Workers at the California castle went on an unfair labor practice strike last February, saying the company was refusing to bargain in good faith. The strike was meant to pressure Medieval Times into reaching a contract. The company flew in replacement knights — “scabs,” in union parlance — to fill in for those who’d walked off. Zapcic said it was hurtful to watch so many customers — including one she remembers with his union logo tattooed on his neck — crossing their picket line each night.
The UAW Has Set Its Sights on the Anti-Union South
March 8, 2024 // Young people are a crucial group for the campaign. In Alabama, very few young workers have ever been in a union, and their lack of familiarity with organized labor can prove a major stumbling block. While young people across the United States are particularly pro-union, their generational remove from the movement in the Deep South was a central factor in why workers voted against unionizing with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) at an Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, just twenty-five miles up the road from MBUSI.
Despite more ‘salting,’ labor unions are getting pushback in their drive to organize restaurants
January 24, 2024 // While unions "salt" more restaurants with organizers posing as employees, a countermovement is building among the already-unionized to end their representation by groups like Workers United, as this week’s episode of the Working Lunch podcast attests. The broadcast features a guest appearance by Mark Mix, president of the Right to Work Committee. The group helps organized employees across all industries to vote on whether to remain in their unions, a process known as decertification. He spoke a day after Workers United, the parent of the union that’s organized 375 Starbucks units, decided to end its representation of an Ultimo Coffee café. All but one employee of the store had signed a petition asking federal regulators to permit a vote on whether to oust the labor group.
U.S. Supreme Court will consider taking up Alaska union dues case no sooner than December
November 8, 2023 // Politically conservative organizations, including the Buckeye Institute, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, and the Goldwater Institute, have submitted documents in support of the state’s case. Those organizations, plus the state of Kansas (which also submitted documents in support of Alaska) are hoping that the Supreme Court will reinterpret its 2018 case and effectively put new restrictions on public employee unions. In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that unions could not automatically collect so-called “fair share” fees from workers who benefited from union contracts but declined to formally join a union.
Will Starbucks’ union-busting stifle a union rebirth in the US?
August 28, 2023 // Many baristas say one Starbucks strategy in particular has discouraged workers from unionizing. In May 2022, Schultz announced that Starbucks would give certain raises and benefits to workers at its more than 9,000 non-union stores, but not offer those raises and benefits to its unionized workers. Starbucks insists it would be illegal to impose any raises or benefits on its unionized stores without first negotiating about them, but the NLRB’s general counsel asserts that this policy constitutes unlawful discrimination against Starbucks’ unionized workers. Under this policy, Starbucks has given its non-union workers, but not its unionized ones, a more relaxed dress code, increased training, faster sick leave accrual and, most important, credit card tipping. (Workers at the first few Starbucks stores to unionize had asked early on for credit card tipping.)
Federal judge sanctions Southwest Airlines, holds in civil contempt
August 9, 2023 // The Center Square also acquired copies of emails sent by a union representative referring to Carter as a “cancerous tumor” that needed to be “eradicated when ever [sic] possible or it spreads.” The member also said she was “incredibly dangerous” and that he was “all about targeted assassinations.” TWU didn’t respond to a request for comment when asked if it supported what appears to be an incitement to violence against or targeted harassment of employees. Carter initially sued, receiving free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, after she was fired for opposing union dues being used for causes that violated her conscience related to promoting abortion. She alleged that Southwest Airlines discriminated against her religious beliefs, violating Title VII of the Civil Right Act of 1964 and the Local 556 violated the Railway Labor Act. The jury unanimously agreed and awarded her over $5 million.
After unionizing last summer, some Utah Starbucks workers now want out
August 4, 2023 // Before a petition can be filed, federal labor law says a year must pass after a successful union vote and 30% of a location’s workers need to support decertification. The National Right to Work Foundation, which is providing free legal representation to the workers who support the petition, said a contingent of the store’s workers don’t want the union to have “monopoly representation powers” when negotiating with the company. “They called us,” said foundation president Mark Mix. “They walked through this process and we [are helping] them get an election. That's the goal, not to put our thumb on the scale one way or the other, but just get the election so that their voices can be heard in the workplace.”
COMMENTARY: Biden vs. workers’ right to vote out unions
June 28, 2023 // Despite the recent outrageous FLRA ruling, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys who have been providing free legal assistance to Blue Ridge Parkway employees seeking a vote to decertify AFGE bosses, currently led by petitioner Lauren Labrie, are optimistic a vote will happen soon anyway. But regardless of the outcome, this battle exposes the depth of the Biden administration’s contempt for employees’ right to make a free choice about whether or not they want a union.
A Union View from Inside
June 20, 2023 // UA local unions not only suppress opportunities for nonunion workers but also seek to limit union membership to protect the high earnings of current members; in other words, the UA is doing the exact opposite of what it claims to do: instead of “protecting” workers, the UA intentionally excludes potential pipefitters from the labor market to limit supply and drive up prices. Worse, this exclusion means that less pipefitting work gets done. American industries processing steam, petrochemical, water, and other materials suffer from a loss of valuable skilled labor. Probably the best example of this policy of disenfranchisement is the pictured flier, which I saw inside the union hall. The flier claims that bureaucrats are trying to destroy the UA apprenticeship program. Of course, I was surprised to learn that apprenticeships would be targeted by politicians, since politicians usually support work and skill training regardless of political affiliation. As neither the flier nor the website directly referenced the bill in question, I did my own research. In June 2019, the Department of Labor proposed an expansion of apprenticeship programs, awarding $183.8 million to support the development and expansion of training programs. This included industry, employer, government, nonprofit and union training programs. The United Association told its members that union apprenticeships were being attacked. In truth, the DOL was merely seeking to expand apprenticeship options, including union apprenticeships.
CUNY Professors’ Lawsuit Challenging Forced Association with Antisemitism-Linked Union Continues at Second Circuit
June 5, 2023 // City University professors challenge NY law that forces them to be represented by hostile union hierarchy Six City University of New York (CUNY) professors have taken their federal civil rights lawsuit against Professional Staff Congress (PSC) union officials to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The professors, Avraham Goldstein, Michael Goldstein, Frimette Kass-Shraibman, Mitchell Langbert, Jeffrey Lax, and Maria Pagano, charge PSC union bosses with violating the First Amendment by forcing them to accept the union’s monopoly control and “representation” – “representation” the professors not only oppose, but find extremely offensive and in contradiction to their personal beliefs.