A union representing painters and other tradespeople argues it “did nothing wrong” after an employee of Olympic Companies in Waukesha filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board alleging illegal coercion.
The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation announced painter Caryn Johnson filed charges with the NLRB against the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 7 after she was “coerced” into joining the union.
The foundation says Johnson was told she had to join the union and pay dues to be employed by the Waukesha business, which has worked on various large-scale commercial and public projects including the Baird Center and BMO Harris Financial Center in Milwaukee, according to its website.
IUPAT officials allegedly “demanded” Johnson sign documents authorizing union dues being deducted from her paycheck, the foundation says, calling it a violation of federal law.
When asked for comment on the charges, IUPAT DC7 Business Manager and Secretary Jeff Mehrhoff said the union followed both federal and state law governing union membership and dues collection “in all respects in our correspondence and conversations” with Johnson.
Mehrhoff says the union respects her right to file the charges but believes “we will be fully vindicated” by the board’s investigation, arguing the allegations have no merit.
“We see this charge as nothing more than an attempt by the Virginia based National Right to Work Committee to stay relevant in a time when Union approval ratings among Americans are nearly 68%,” he wrote in an email, noting the union chapter’s membership has remained steady “even in the face of the attacks by Wisconsin Republicans over the last decade.”
Johnson has since resigned her union membership, according to the foundation, but the union has allegedly continued to take union dues out of her wages based on the form the foundation says she was coerced into signing.
“Union officials are claiming she cannot cut off dues for approximately eight months, and even then must provide additional written revocation during the union’s arbitrary revocation window,” the foundation said in a release.
The foundation provided free legal aid for filing the charges with the NLRB.
As the board’s investigation proceeds, Mehrhoff says the union will “cooperate fully in the process to clear our name of these baseless claims.”
