School Bus Driver Files Federal Charges Against AFSCME Union Officials for Discriminating against Nonunion Employees

Union bosses’ scheme took money out of the pockets of workers who bravely asserted their rights

Indianapolis, IN (February 1, 2010) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation, an Indianapolis bus driver has filed federal unfair labor practice charges challenging American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 3826 union officials’ discriminatory workplace practices.

Barry Hickman is a bus driver employed by First Student in Indianapolis, Indiana. As an employee in a unionized workplace, he is forced to accept union monopoly bargaining and pay certain union dues to Local 3826. Hickman was also involved in a prolonged legal battle to opt out of paying dues for union political activism, which was finally resolved in 2009 when AFSCME officials acknowledged his right not to fund their political activities.

However, Hickman and similarly situated employees have been targeted for workplace discrimination by union officials. AFSCME bosses are retaliating against Hickman and his coworkers because they previously filed unfair labor practice charges against the union with the assistance of National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys.

At issue in these new charges is a scheme to manipulate First Student’s extra trip list to artificially limit the earnings of Hickman and other employees who object to the union’s activities. The trip list assigns First Student drivers additional compensation for driving trips beyond scheduled routes. Union officials manipulated the list to limit nonunion drivers’ access to extra trips. When Hickman asked to review the extra trip list, union officials told him to get a lawyer.

Hickman’s charges allege that these practices violate the National Labor Relations Act and the union’s duty of representation, which grants union officials the power to ‘represent’ all workers in a bargaining unit, regardless of their union membership status. The charges will now be investigated by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

“AFSCME union bosses are always eager to keep independent-minded workers in line and paying forced dues, and this discriminatory policy is just one more ugly example of how employees who bravely stand up to union intimidation are treated,” said Patrick Semmens, legal information director of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Mr. Hickman shouldn’t have to ‘get a lawyer’ to ensure he’s treated fairly on the job, but union bosses forced his hand.”

“Ultimately, passing a Right to Work law in Indiana would go a long way towards curbing this type of ugly retaliation by union bosses against the employees they claim to represent,” Semmens continued.