Workers caught in a battle between a local union and Lynn-based Complete Cleaning, Inc. have won a federal settlement from the union after union officials illegally claimed to have monopoly bargaining privileges over the workers.
The settlement stems from federal unfair labor practice charges filed by Complete Cleaning worker Jairo Hernandez of Lynn against Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 615. Hernandez filed the charges with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.
SEIU Local 615 officials tried to claim monopoly bargaining privileges over Complete Cleaning’s workers even though workers nearly unanimously oppose the union hierarchy in their workplace. Under federal law, it is illegal for a union to claim monopoly bargaining powers over a workplace without support of the employees.
Furthermore, the SEIU filed federal charges against Complete Cleaning in an attempt to force the employer to negotiate a contract with the union. The workers feared that, because Massachusetts does not have a Right to Work law making union dues payments strictly voluntary, SEIU officials would have demanded a contract that would force Complete Cleaning’s workers into union dues payments against their will.
Hernandez filed the charges for himself and his coworkers with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office in Boston. The settlement requires the SEIU union hierarchy to stop trying to claim monopoly bargaining powers over the workers unless and until it can show that it has majority employee support.
“SEIU officials attempted to exploit their special government-granted privilege to clean these Complete Cleaning workers’ pockets of forced union dues,” said Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Massachusetts needs a Right to Work law to make it less difficult for workers to keep predatory union bosses in check.”
Twenty-four states have Right to Work protections for employees. Public polling shows that nearly 80 percent of Americans and union members support the principle of voluntary unionism.
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Is this the same union, who is claiming to represent the
employee's??? and is now claiming to represent employees at Logan airport who have claimed they were fired for speaking their
native language ...why yes it is....Spoke to employees at the Logan companies
and the say union doesn’t have their support ...they say very few want union..so
if union claims it has employee support file for election with NLRB that is the next
step...why doesn’t 615 do it???..after doing some research, I have discovered
that there is no record of SEIU local 615 ever having an election.... where the
employees of these companies get to vote... just like the law says they have
the right to do....... local 615 simply goes out and pressures companies to
except them....then extorts the money from its employees.....it is called a
corporate campaign...totally illegal as this settlement proves.... but this
union is supported by all the big politicians..Warren, Patrick, Tierney all say
they’re for working people... none will touch the subject for fear that SEIU
will work against them and stop donating $....so no one does anything ...think
about it... the union has added 5 thousand members and not one voted to be
members FACT...they were forced...the leader ship at local 615 is Peter Ryder
VP, Rocio Saenz, President and Dan
Bass ...Look at our own Lynn city council ...they voted for a resolution in support
of this law breaking union ....the vote lead and supported by Peter Capano... even
though he knew they didn’t have the employees support ....he was told in
advance...but he would support a union any union even if it represented .....well
law breakers....if it has union in its name... he will support them....local
615 harassed, threatened and intimidate anyone who dare question
them......someone should investigate this union perhaps the District Attorney
or the Attorney General and Peter Capano should be held accountable for mis-leading
the Lynn people and our city council....again.