Federal Judge Dismisses Another Lawsuit Against Card-Checks

by James Parks, Nov 15, 2006

A Republican federal judge has said what union folks knew all along: There is nothing illegal about workers forming a union through majority sign-up.

U.S. District Judge Graham C. Mullen, who was appointed by the first President Bush, last week dismissed the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation’s lawsuit against the UAW and Freightliner. The lawsuit challenged UAW’s card-check agreement with Freightliner and, by extension, all card-check agreements. Under majority sign-up or card-check, an employer agrees to recognize the union if a majority of eligible workers indicate a preference for a union by signing authorization cards.

UAW President Ron Gettelfinger says the ruling shows, “You can’t use the courts to overturn democracy. It’s as simple as that.”

Since 2003, a majority of workers at seven Freightliner facilities in three states have chosen to form their own unions. The Right to Work Foundation refuses to respect the results, but the courts have made it clear that they cannot misuse the law to further their political agenda, which is to eliminate unions so that employers can have unlimited power in the workplace.

The Right to Work lawsuit claimed the UAW and Freightliner had engaged in a “racketeering” conspiracy by negotiating a card-check agreement. But Mullen wasn’t buying it:

Participation of unions and employers in card-check programs is proper and has never [been] held to be illegal. If the court were to find that participation in card-check agreements was illegal, it would have the effect of criminalizing all collective-bargaining agreements.…It is inconceivable that Freightliner and the UAW’s participation in the card-check agreement was a felony.

The rabidly anti-union National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has fought the card-checks at Freightliner and its Thomas Built Buses subsidiary for years and has lost every time. Thomas Built recognized Local 5287 after a majority of the workers signed union authorization cards in March 2004.

A month after the majority sign-up, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation filed unfair labor practice charges against the union, claiming workers had been “coerced” into signing the authorization cards.

Says Gary Casteel, director of UAW Region 8:

We had an extensive hearing about card-check at Thomas Built and not a single worker could be found who said they were coerced into signing a union card.

To settle the case and avoid being tied up in court for years, the UAW agreed to hold a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election to determine representation, Casteel says. After the UAW won that vote, the foundation filed complaints again, which the NLRB rejected. Then the foundation sued the NLRB and that suit was thrown out of court. It then sued the union and the company, and Mullen has now thrown that suit out of court.

Workers would be free to form unions under majority sign-up, and not be forced into NLRB elections, if lawmakers pass the Employee Free Choice Act, which will be re-introduced when the new Congress convenes in January. During the election campaign, workers hit the stump to let congressional candidates know the importance of the freedom to form unions to working families. Some 215 U.S. House members co-sponsored the bill—two short of a majority—and 43 members of the Senate signed on.

The Employee Free Choice Act would:

• Allow employees to freely choose whether to form unions by signing cards authorizing representation;
• Provide mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes; and
• Establish stronger penalties for violations of employee rights when workers seek to form unions and during first-contract negotiations.

Niels Chapman, president of UAW Local 5287, says in a statement the suits will not stop the workers from forming unions and negotiating with management:

They’re probably going to turn around and file another lawsuit tomorrow. But they’re not going to turn us around. We’ve negotiated a good contract, we’re improving our workplace and we’re building great buses. We’re not distracted by frivolous lawsuits because we’re focused on a positive future for our plant.

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