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An Evansville electrical workers’ union was forced to drop a $1.29 million fine against one of its former members following a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board for violating federal workers’ rights
Brian Head, a local electrician, filed a complaint against the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 16 union earlier this month after its union officials threatened him with a million-dollar-plus internal disciplinary fine after he resigned the union and bought a non-union electrical firm.
Head argued the fine was retaliation and a violation of the National Labor Relations Act because he no longer was a member of the union.
Ryan McRoberts, business manager for IBEW Local 16, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The fine was the largest that Glenn Taubman, a staff attorney for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which represented Head, said that he had ever seen in his over 40 years working for the foundation.
“It gets your attention,” Taubman said.
According to a Tuesday press release from the foundation, Head had submitted a notarized letter on March 27 resigning his IBEW union membership. A few days later, IBEW filed internal union charges against Head, and at the beginning of April, Head received a reply letter from the union, claiming that there was a “six-month process before the resignation is finally effective.”
Not long after submitting his resignation, Head announced that he was purchasing a non-union electrical firm. According to the foundation, IBEW then sent Head a Letter of Assent, which would have put Head’s business into a contract with the union.
Head refused to sign the letter.
On June 9, Head received a notice from IBEW Local 16 union officials, stating that they found him guilty of violating the union’s constitution and imposed a $1.29 million disciplinary fine on him.
Head filed a complaint against the union in June, alleging that it had restrained and coerced him and other employees in the exercise of their rights provided under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act, which forbids unions from restricting workers from resigning their memberships.
“We sort of caught them red-handed,” Taubman said. “They can’t discipline somebody who’s no longer a union member.”
The National Labor Relations Board, which is the federal agency responsible for enforcing the act, reviewed Head’s charges and made a merit determination in his favor.
According to the release, the IBEW chose to settle with Head and the foundation, dropping their million-dollar penalty.
In addition to dropping the fine, the union also is to notify other workers of their right to resign their union membership without restriction. The union is also required to post the settlement on its website.
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