Union bosses abuse workers who don't belong

Roddy Stinson:

Texas Republican Attorney General Greg Abbott is "AWOL," and his lack of aggressive enforcement of the state's right-to-work law is an open invitation for organized labor to harass and persecute workers.

Or at least that is the growing belief inside one of the nation's most active and respected conservative organizations, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.

Leaders of the Springfield, Va., foundation are furious about Abbott's refusal to get involved in the case of an El Paso worker, Juan Vielma, who has been out of work for a year because he refused to join and pay dues to the International Union of Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America.

The yearlong story of the 58-year-old security guard's integrity and bravery is remarkable and inspirational, but I have only enough space to provide these bare-bones details:

While Vielma was working as a security guard at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Processing Center in El Paso, his Minnesota-based employer suspended him without pay because he refused to join a union that had a contract with the company.

The employer and the union argued that the processing center was a federal enclave and therefore not protected by Texas' right-to-work law.

Vielma dug in his heels. "I work to get paid; I don't pay to work," he told anyone who would listen.

John Scully, a lawyer for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, did listen, and last fall he wrote Greg Abbott in an effort to get the Texas attorney general to come to Vielma's aid.

Abbott declined to do so. And an Abbott aide, without a hint of sympathy or admiration for Vielma, tersely told Scully: "You may wish to direct your concerns to the National Labor Relations Board."

...

To their credit, Scully et al. refused to leave Vielma twisting in the wind, and they helped him file charges with the National Labor Relations Board.

Meanwhile, Vielma remained unemployed and struggled to make ends meet — month after month after month.

Finally, last week, the gutsy Texan got some good news when an administrative law judge heard his case, ruled that the El Paso center was not a federal enclave and instructed the union to ask Vielma's employer to reinstate him and reimburse all of his lost earnings and benefits.

...

Abbott's lack of concern about this man's right to work should be a concern for all Texans. No doubt someone on his staff composed the letter refusing the help needed, but Abbott owes Texas an explanation. His statement to the media last week is inconsistent with his conduct in this case.

"The Office of the Attorney General is committed to strictly enforcing Texas' right-to-work laws and will take all necessary steps to aggressively pursue any allegations of wrongdoing."

Oh, really? So what steps were pursued on Mr. Vielma's allegations of wrongdoing. Apparently telling him to go the the NLRB is pretty aggressive.