WASHINGTON – Drivers for Energy Transfer across Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana are petitioning a federal labor board for a vote to end United Steelworkers (USW) union officials’ bargaining control over their work unit.
Driver Jay Fifer, who is based at Energy Transfer’s workplace in Hearne, Texas, submitted the petition to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) this week with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. If Fifer and his coworkers’ requested vote is successful, over 420 Energy Transfer drivers will be free of USW union officials’ control, according to a National Right to Work press release.
“Support among us drivers for this Steelworkers union is very low where I work,” Fifer said. “My colleagues at other locations have said similar things as well. It’s not fair for Steelworkers officials to dictate major things about our work lives when very few drivers at all are union members. I filed this petition because I firmly believe that the overwhelming majority of my coworkers don’t think this union represents us, and we hope the NLRB lets us exercise that right without any delays.”
National Labor Relations Board
The NLRB is the agency charged with enforcing federal labor law in the private sector, which includes administering votes to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions. Fifer’s petition contains signatures from his coworkers well in excess of the percentage required by the NLRB to trigger a union decertification vote within his work unit. The NLRB will now review Fifer’s petition.
According to the release, Right to Work laws in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana prohibit USW union officials from enforcing contracts that require Energy Transfer drivers to pay union dues or fees just to get or keep a job. In contrast, in non-Right to Work states, union officials can force workers to pay dues or fees on pain of termination. However, in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work jurisdictions, USW union officials can still impose monopoly bargaining contracts over every employee in a work unit, whether or not they voted for or support the union.
“As Fifer’s case demonstrates, union-controlled work units can often span hundreds of workers in different cities or even across state lines,” the release said.
Workers Across Country Increasingly Seeking Exit from Union Control
According to the release, foundation staff attorneys have helped several groups of workers oust unwanted USW unions within the last few years, including healthcare workers in Minnesota, metal workers in Pennsylvania, chemical employees in Louisiana, building products employees in New Jersey, and more. Across the country, workers’ desire to exercise their right to vote out unpopular union bosses is increasing. Worker-filed petitions seeking union decertification votes are up more than 50% from 2020, according to NLRB data.
“American workers should not have to accept the ‘representation’ of a union that lacks worker support in the workplace, and more and more workers are standing up to free themselves,” said Mark Mix, president, National Right to Work Foundation. “That’s why it’s important that they be able to freely exercise their right to vote to remove a union, a right that unfortunately was consistently under attack under the previous Administration’s National Labor Relations Board. As President Trump seeks new appointees for the NLRB, he should remember that workers all over the country like Mr. Fifer and his colleagues believe they are better off free from union influence, and those workers deserve to have their voices and will respected.”
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
These people are miseducated and are willing to give up their collective bargaining rights. It’s amazing how a 34 count convicted felon/adjudicated Rapist/6 time bankrupt/NYC Swindler has persuaded so many to put their own self interests to the side and ride the train of bigotry , misogyny, xenophobia and morality deficiency. America is done.