Staff report
Attorneys from the Virginia-based National Right to Work Foundation have persuaded federal labor board officials to look into claims by non-union Daimler Trucks workers who say they were denied employment certification and corresponding pay increases.
The case focuses on High Point-based Thomas Built Buses, which like Freightliner is a Daimler Trucks subsidiary.
United Auto Workers Local 5287 is the bargaining agent of employees at Thomas Built and Freightliner. Attorneys at the National Right to Work Foundation helped Terry Bean file the unfair labor practice charges against Thomas Built and UAW officials with the National Labor Relations Board in Winston-Salem.
Jamie Whitley filed similar charges against UAW Local 3520 and Cleveland-based Freightliner plant officials.
The NLRB Regional Director’s investigation determined that the employees’ rights were violated in a filing dated Sept. 4.
North Carolina is considered a “right to work” state, so UAW officials and companies may not condition employment on the payment of any dues or fees to a union. Nonmembers like Bean and Whitley must accept union representation whether they want it or not, according to the foundation’s release.
The charge is Bean and Whitley were denied “journeyman” certification and a corresponding pay increase. A foundation official said Friday that other employees would be in similar situations like the two named in the complaint.
The foundation said a Freightliner human resources manager told nonmember employees that they could only obtain journeyman certification and the corresponding pay increases by completing additional training requirements that do not apply to UAW members.
The federal government is seeking back pay and other monetary awards with interest. A hearing is scheduled in Winston-Salem on Oct. 27.
Efforts to reach Freightliner officials for comment late Friday were unsuccessful.