(The Center Square) – Penske Truck Rental workers in both Tennessee and Minnesota filed petitions to have the International Association of Machinists union removed from power at locations in Nashville and Minneapolis.
David Saylor filed the Nashville petition and Kyle Fulkerson filed the Minneapolis petition with free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
Both petitions had the signatures of more than the 30% threshold of workers to hold a decertification vote under National Labor Relations Board rules.
The Minnesota petition is aimed to block the continued requirement that all workers pay union dues or fees to work at Penske because Minnesota lacks the right to work law that Tennessee has in place.
“Transportation and trucking employees across the country are realizing that monopoly union control is frequently harmful,” National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix said in a statement. “While workers’ right to vote out union bosses they oppose is vital in every state, it’s especially important in forced-dues states like Minnesota, where union bosses can force workers to pay for ‘representation’ they don’t agree with. It’s outrageous this current Administration is intent on paring back this right just to give union officials more tools to expand their coffers and their coercive influence over workers.”
Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have recently assisted drivers and warehouse workers in Southern California as Teamsters union officials were removed from Dependable Highway Express after the union threatened a worker for revealing info on union boss salaries.
In January, the group helped Keurig Dr. Pepper distribution workers from three locations in Wisconsin remove Teamsters local.