Freedom from Union Violence Act Introduced in Congress

Bill would close federal loophole permitting union officials to commit acts of extortionate violence without risk of prosecution

FOR RELEASE: March 14, 2005

Washington, DC – Representative Joe Wilson (R-SC) and Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) have introduced legislation in the 109th Congress to close the loophole in the Hobbs Anti-Extortion Act that prevents prosecution of union officials who use unlawful union violence to keep their stranglehold on American workers.

The Freedom from Union Violence Act (H.R.239/S.618) would end the federal legal immunity that union bosses currently enjoy for the extortionate violence they orchestrate during strikes.

Union officials have argued that acts of violence committed by union members during labor disputes are Constitutionally-protected “free speech,” and current federal law actually upholds their position.

Union officials are exempted from federal extortion laws under a legal loophole created by the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court Enmons decision.

Because of this decision, union officials get a free pass to orchestrate threats, harassment and even assault, arson and murder -- as long as it is done in the name of so-called “legitimate union objectives.”

According to an ongoing study by the National Institute for Labor Relations Research (NILRR), since 1975, union thugs have been responsible for nearly ten thousand acts of violence reported in the media.

But since the vast majority of union-related violence is never reported in the press, NILRR estimates the total number of violent acts -- including property destruction, battery and attempted murder -- filed in company records and/or reported to the police is approaching 100,000.

Past instances of union violence have included the 1994 beating of Glenn Dale Yeatts, a non-union truck driver who crossed Teamster picket lines and was permanently disabled when striking union members ambushed his truck and pelted him with concrete blocks and steel pipes, causing irreversible brain damage and hearing loss.

During another strike at an asbestos removal company in Brooklyn, New York, a Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) official allegedly threatened the lives of non-union workers and their families. According to media reports, union members were later accused of using explosive devices to bomb a non-union worker’s home.

And during the 1997 Teamsters UPS strike, driver Rod Carter was dragged from his truck at a red traffic light and stabbed multiple times with an ice pick by striking union members. Union militants beat him, kicked him, and repeatedly yelled racial slurs at him until the traffic light turned green, forcing them to flee.

Public opinion surveys show that over 90% of Americans support holding union officials legally accountable for violence they commit or incite during labor disputes.

The 2.2-million member National Right to Work Committee® plans to work at the grassroots level to build Congressional support for the Freedom from Union Violence Act.

Said Committee Vice President Doug Stafford, “The only way for America to stop the plague of union violence is for Congress to act to allow the investigation and prosecution of the individuals who stage these attacks -- the Big Labor bosses themselves.”

“The way Congress can make this happen is by passing H.R.239/S.618, the Freedom from Union Violence Act.”

For more information about the Freedom from Union Violence Act, please contact Linda Staulcup at (800) 325-7892.