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The employee, Robert Jacobs, maintains that union officials are
threatening to get him and other employees who resigned union
membership fired unless they pay a reinstatement fee. Jacobs
filed his charges at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
with free legal aid from National Right to Work Legal Defense
Foundation staff attorneys.
Last October, IAM union officials ordered Eaton Corporation
employees, which comprise a work unit of over 400 people, to
strike. After the strike concluded, worker opposition to IAM
union bosses’ priorities increased and many decided to end their
union memberships, including Jacobs.
“I and several of my colleagues don’t want to be part of the IAM
union, but we are required by law to pay fees to union bosses
just to keep our jobs,” said Jacobs. “But IAM officials are
going even further and hitting us with hundreds of dollars in
made-up fees just because we exercised our right to not be union
members.”
The lawsuit argues that the IAM union is violating Eaton
employees’ rights under Section 7 of the NLRA, which safeguards
employees’ “right to refrain from any or all of” union
activities.
“It’s another example of how union officials can create these
fees and pay structures knowing full well that this is illegal,
but if the workers don’t know their rights, the unions often
times collect this money or they just continue to trample on the
rights of individual workers,” said Mark Mix, president of the
National Right to Work Foundation.
A request for comment from the International Association of
Machinists went unanswered.
Similar court battles have played out in Murphysboro and
Carpentersville. In 2021, more than 30 maintenance workers at
Rush University Medical Center in Chicago split from their union
in order to negotiate for work conditions and pay.
In 2023, just under 13% of Illinois workers were union members,
which was a record low.
Since 2004, the American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31 has seen about a 20%
drop in membership. |
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