LONG BEACH, Calif. — The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 21 in Los Angeles has filed a complaint against the Teamsters union based on unfair labor practice charges filed by an employee of transportation company Savage Services.
According to a news release from the National Right to Work Foundation, Teamsters officials, in a July 2023 letter, “threatened Nelson Medina with sending a letter of removal to the Employer” if he didn’t pay allegedly outstanding fees to the union, without providing the legal protections required (by law). The complaint also says that Teamsters bosses threatened Medina with a fine for the same reason.
“This isn’t the first time that Teamsters Local 848 has been subject to federal prosecution at Savage Services,” according to the news release. ” In February, NLRB Region 21 issued a complaint against Local 848 because its agents had threatened employees with violence for not supporting the union. That complaint followed an unfair labor practice charge from Savage Services employee Victor Avila detailing the threats.”
Teamsters Local 848 has also faced recent pushback from Savage Services employees for illegal dues practices, National Right to Work officials note.
In February 2022, Medina forced the union to settle charges that it illegally forced nonmember workers to pay for union political activities in violation of Communications Workers of America v. Beck. The settlement required union officials to pay back thousands of dollars in illegal dues they seized from about 60 of his coworkers who objected to union membership and to funding the union’s political activity.
“Teamsters Local 848 union chiefs are continuing their dismal track record of complying with employees’ legal rights,” said National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Their repeated threats and illegal dues practices show pretty clearly that they value power and dues revenue beyond the well-being of Savage Services employees, who have now attempted twice to throw the union out.”
Mix added that “it’s good that the union is being prosecuted for violating employees’ rights under federal law. But ultimately, Right to Work protections would solve such conflicts about whether or not union officials have complied with their obligations to justify forced union dues by ensuring every workers’ individual right to decide for themselves whether or not to voluntary fund union activities.”
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