LOS ANGELES, Calif. — National The legislature created this condi- sidy program as a major cash cow. Now
Right to Work Legal Defense tion despite the fact that home care California taxpayers must pay tens of
Foundation attorneys have forced offi- workers do not resemble traditional millions of dollars that are laundered
cials of one of the most militant public employees — governmental through the program and dumped into
California unions to return an estimated bodies have no involvement in the union coffers.”
$5 million in union dues illegally seized providers’ hiring, firing, work sched-
from 60,000 non-union home care ules, workplace safety, and employment
providers. The refunds include monies disputes. AFL-CIO eyes home care
spent for activities unrelated to collective Although they are reimbursed
bargaining, such as political activism. through the state, the home care dollars nationwide
The settlement agreement brings to providers are independently hired,
a close a suit brought by Foundation fired, and supervised by individual The AFL-CIO has called the forced
attorneys on behalf of Carla West and recipients of home care. Many of these unionization of the Los Angeles County
other non-union home care providers independent contractors who contacted home care providers organized labor’s
who work in Los Angeles County. After the Foundation about the situation had single largest organizing victory ever.
the state government imposed a novel never even heard of the union until it Sacramento and San Diego Counties
and constitutionally suspect unioniza- began automatically seizing dues out of and, more recently, Oregon and
tion scheme upon them, the employees their paychecks. Washington State, have since adopted
filed the class-action case in U.S. “Even though the union must now virtually identical schemes.
District Court for the Central District cough up upwards of $5 million in ille- “Union chiefs want to use this
of California against the AFL-CIO- gally seized dues, the state of California lucrative new scheme to raise money at
affiliated Service Employees should not have forced independent the expense of taxpayers, disabled citi-
International Union (SEIU) Local home care workers into union collec- zens, and especially those who care for
434B, the Personal Assistance Services tives in the first place,” said Mark Mix, them,” said Mix. “Looking toward the
Council (PASC) of Los Angeles Executive Vice President of the future, Foundation attorneys intend to
County, and Attorney General Bill National Right to Work Foundation. pursue other opportunities to persuade
Lockyer. “Years ago, union operatives set their the courts to toss out this emerging
sights on California’s home care sub- union scheme as unconstitutional.”
PBS.org
Meanwhile, learning that the union Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT) (right), Congressman Chris Cannon (R-UT) (left),
had secured the elimination of their and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) have joined the fight to defend 30 Salt Lake City
non-union jobs during negotiations, non-union employees whose jobs are being handed over to the union.
a group of 30 workers employed by
Stevedoring Services of America (SSA)
at its Salt Lake City “planning” facility Foundation attorneys immediately filed As this article goes to press, it is still
sought free legal aid from the National charges against the ILWU at the National unclear whether the NLRB’s General
Right to Work Foundation. Labor Relations Board (NLRB). These Counsel will request a federal court
SSA is the largest company at the charges seek an injunction to block the injunction that would bar the PMA and
West Coast ports, and the union hierar- imminent and unlawful elimination of the ILWU from eliminating the Utah jobs
chy is especially eager to gain control Salt Lake City jobs that would occur sim- before it is too late.
over its computerized rail, yard, and ves- ply because the employees have not opted
sel planning employees. These employ- for union representation.
ees are responsible for tactical manage- Utah pols urge swift
ment of day-to-day activities, including
determining when and how cargo is to Work relocation would NLRB action
be loaded and unloaded, by whom, and
how and where it is to be transported. If violate workers’ rights However, knowing that the NLRB
such key jobs were performed by union- bureaucracy is often lethargic and unre-
ized marine clerks, the union hierarchy By insisting that this planning work be sponsive to pleas from non-union
would be in a position to demand more performed at new facilities at the ports employees who suffer from union abuse,
concessions from the company by delib- staffed by unionized “marine clerks,” United States Senators Orrin Hatch
erately fouling up these vital operations rather than non-union employees, (R-UT) and Robert Bennett (R-UT)
at the drop of a hat. ILWU and PMA offi- joined Congressman Chris Cannon
If allowed to stand, cials violate the employ- (R-UT) last month in sending a strongly
the final settlement of ees’ right to refrain worded letter to the NLRB urging it to
the port dispute would from unionization expedite the investigation.
further solidify ILWU
“They got together under federal law, and The letter, which the congressional
union control over vir- and negotiated the principles of volun- delegation sent to General Counsel
tually every aspect of tary unionism estab- Arthur Rosenfeld and the local NLRB
operations at the West our jobs away,” lished by Utah’s Right office handling the investigation,
Coast ports. to Work Law. In the echoed the Foundation’s charges that
“They got together said Sherry Goff. past, the NLRB has the ILWU and PMA’s pact violates fed-
and negotiated our jobs aggressively prosecuted eral law and the spirit of Utah’s highly
away,” said Sherry Goff, this type of illegal popular Right to Work Law.
one of the SSA employ- discrimination — known “Given the imminent nature of the
ees represented by Foundation attorneys, as a “runaway shop.” threat and the support of Utah’s con-
to the Salt Lake Tribune. “Historically, “These have never been union jobs,” gressional delegation, we are hopeful
these have always been non-union jobs. said Mike Bourgault, who works in that the NLRB will act quickly to
We have voted down union representa- SSA’s Salt Lake City facility. “The thing ensure these workers’ jobs are not swal-
tion in the past.” is the ILWU isn’t losing any jobs at the lowed up as part of another union
When the employees asked for help, ports, but they still want to take ours.” power grab,” said Gleason.
January/February 2003 Foundation Action 7
their rights under Beck, and have forced agreements” and other “top-down” Employers are often pressured into
them to pay for union organizing drives, organizing techniques to bully employers signing these “neutrality agreements”
including organizing efforts in other into bargaining with union officials with- after a union runs a successful “corpo-
industries. out so much as a vote by the employees. rate campaign” in which the goal is to
Meanwhile, Foundation attorneys So-called “neutrality agree- paint the targeted company as a
plan to bring forward similar cases in ments” not only include a social outlaw. These campaigns
various other federal court jurisdictions promise from the employer involve massive public
with the hope of ultimately persuading that it will not counter relations assaults, union
the Supreme Court to address union the union’s propaganda pressure on a company’s
organizing, an issue of increasing directed at employees, suppliers and stock-
importance in recent years. but also usually require holders, and utilization
employers to give union of elected officials as
organizers the names, well as administrative
Unions organize employers home addresses, and agencies to embarrass the
telephone numbers of all company and bog it down
rather than employees employees, as well as permis- in costly litigation. Ultimately,
sion to come on company proper- the goal of a corporate campaign
As union organizers have had less ty during work hours to collect union is to achieve unionization of the
success in recent years in persuading em- authorization cards. These so-called company’s employees regardless of
ployees to vote in favor of unionization “card check schemes” deny employees’ employees’ views.
during secret ballot elections, the AFL- the right to reject unionization in “These union organizing tactics
CIO has instead adopted a strategy of a secret ballot election. Moreover, amount to blackmail,” said Larson. “The
organizing employers. Bolstered by a workers are often misled, harassed, or Foundation is placing a high priority on
series of Clinton NLRB rulings, union threatened into signing union autho- bringing new cases that will challenge the
operatives increasingly use “neutrality rization cards. legality of these emerging methods.”
8 Foundation Action January/February 2003
Teacher Union
continued from page 4 Message from Reed Larson
Foundation’s Vice President, Stefan
Gleason, appeared on the Fox News
Channel’s The O’Reilly Factor to expose
President
the union’s policy of harassment.
National Right to Work
Meanwhile, the Workforce Pro-
Legal Defense Foundation
tections Subcommittee of the United
States House of Representatives held
hearings chaired by Congressman Dear Foundation Supporter:
Charlie Norwood (R-GA) to investigate
the problems faced by religious objectors. So far, the Bush Administration has proposed only a few tiny reforms to
At the hearings, Klamut and another the way Big Labor is regulated. At issue this month are new financial disclo-
Foundation-assisted teacher, Dennis sure requirements for the annual LM-2 forms that unions are supposed to file.
Robey, testified on the range of abuses Everyone agrees that employees should be able to find out where
suffered at the hands of the NEA union their dues money is going. But the 40-year-old LM-2 disclosure forms
and its affiliates: provide little in the way of meaningful information.
“I feel that the union’s plan was
simply to wear me down. The union Of course, the union bosses are screaming bloody murder, even though
threatens to take my job away unless I the Labor Department’s proposed reforms are so mild as to be innocuous.
violate my religious beliefs,” said
Foundation attorneys provided advice on drafting the regulations,
Klamut. “It seems that every day I have
but many crucial recommendations have been ignored.
to choose between my family’s eco-
nomic security and the requirements of Most importantly, unlike corporations, union officials are not currently
my faith. This is not right. I should be required to provide members independent audits of union books and
allowed to do my job without this con- records—an outrageous omission that the new regulations do nothing
stant hassle.” to remedy.
Looking back on her long struggle
and her final victory over the NEA and Just as importantly, the dollar requirements for disclosure may be
OEA, Klamut hopes other workers will set so high that little useful information will be revealed. For example,
follow her example and have the if expenditures under $2,000 or even $5,000 can be swept into the
strength to come forward. category of miscellaneous expenses, then expenses for politics, organizing,
“I would really encourage those or just lavish “entertainment” can be shielded from public view.
who have this heartfelt conviction to do The recent scandal (reported in the last issue of Foundation Action)
it,” Klamut said. involving former Ironworkers union boss Jake West and his cronies spend-
ing $460,000 at Washington’s fancy Prime Rib restaurant could easily
be covered up by splitting the item into a large number of miscellaneous
expenses, none of which would have to be individually reported.
January/February 2003