Estes Park Safeway employee Abraham Ireland filed federal charges on April 20 against United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7, alleging that union officials imposed illegal disciplinary actions and fines totaling nearly $8,000 after he declined to participate in a June 2025 strike. Ireland submitted his unfair labor practice complaint to the National Labor Relations Board with assistance from attorneys at the National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation.
The case highlights ongoing disputes over workers’ rights to resign from unions and avoid internal discipline for opting out of strikes. The issue is particularly significant in Colorado, which does not have Right to Work protections; this means unions can require all employees at a workplace to pay dues as a condition of employment. However, federal law prohibits unions from disciplining workers who have resigned their membership or forcing nonmembers to pay for expenses unrelated to collective bargaining.
According to Ireland’s complaint, he notified the union on June 15, 2025 that he was resigning his membership immediately and would exercise his right under the Supreme Court’s Beck decision to pay only reduced fees as a nonmember. Despite this notice, “on January 9, 2026, the Union refused to honor [Ireland’s] right to resign from union membership by informing him that it was processing internal union charges against him, for…crossing the picket line.” In March, Ireland said he received notification of a $7,912.45 fine issued by the union despite his resignation.
Ireland also alleges that UFCW officials did not provide required financial disclosures explaining how they calculated reduced fees for nonmembers—a further violation of legal requirements set forth in Beck.
Foundation-backed grocery workers in Colorado and other states have recently won several legal victories challenging similar fines imposed by UFCW locals during strikes. As reported in Oregon and Centennial, Colorado cases cited by Foundation attorneys—where employees avoided illegal fines after intervention—such challenges are part of broader efforts supported by organizations focused on protecting employees’ rights according to the official website.
“UFCW union officials are assembling an ugly track record of violating the free choice rights of grocery workers,” said National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “Luckily, Foundation attorneys have scored multiple legal victories for grocery workers…who have been subjected to UFCW union officials’ illegal schemes.” Mix added: “We encourage those who experienced coercion during the UFCW’s most recent wave of strikes to reach out…with free Foundation legal aid.”
