Steelworkers Union hit with unfair labor practice charges by Viking Corporation employee

A Viking Corporation employee in Hastings, Michigan, has filed federal unfair labor charges. The employee says that the United Steelworkers unlawfully pressured workers to join and to authorize automatic deductions for union dues.

Kristen Dickinson, who works for the fire-sprinkler manufacturer, submitted the charges to the National Labor Relations Board with free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation attorneys.

The filings allege union officials told workers Viking was operating as a “closed shop,” meaning employees could be fired if they refused formal union membership.

Closed shops have been illegal nationwide since the U.S. Supreme Court’s General Motors v. NLRB ruling in 1963.

“We respect the rights of our employees and are following the collective bargaining unit with our union,” said Darby Napieralski, director of marketing and communications for the Viking Group, Inc., in an email to Michigan Capitol Confidential.

Even though state lawmakers repealed right-to-work as of February 2024, employees in the private sector do not have to join a union as a condition of employment, though they must still owe unions some money.

Employees who wish not to pay dues may instead pay agency fees. These are lower than union dues, as a union is supposed to omit any charges for its political activity.

Dickinson, the Viking employee, says union representatives ordered workers to sign forms authorizing dues checkoffs and warned they would lose their jobs if they did not comply, according to the right-to-work foundation.

Federal law forbids mandatory automatic deductions from an employee’s paycheck. Employees may consent to automatic deductions, but they also may pay through other means such as a check.

Mark Mix, president of the foundation, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email that Dickinson’s case illustrates the type of pressure workers face without right-to-work protections.

“Federal law already gives union officials enormous power over workers, even those who don’t want the union and never asked for it,” Mix said.

“Right-to-work simply gives workers the choice to withhold their hard-earned money from union officials who work against their interests,” he added.

With that accountability gone, Mix said, union officials have free rein to pursue their own agenda at the expense of workers.

“Cases like this are likely to pop up all over Michigan,” he said.

Union officials are “interested in gaining more power over us and our pocketbooks,” the foundation said, quoting Dickinson.

Dickinson said a union “shouldn’t feel the need to force everybody to join” or pressure workers into supporting its political activity.

The union circulated documents in August instructing employees to return checkoff cards by September to comply with “new contractual closed shop language,” according to Dickinson.

Dickinson contacted her Viking human resources department for clarification. A representative of the department said that employees who didn’t sign the cards “will not be allowed to work at Viking.”

The complaint lodged by the National Right to Work Foundation also accuses the union of violating workers’ rights by requiring employees to opt out of paying for political activity instead of opting in.

Supreme Court rulings, including Knox v. SEIU and CWA v. Beck, hold that workers cannot be forced to subsidize union political spending without affirmative consent.

The federal labor agency will determine whether to investigate the allegations further.

The United Steelworkers did not respond to an email seeking comment.