Mix
MINNEAPOLIS (Legal Newsline) - A technician with a New Brighton, Wis., Ford dealership filed a complaint Monday against Teamsters union Local 974 for allegedly taking union dues from his paychecks without following federal disclosure requirements.
Dylan McHenry of Hammond, Wis., filed the charge with the National Labor Relations Board regional office in Minneapolis. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Communication Workers of America v. Beck case that workers are not required to pay union dues or fees for union boss political activities, lobbying and member-only events.
Union officials must also provide workers with an independently audited financial breakdown of all forced-dues union expenditures. This informs workers of how their union dues and fees are being spent and making unions more accountable.
Afer McHenry resigned from formal union membership, Teamster union officials allegedly provided him with an incomplete breakdown of union expenditures. The union is also allegedly taking money from McHenry's paychecks for the Teamster hierarchy's political action committee - a violation of federal law.
Because Minnesota does not have Right to Work protections making union affiliation completely voluntary, McHenry, who resigned from formal union membership in April, is still forced to pay fees to the union to keep his job.
"Teamster union bosses are illegally charging independent-minded workers for their political agenda and deliberately keeping workers in the dark about how their forced dues are being spent," said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work.
"To prevent these types of forced unionism abuses in the future, Minnesota needs to pass a Right to Work law making union affiliation and dues payments completely voluntary."
Twenty-three states have Right to Work protections for its workers.