UFCW Local 99 Dismisses ‘Baseless and Futile’ Claims Backed by Extremist Anti-Union Group

PHOENIX--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UFCW Local 99 has dismissed the latest tactic by an extremist anti-union group as a “baseless and futile attempt to harass us as we serve our members in Arizona.”

“When these individuals signed their authorizations, they agreed to follow the rules”

National Right to Work, a corporate-funded organization founded in 1955 to attack and undermine unions across the country, announced that it has helped five supermarket employees file complaints with the National Labor Relations Board. The complaints allege that UFCW Local 99 improperly refuses to let them revoke their authorization for automatic payment of their union dues out of their paychecks.

UFCW Local 99 President Jim McLaughlin noted “strong legal precedents” that invalidate the complaints.

“When these individuals signed their authorizations, they agreed to follow the rules,” President McLaughlin said. “Their requests did not follow the rules. Therefore, we are confident the NLRB will reject their complaints.”

He added: “National Right to Work is making a blatant ploy to drive a wedge between supermarket workers and their union. This tactic will fail, just as all of the other anti-union tactics have failed.

“Our unity enabled us recently to negotiate a strong contract with three major supermarket chains in Arizona,” President McLaughlin continued. “That should put an end to any doubts that unions are good for working people.”

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99 is the largest private-sector union in Arizona. It represents workers in retail food and drug stores, food-processing plants, health care facilities, legal offices, dentist offices, waste-management firms, museums, parking lots and other businesses and institutions throughout Arizona.