DALLAS, Texas — Employees of Penske Truck Leasing’s facility in the Redbird neighborhood of Dallas have freed themselves from the Teamsters Local 745 union officials.
A majority of workers, with assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, filed a petition requesting decertification of the local union with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Nov. 14.
“More and more, American workers across the country are deciding they are better off without Teamsters union bosses who prioritize their own interests over that of the workers they claim to ‘represent,’” said Mark Mix, president NLRB. “We’re proud to support the growing number of workers engaged in the transportation and trucking industries who are demanding freedom from coercive unionism.”
Teamsters’ Disclaim Interest In Representation
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, a task that includes administering votes to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions in workplaces. By law, the NLRB should administer a decertification election if employees submit a petition in which at least 30% of workers demand such an election (this petition far exceeded that threshold).
The decertification election was scheduled for December 18, but on the day of the election, union officials formally disclaimed interest in continuing as the workers’ “representative,” removing the need for an election. Teamsters bosses presumably knew they would have lost the vote overwhelmingly, and preemptively conceded defeat.
Texas Employees Free from Union’s Twin Powers
Texas is a Right to Work state, meaning that Teamsters union officials cannot enforce union contracts that require workers to pay union dues or fees to keep their jobs. In non-Right to Work states, union bosses can have workers fired solely for refusing to financially support union officials’ activities.
However, in both Right to Work and non-Right to Work states, union officials can wield exclusive “representation” power over every employee in a workplace, unless the union is decertified. The workers at Penske’s Redbird facility are now free of both of these powers granted to union bosses by the government.
“I support decertifying the Teamsters union because the union isn’t benefiting us the way it should,” said Epifanio Hernande, a Penske employee in early December, shortly after his petition for decertification was filed. “The union rules aren’t beneficial to everyone, and instead of helping us progress, they end up holding many of us back. We deserve the freedom to exercise our own rights, speak for ourselves, and make decisions that reflect what we actually want — not what the union decides for us.”
Teamsters Union Continues Streak of Decertification
According to the National Right to Work Foundation, in just the last year, Foundation staff attorneys have helped several groups of employees free themselves from unwanted union “representation” by the Teamsters. These include two other cases in Dallas, where both delivery drivers for Restaurant Technologies, Inc. and employees at FCC Environmental Services recently booted Teamsters Local 745 bosses from their workplaces, the same union as in this case.
“Foundation staff attorneys have also noticed a marked rise in requests from workers seeking legal assistance in Teamsters decertification cases,” the National Right to Work Foundation said. “Recent NLRB statistics also suggest no union faces more decertification petitions than the Teamsters.”
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.
