Posts tagged private-sector workers
Pittsburgh-Area Teen Hits UFCW Union and Giant Eagle with Religious Discrimination and Unfair Labor Practice Charges
January 18, 2023 // North Huntingdon Giant Eagle employee Josiah Leonatti – a high school student – has filed federal discrimination charges against the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1776KS union. He maintains that union officials refused to consider his religious beliefs after he expressed religious objections to joining and paying dues to the union. Union officials, according to his charges, subjected him to an illegal “religion test” to determine whether his religious beliefs count.
Austin Minnesota Mayo Clinic Nurses Vote Overwhelmingly to End Forced Union Dues Requirement
December 19, 2022 // 49-17 Labor Board deauthorization vote comes as nurses wait for window to hold vote to finally remove unwanted Steelworkers union boss “representation” A group of nurses at Mayo Clinic Health System in Austin, Minnesota, overwhelmingly voted to “deauthorize” United Steelworkers (USW) Local 11-00578 union in their workplace. The workers filed the deauthorization petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 18 with free legal representation from National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys.
Teamsters Union Officials Flee Albany XPO Logistics Workplace After Vast Majority of Workers Seek Vote to Remove Them
December 14, 2022 // 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.
Freight Company Worker Wins More Than $10,500 for Being Illegally Fired for Not Joining Teamsters Union
August 26, 2022 // Back pay award ends case against employer, federal charge against union for instigating illegal termination still under NLRB investigation Jackson, MN (August 25, 2022) – Jannie Potgieter, who was a freight employee at industrial park USF Holland in Jackson, Minnesota, filed federal charges against the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 120 union and his employer in May for illegally terminating him for exercising his right not be a union member. Now Mr. Potgieter has received approximately $10,512 in back pay from USF Holland in exchange for dropping the charge against the company. The charge against the union for union officials’ role in the illegal termination is still pending.
Op-ed: Proposed ‘FAST Act’ directly assaults CA’s restaurant industry
August 8, 2022 // Assembly Bill 257 – known as the “FAST Act” – has been pushed through the legislative process under the guise of helping California workers in the counter-service restaurant community. If enacted, the bill – sponsored by the Service Employees International Union – would set aside existing labor laws in favor of new rules developed and enforced by 13 unelected political appointees with zero oversight. In short, the FAST Act will take away great jobs for workers, harm consumers, raise prices, stifle competition, diminish entrepreneurship and create layers of unnecessary bureaucracy – all because of a false narrative. limited-service restaurant industry, unelected statewide council, wage and hour violations, California Restaurant Association
Jousting with management? Medieval Times cast may join NJ’s growing unionized workforce Friday
July 15, 2022 // On Friday afternoon, 42 workers at the Bergen County dinner theater will decide whether to join the American Guild of Variety Artists, which represents performers including the Rockettes and the members of Cirque du Soleil. The vote follows a national wave of collective organizing and an uptick in unionization rates in New Jersey. Food service workers, retail employees, even budtenders in the medical and recreational cannabis markets are getting organized. Medieval Times employees said the union will represent the knights, squires, trumpeters and other performers. It would represent the stable hands, who care for the horses, as well. Servers and food staff would not be included in the bargaining unit. New Jersey Medieval Times, Zaire Wood, May report by the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, Susanne Doris,
Former NKY worker at Duro Hilex Poly tells state official that steelworkers union forced her to be a member
July 7, 2022 // The complaint notes that Local 832 officials are illegally demanding both union membership and full dues payment from workers as a condition of staying employed, a clear violation of the Commonwealth’s Right to Work law that makes union membership and financial support strictly voluntary. The employee, Melva Hernandez, is receiving free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. She maintains that the company deducted dues money illegally from her paycheck for the union as the result of a forced unionism contract provision that cannot lawfully be enforced in Kentucky. Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet Secretary, Melva Hernandez, Kentucky Labor Cabinet, USW Local 832 President Tara Purnhagen,
Northern KY Worker Asks State Official to Prosecute Steelworkers Union for Violating Kentucky Right to Work Law
July 1, 2022 // After Hernandez tendered her resignation to Purnhagen, “Ms. Purnhagen scolded and harassed me, accusing me of trying to convince my fellow co-workers to drop their union memberships,” Hernandez’s complaint says. Purnhagen also forbade Hernandez from discussing with her coworkers reasons to refrain from union membership. “As of today’s filing, the company and the union have not reimbursed me for the money seized in union dues in violation of Kentucky law,” the complaint says. Kentucky’s Right to Work law, Kentucky Labor Cabinet, USW Local 832 President Tara Purnhagen, Kentucky Labor Cabinet Secretary,
‘Workers are winning’: Colorado law hailed as important victory for public sector workers
June 13, 2022 // The bill, although a compromise from a previously proposed bill that would have granted the right to strike to about 250,000 public sector workers throughout Colorado, was hailed as one of the most significant expansions of collective bargaining rights for public sector workers in recent years. It goes into effect next year. “All across the nation, workers are fighting tooth and nail to get a seat at the table, and they’re winning. We see it in Starbucks coffee shops. We see it in cultural institutions, and now we’re seeing it in Colorado, where county workers will have the freedom to negotiate to improve their lives and strengthen the public services they provide,” said the AFSCME president, Lee Saunders, in response to the bill’s passage. Brittany Williams, El Paso county, Colorado, Jared Polis, Collective Bargaining for Counties bill, Lee Saunders, AFL-CIO, AFSCME Local 1335,
To Help Workers, Unions and Democrats Should Support Scott’s ERA
April 13, 2022 // The ERA’s policies are wildly popular. Recent polling shows that 70% of those polled – including 76% of individuals in union households – believe that workers should have the right to a secret ballot. Other major provisions – including the right to withhold dues from political spending, privacy protections, and the criminalization of union threats – poll at an average favorability of 70%.