Workers Challenge NLRB Policy on Union Dues Collection Without Active Contracts
Employees in Tukwila, Washington, and Hammond, Louisiana, are challenging a long-standing National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) precedent that permits union officials to continue collecting dues even when a union monopoly bargaining contract is not in effect. These employees, with legal assistance from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, have filed federal Unfair Labor Practice charges against the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART Local 55) and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW Local 455). The core of the dispute revolves around the 1979 NLRB precedent, Frito-Lay, Inc., which restricts an employee's right to revoke a dues-checkoff authorization to a narrow 'window period' defined by the union. This policy effectively forces employees to pay union dues to maintain their employment, even in the absence of a current union contract. Brittani Butler and four other employees in Washington State, along with Cypress Meadowlark i...
