NLRB Pulls Back On Offensive Against Right to Work
From the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation regarding the NLRB’s recent moves:
National Right to Work Foundation Issues Statement on NLRB Suspension of Call for Briefs in Case Designed to Undermine Right to Work Laws
The NLRB has suspended its request for briefs to consider overturning 60 years of precedent to allow unions to charge nonmember employees fees for grievances
Washington, DC (July 8, 2015) – United Steel Workers Local 1192 has reached a settlement in a dispute with an employee that had the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) asking for briefs to consider overturning long-standing precedents and allow union officials in Right to Work states to charge nonmember employees fees for processing grievances through the union controlled and imposed grievance system. The Board’s invitation for briefs was widely seen as a signal that the NLRB majority intended to overturn longstanding precedents protecting workers in Right to Work states from paying union fees as a condition of employment.
In response to the news, National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation President Mark Mix issued the following statement:
This development should provide an important albeit likely temporary victory to workers all across America. Because the case has been settled, it is no longer appropriate for the NRLB to use this case to revisit long standing precedent that prevents union bosses from charging nonmembers any fees, including for grievance processing in Right to Work states.
Millions of workers in America’s 25 Right to Work states will no longer be under an immediate threat of being forced to pay fees to a union boss. Had the NLRB followed through on its intention to permit union officials to charge fees for grievance processing, it would have overturned 60 years of NLRB and federal court legal precedent and circumvented Right to Work laws in 25 states.
In America, no worker should have a portion of their paycheck seized by union bosses for a service that he or she is forced to accept.
Union officials impose a union monopoly contract which includes a union-controlled grievance system on nonmembers who don’t support the union, which makes this fee-for-grievance scheme nothing more than another attempt by Big Labor to circumvent and undermine Right to Work laws that now cover 25 states.
The Big Labor-stacked NLRB’s scheme to allow union bosses to charge nonmembers grievance fees appears to have been stopped, at least for now. But this fight will almost certainly continue. The National Right to Work Foundation will continue to offer free legal aid to any nonmember employee who is being charged for grievance processing or suffering any other sort of workplace abuse at the hands of union bosses.
National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys filed an amicus brief in the case last year when it was first appealed to the NLRB, and were finalizing a second brief in response to the NLRB’s invitation when the unexpected settlement halted the Board’s proceedings.
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The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, is assisting thousands of employees in nearly 200 cases nationwide. Its web address is www.nrtw.org.