The following article is from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation's bimonthly Foundation Action Newsletter, March/April 2024 edition. To view other editions of Foundation Action or sign up for a free subscription, click here.
Foundation now protects workers from union attempts to overturn employee votes
Union Kitchen, a unique grocery store concept that helps local D.C. entrepreneurs bring food to market, was the target of a dangerous UFCW picket scheme.
Washington DC – In July 2023, Ashley Silva, an employee at Union Kitchen, an independent grocery store in the Washington, D.C., area, sensed that her co-workers were fed up with the United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW) at her workplace.
UFCW union leaders have ordered controversial boycotts and pickets at stores, with some demonstrations requiring police intervention after union picketers blocked store exits.
“The majority of Union Kitchen workers are tired of UFCW picketing, harassment of employees, and constant disruption of their daily work lives,” Silva said at the time.
UFCW leaders try to cling to power despite workers' fierce rejection
With free legal assistance from the National Labor Rights Foundation, Ms. Silva filed a decertification petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to determine whether unions should be expelled among employees at five Union Kitchen stores. asked federal agencies to vote on the matter. . The majority of her colleagues signed the petition.
UFCW union officials filed a complaint against Union Kitchen management to prevent the vote from taking place. After some delays, Ms. Silva and her colleagues voted in October 2023, and the vote count in January 2024 showed that she and her colleagues voted 24-1 against the union. It became clear.
The union objected to eight employee votes, meaning the total vote against the union would likely be 32-1.
Once the NLRB certifies the election results, Silva and her co-workers will be released from the union. But in an effort to stop this, UFCW officials continue to pursue “obstruction charges” against Union Kitchen management that they filed with the NLRB before the vote, and include similar basic charges against UFCW officials. Opposition to the election is also accumulating. Blocking fee.
Obstruction charges are often unconfirmed or unrelated accusations of employer misconduct that union officials can manipulate to delay vote counting or certification of results in union decertification cases.
If the NLRB files a complaint against an employer based on union “obstruction,” the decertification process will be halted.
Foundation fights UFCW bid to overturn vote
Lawyers for foundation employees are defending Ms. Silva and her colleagues' victory at the ballot box against bald-faced attempts by UFCW union officials to oppose their will.
“We are pleased that Ms. Silva and her colleagues were finally able to exercise their right to vote out opposing unions,” said Patrick Semmens, vice president of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Not surprisingly, despite such overwhelming rejection, UFCW union officials have not given a second thought to attempts to impose unwanted so-called “representation” on Union Kitchen employees. It's a shame that he doesn't want to quit.
“The Foundation is proud to defend Ms. Silva and her colleagues who seek freedom from coercive unionism from these union tactics,” Semmens concluded.
