Fred Meyer employees file charges against UFCW over alleged illegal threats

Alyssa K. Hazelwood | Staff Attorney (2016-Present) | NRTWLD&EF, Inc

By Sky Industry News

Nov 7, 2024

Two employees from a Fred Meyer grocery store in the Portland area have lodged federal charges against the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 555. The allegations claim that union officials violated federal law by disregarding their requests to resign from union membership during a strike and retaliated by attempting to fine them for opting to work.

Coyesca Vasquez and Reegin Schaffer, the employees involved, filed these charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Region 19. They received legal assistance from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. The NLRB is tasked with enforcing the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which regulates private sector labor relations in the U.S.

According to the charges, both employees resigned from union membership on August 30, 2024, and returned to work. However, UFCW union officials informed Vasquez on September 24, 2024, and Schaffer on October 14, 2024, that internal proceedings were initiated against them. This move marks the first step towards imposing fines through a union "trial."

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Employees who are not voluntary members of a union cannot be legally subjected to internal disciplinary actions like those attempted by UFCW officials against Vasquez and Schaffer. Such tribunals often result in punitive fines amounting to thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.

Previously, UFCW officials have been caught unlawfully imposing significant strike fines on workers during strikes they instigated. In one instance in Denver, Colorado in 2022 at King Sooper’s grocery chain, workers faced fines exceeding their daily earnings for choosing to work during a strike. Legal action led by Foundation attorneys resulted in these unlawful fines being rescinded.

Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation stated: “UFCW union officials are again displaying their penchant for using strikes to consolidate power by threatening rank-and-file workers who exercise their Right to Work during a UFCW strike.” He emphasized that “Workers have a clear legal right to resign from union membership and return to work without facing illegal fines or disciplinary actions.”