Milwaukee, WI (December 31, 2025) – Employees of Krause Funeral Home & Cremation Services have freed themselves from the unwanted “representation” of Teamsters Local 344 union officials. The workers’ victory comes after Krause management withdrew recognition of the Teamsters based on an employee-backed petition showing that the union had lost majority support.
While Teamsters union bosses initially tried to block the ouster, claiming Krause committed an unfair labor practice by withdrawing recognition, union officials quickly backed down after National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys filed a Motion to Intervene with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on behalf of Krause employee Noah Watry.
In October, Watry submitted a “decertification petition” to the NLRB, in which he and his coworkers requested that the NLRB hold a vote to remove the Teamsters union. That petition contained more than enough signatures from employees in his work unit (which includes funeral directors, embalmers, and apprentices at Krause’s facilities in Milwaukee, Brookfield, and New Berlin) to trigger a decertification election under NLRB rules.
Watry shared a copy of this employee petition with Krause officials, who, following the NLRB’s Levitz Furniture Co. precedent, withdrew recognition from the union after seeing that the petition signers also requested that their employer withdraw recognition.
Teamsters union agents sought to block the employee petition and the employer’s withdrawal by filing unfair labor practice charges against Krause with the NLRB, alleging that it had withdrawn recognition illicitly. Even though Krause had followed NLRB case law in withdrawing, an NLRB Regional Office issued a complaint against the funeral home company. Watry defended the withdrawal that he and his coworkers had requested by filing a Motion to Intervene.
NLRB Region 18 eventually referred the case to an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ), which set the stage for a hearing on the union’s legal claims. However, before the ALJ could move forward with the proceedings, Teamsters lawyers withdrew all charges against Krause, likely knowing that a hearing would reveal the meritless nature of union officials’ unfair labor practice charges. This effectively laid to rest the Teamsters presence in Krause’s facilities.
Wisconsin is one of 26 states with Right to Work safeguards that protect workers by making union affiliation and dues payment strictly voluntary. Yet, even in Right to Work states, union officials can impose exclusive bargaining control upon all workers in a workplace, even those who oppose the union.
“This case illustrates clearly the lengths that union officials will go in order to hold on to power in a workplace where workers would prefer to be independent,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “The Foundation is pleased to have been able to aid Mr. Watry and his colleagues in navigating the convoluted federal labor bureaucracy that places hardworking Americans like them at a disadvantage whenever they seek to exercise their rights.
“While this case worked out in Mr. Watry’s favor, it’s important to remember that he and his coworkers have the benefit of Right to Work and could not be forced to subsidize the same Teamsters union that was trying to trap them,” Mix added. “That is why every American deserves Right to Work protections, and even in states where Right to Work exists, it must be defended.”
