Employees at the Sherwin-Williams Packaging Coatings Group production facility in Birmingham, Alabama, voted to end the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers union’s exclusive bargaining powers over their workplace, according to a May 27 announcement. The effort was led by Jacob Miller, who filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board seeking a decertification election. Miller received free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation.
The National Labor Relations Board is responsible for enforcing federal labor law and administering elections regarding union representation. A majority-backed petition from workers at Sherwin-Williams prompted the NLRB to schedule a secret-ballot election among 83 full-time and regular part-time employees at the facility on Carson Road. Following an election held on May 6-7, where most workers voted against continued union representation, NLRB Region 10 certified the results on May 15, formally ending the Boilermakers’ status as exclusive representative.
Alabama is one of 26 states with Right to Work protections that make union membership and dues voluntary. However, even in such states, unions can maintain exclusive bargaining rights for all employees in a workplace regardless of individual support.
National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix said, “We congratulate Mr. Miller and his coworkers on exercising their legal right to terminate the presence of unwanted Boilermakers union bosses at their workplace.” Mix also said, “While the workers at Sherwin-Williams were able to have their election administered and certified in a prompt manner, many more American workers remain trapped in union rank-and-file by union bosses abusing NLRB policies that undermine employees’ legal right to vote out unwanted unions.”
Mix concluded, “We hope the Trump NLRB will take the needed measures to protect workers from the rampant abuses of Big Labor by overturning the agency’s biased policies that block or bar decertification elections.”
The National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation works to protect employees from compulsory unionism by offering free legal aid, engaging in litigation and public education; it advances workers’ freedom through strategic litigation on compulsory unionism issues; delivers free legal assistance and educational resources; and focuses on labor rights advocacy, according to its official website.
