Transfers at heart of suits, complaints
| The Journal Gazette
November 27, 2015 1:03 AM
In February, seven truck drivers were working for Speedway Redi Mix and members of
Teamsters Union Local 414.
In March, those same seven truck drivers went to work for a sister company,
Speedway Construction Products, which had a labor contract with the
International Association of Machinists Local 2569.
The drivers had better pay and benefits in the sister company and paid their dues to the
Machinists’ union, withdrawing from the Teamsters, according to court documents.
It was a move that appeared to anger the Teamsters, which reacted by filing complaints
with the National Labor Relations Board, timed in such as a way as it damaged a
contract Speedway Redi Mix had with General Motors Co. for construction at the plant.
Now there are a pair of lawsuits, to go alongside the federal labor complaints, filed by
the seven truck drivers against both unions, albeit with different allegations of
wrongdoing.
This month, attorneys representing the truck drivers sued the Teamsters Union
Local 414 in Allen Superior Court, alleging violation of the state’s right-to-work law,
wage payment issues, criminal conversion and tortious interference.
No one is required to be a member of a union under federal law, said
Kenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, the Willard and Margaret Carr professor of labor
and employment law at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law.
But unions can represent workers in a specific bargaining unit whether they are
members or not, and for years those workers paid security fees to cover work
the unions did on their behalf.
Until right-to-work laws passed, that is, Dau-Schmidt said.
The drivers allege in their lawsuit against the Teamsters that the actions of the
union effectively violated their state right-to-work rights, forcing them back to
Speedway Redi Mix and into the Teamsters union.
Indianapolis labor lawyer Geoff Lohman represents the Teamsters in both the
lawsuit and in the complaints the union filed against the Speedway companies
with the National Labor Relations Board.
Lohman said the Teamsters contended Speedway Redi Mix violated the
National Labor Relations Act when it transferred the employees and into a
different union. A lot of the work performed by the Teamsters in Speedway Redi Mix
went into the sister company, as well, Lohman said.
Speedway did not admit any wrongdoing in the federal labor complaints but settled
the issue.
With the settlement came an agreement to transfer the drivers back to
Speedway Redi Mix and the Teamsters.
As part of that settlement, the company paid money into the Teamsters’
401(k) savings plan, as well as interest and union dues, money that had
not been paid while the men were members of
the International Association of Machinists.
This week, the truck drivers sued the International Association of Machinists,
Local 2569 and Speedway Construction Products in federal court,
alleging the company terminated them without cause when the Teamsters
applied pressure. The drivers were transferred back to
Speedway Redi Mix where their pay and benefits were lower than they had been
at the sister company.
Dau-Schmidt said the lawsuit against Speedway Redi Mix and the Teamsters will
probably turn on whether the members have really resigned their membership
in the Teamsters and revoked the collection of union dues and contributions
from their paychecks.
If the workers had not done so, the Teamsters will have to return the money, he said.
In the lawsuit against the Machinist union and Speedway Construction Products,
the issue is whether the employer owed the members any contractual obligation to
retain their work in Speedway Construction Products rather than
Speedway Redi Mix, Dau-Schmidt said.
It must also be decided whether the Machinists union treated the workers arbitrarily
or discriminatingly, Dau-Schmidt said.
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