PAGE 8 | May 15, 2015 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
National Labor Relations Board
to tackle R-T-W ‘free riders’ case
The NLRB wants to hear from all
sides on whether unions must
process grievances for free in
right-to-work states.
By Mark Gruenberg
Press Associates Inc.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—In a
case that could give the so-
called “right to work” laws and
movement a huge kick in the
head, the National Labor Rela-
tions Board (NLRB) is tackling
whether such “free riders”
should continue to get their
“free ride.”
In a case pitting United Steel-
workers against the huge paper-
maker Georgia Pacific Corp.
and its Buckeye Florida Corp.
subsidiary, the Board called for
briefs on whether free riders
should have to pay the union on
a case by case basis to handle
their grievances.
In the 25 states that don’t
have right-to-work laws, work-
ers who opt-out of joining the
union at their workplace must
pay the union a “fair share” fee
to cover the costs of contract ne-
gotiations and administration,
including grievances.
In the 25 states with right-to-
work laws, workers who opt out
of the union don’t have to pay a
dime, yet the union is still re-
quired to represent them if they
have a dispute with their boss.
Right-to-work proponents’
stated goal is to ensure workers
aren’t forced to pay for union
services. Their real intent, how-
ever, is to starve unions finan-
cially, thus eliminating organ-
ized worker opposition to the
corporate agenda.
The NLRB now wants to
hear from all sides on whether
unions must process grievances
and represent non-member
workers for free. If the Board
decides to let unions charge
non-members fees for process-
ing individual grievances, it
wants to know what factors
should determine the level of
those fees.
In the Florida case, NLRB
administrative law judge
William Cates ruled on March
24, 2014 that Buckeye, in its
contract with Steelworkers Lo-
cal 1192, broke labor law “by
maintaining and implementing a
‘Fair Share Policy’ requiring
non-member bargaining-unit
employees to pay a grievance-
processing fee.”
On April 21, Portland City Council legal-
ized Transportation Network Compa-
nies—which use smart phone apps to let
customers summon private vehicles as
taxis. Within days, Uber was doing busi-
ness in Portland.
A privately-held company founded in
San Francisco in 2009, Uber is backed by
$5.9 billion from 36 investors—from
Goldman Sachs and Blackrock, to Google
Ventures and the sovereign wealth fund of
the Emir of Qatar.
Uber says its name comes from German
word for “around.” But more often the
German word über translates as “over” or
“above,” as in “übermensch,” “Deutsch-
land Über Alles,” or “above the law.” Uber
operates in defiance of local ordinances
around the world, and is the defendant in
several class action lawsuits by drivers.
Daniel Ajema, now a prosecutor with
King County in Seattle, drove for Uber
while in law school. He was so bothered
by conditions—and changes in terms and
conditions without notice or appeal—that
in 2014 he helped organize a group of sev-
eral hundred Uber drivers.
“The company has huge control over
the way we do business, so we wanted to
form an association, a sort of labor union,”
The case asks the Board to re-
verse course and “adopt a rule
allowing unions to charge non-
members a fee for grievance
processing, so long as that fee
does not exceed the amount a
union could charge non-mem-
ber objectors” to union spending
for non-bargaining and non-
contract uses, such as politics.
Until now, the case for letting
unions not represent non-mem-
bers, even at worksites with
union contracts, has been an ac-
ademic debate.
“There is no seeming ration-
ale for this inequity, and nothing
in the federal labor law nor in
state right-to-work laws requires
it,” say Harvard Law Professor
Benjamin Sachs and UC-Irvine
Law Professor Catherine Fisk,
authors of the most-comprehen-
sive paper on the issue.
“If unions are prohibited from
collecting ‘fair share’ fees, they
should at a minimum be permit-
ted to charge workers for the
costs of individual grievance
representation,” the professors
said. That’s what the NLRB
case is about.
According to the federal gov-
ernment, there are 1.6 million
‘free riders’ in the United States.
Now that it’s
legal in
Portland ...
What the
heck is an
Uber?
Ajema recalls. “We were quite naive. We
thought the company would talk to us.”
Ajema says he and other leaders elected
by the driver group met with Uber’s Seat-
tle general manager Brooke Steger, but the
next day the company sent an email warn-
ing drivers not to talk with them. Drivers
were told if they have an issue, they’d have
to address it individually. The company
would not be recognizing any association.
Uber doesn’t even recognize drivers as
employees. Uber drivers are independent
LOCAL MOTION
APRIL 2015
The following are Oregon and Southwest Washington workplaces where workers are determining
whether to be represented by a union. The thumbs-up symbol means workers will be union-
represented. Thumbs-down means they’ll be on their own. Decert means a decertification
election, where union-represented workers vote whether to remain union. The information comes
from the National Labor Relations Board and the Oregon Employment Relations Board.
Election Requests
Employer (Location) Union
Providence Newberg Medical Center (Newberg) Oregon Nurses Association
■ 150 workers – registered nurses
Firestop Company (Vancouver) UA Road Sprinkler Fitters Local 669
■ sprinkler intallers and sprinkler tech employees
Republic Services of Portland (Portland) Teamsters Local 305
■ 22 workers – waste collection drivers and helpers
Oregon Shakespeare Festival Association (Ashland) IATSE
■ 63 workers – lighting, video & projections, sound, stage operations, wardrobe, wig and hair
West Linn - Wilsonville School District (Tualatin) OSEA Local 6732
DECERT
■ 334 workers – classified employees
OHSU (Portland) OHSU Police Association vs. AFSCME Local 328
■ 13 workers – Oregon Health and Science University police officers
Election Results
Employer (Location) Union
Yes-No =
ABM Onsite Services - West (Portland) IAM District Lodge W24
DFW Security Protective Force (Albany) United Security Forces
Milwaukie Convalescent Center (Milwaukie) SEIU Local 503
15-6
10-0
37-6
HAPPENINGS
Trumka to keynote summit in Vancouver
National AFL-CIO President
Richard Trumka will join some
of the most talented union or-
ganizers across the country in
Vancouver, Wash., Tuesday,
May 19, for the 2015 Organiz-
contractors, working for themselves … un-
der terms that are dictated by Uber and
changeable by Uber at any time.
In fact, Uber says it’s a software com-
pany, not a transportation company. [Right,
a software company that dictates the fares
and terminates its “partners” if they get
less than stellar customer ratings.] Scroll
through Uber’s 4,600-word user agree-
ment (“Last Updated: April 8, 2015”) and
you’ll see in all caps: YOU ACKNOWL-
EDGE THAT UBER DOES NOT PRO-
VIDE TRANSPORTATION OR LOGIS-
TICS SERVICES OR FUNCTION AS A
TRANSPORTATION CARRIER.” That’s
so Uber can discriminate against you if
you’re disabled. The Americans for Dis-
abilities Act prohibits “common carriers”
in transportation from refusing rides to
people in wheelchairs. But Uber doesn’t
provide rides, it says. Its drop-in, drop-out
“partners” do. So sue the drivers. Just don’t
expect Uber to cooperate when you do.
Uber says its product is “ridesharing,”
but that’s pure spin. Uber doesn’t share
rides—it sells them. With driver “partners”
providing the vehicles and labor, Uber
takes 20 percent off the top. It’s the top-
dog labor broker for a new informal econ-
omy of unmarked taxis.
ing Summit.
The summit, presented by the
Oregon AFL-CIO, also will fea-
ture national AFL-CIO Organiz-
ing Director Elizabeth Bunn.
Participants will learn about
the state labor federation’s col-
laborative approach to building
worker power.
The summit will be held at the
Vancouver Hilton from 10 a.m.
to 4 p.m. Registration is $25. For
more information, go to orafl-
cio.org/organizing-summit/.
—TOO MUCH—
How concentrated have in-
come and wealth become in the
United States? In 1984, the top
0.01 percent of campaign con-
tributors gave 11.9 percent of
U.S. political donations. In
2012, the top 0.01 percent of
contributors gave 41.8 percent
of all contributions.
HHH
In its first four years, the new
federal Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau has forced fi-
nancial services firms to return
over $5 billion directly to con-
sumers that they cheated. Yet
not one of today’s top financial
industry execs has so far been
jailed.
T OO M UCH IS A BLOG FROM THE
I NSTITUTE FOR P OLICY S TUDIES