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Trapped by the Teamsters: Why it can take 7,000 signatures to decertify a union with nine members.
Wall Street Journal ^ | December 8, 2019 | Mark Mix

Posted on 12/08/2019 3:58:16 PM PST by karpov

School-bus drivers Billie McClinsey and Brad Mayer didn’t like being represented by the Teamsters and wanted to put the matter to a vote. That should have been straightforward. Federal law provides that if union opponents collect signatures from 30% of their co-workers, they can ask the National Labor Relations Board to schedule a vote. But the process is frequently made convoluted and oppressive. As a result, Messrs. McClinsey and Mayer are trapped—likely indefinitely—in the union they oppose. The NLRB is soliciting comments on proposals to lift barriers that limit workers’ right to remove a union.

Messrs. McClinsey and Mayer work for First Student, a nationwide contractor, in New York state and Rhode Island, respectively. Both facilities had been unionized by different Teamsters locals. Plenty of their co-workers agreed they’d be better off without the local Teamsters unions. Messrs. McClinsey and Mayer collected the requisite signatures and filed decertification petitions.

But then they discovered that their separate, locally organized bargaining units had been merged into a single nationwide bargaining unit of more than 22,000 workers at more than 100 locations. The bus drivers had agreed to unionize in their local workplace on the basis of a vote by local fellow employees. But under the NLRB’s merger doctrine, the union couldn’t be removed even if all of those workers wanted to do so.

So to get a vote to decertify the Teamsters, Messrs. McClinsey and Mayer needed thousands of signatures from First Student employees in 33 states. Even if they knew the names and locations of these workers, they would have to use their own resources to collect signatures. Decertifying became practically impossible. Workers across the country are trapped in union ranks by this merger doctrine, which is nowhere in the National Labor Relations Act

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; US: New York; US: Rhode Island
KEYWORDS: 2020election; billiemcclinsey; bradmayer; election2020; firststudent; newyork; nlrb; rhodeisland; teamsters; unions

1 posted on 12/08/2019 3:58:16 PM PST by karpov
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To: karpov

There are times a union is needed.

Now the union is just another controlling big business.


2 posted on 12/08/2019 4:12:37 PM PST by fproy2222
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To: fproy2222

Right to work should be Federal law. You should not be forced to be join the union to keep your job.


3 posted on 12/08/2019 4:27:27 PM PST by gibsonguy
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To: karpov
Pfftttt. Try decertifying an HOA. 😳😁
4 posted on 12/08/2019 4:42:46 PM PST by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: rktman
Or getting rid of a timeshare. 😵😁
5 posted on 12/08/2019 4:44:10 PM PST by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
Clinton: Being a Capitalist Probably Hurt Me in 2016 Because So Many Democrats Are Socialists | freebeacon | Posted on 05/02/2018 2:55:43 PM PDT by Sub-Driver | 58 posted on 05/02/2018 4:18:34 PM PDT by Iron Munro

6 posted on 12/08/2019 4:59:35 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: fproy2222

There is zero reason for federal laws to make this kind of crap happen. Workers should be free to organize, those who don’t want to should be free to not be part of that, and employers should be free to hire around organized workers if they so choose.


7 posted on 12/08/2019 5:04:59 PM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: 9YearLurker
Bingo!......Sounds pretty simple doesnt it......

But the “Swamp” is a place that “We the People” have allowed to grow geometrically for years....

8 posted on 12/08/2019 5:27:30 PM PST by M-cubed
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To: karpov

which is nowhere in the National Labor Relations Act


Time for CRA - Congressional Review Act.

Look it up...............................


9 posted on 12/08/2019 6:28:32 PM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: karpov
The NLRB is soliciting comments on proposals to lift barriers that limit workers’ right to remove a union.

Holy crap seriously? Here's a proposal: People can leave the union, and if there's no chapter membership,. that chapter closes. Or, maybe just let the members of that chapter vote on decertifying? Why would this ever be a nationwide vote?
10 posted on 12/09/2019 9:33:55 AM PST by Svartalfiar
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