DC Security Guard Files Charges Against Union and Employer for Illegal Termination

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Jul 11, 2023

On July 10, 2023,  MTAC Inc. Security Guard Benson Sebuabe  filed federal unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as a response to his illegal termination from MTAC. Union officials allegedly requested that Benson be fired. 

The charge filed against MTAC is the latest in an current legal battle against illegal retaliation by union officials part of  the “Union Rights for Security Officers” (URSO) union as a  response to Benson’s effort to get rid of compulsory union dues at his workplace. After union officials formally pressed for Sebuabe to be fired following the circulation of a deauthorization petition, Sebuabe filed an unfair labor practice charge for the union’s illegal retaliatory action.

Foundation staff attorneys provided free legal representation to Sebuabe for his deauthorization petition and his charges against the URSO union and MTAC for taking retaliatory action against him for asserting his federal right to file a petition for a deauthorization vote.

On June 5, 2023, Sebuabe filed a deauthorization petition that counted on more than enough signatures of his fellow employees to activate an employee vote. In the petition, MTAC employees attempted to get rid of union officials’ power to fire workers for refusing to pay union dues or fees.

Without a deauthorization vote, URSO union bosses can make union fee payments a condition of employment due to how workers in Washington, D.C. are not protected by Right to Work laws. Under Right to Work laws, which are currently on the books in 27 states, ban compulsory union fee mandates. That said, even in forced dues jurisdictions like Washington, D.C., union bosses must comply with certain requirements to confiscate compulsory fees from employees who object. With respect to Sebuabe, URSO officials have failed to meet these requirements.

After Sebuabe started to pick up employee support to get rid of union officials’ power to make union fee payments mandatory, Sebuabe started receiving threats stating he would lose his employment. As a result of multiple instances of threats, Sebuabe and his legal counsel at the Foundation sent a cease-and-desist letter calling for an end to the illegal harassment and retaliation threats against the security guard for asserting his rights afforded to him under federal law.

Instead of halting their illegal behavior, URSO union bosses dialed up their threats and formally pushed for Sebuabe to be fired. Sebuabe and his legal counsel at the Foundation responded by filing an unfair labor practice charge against the union for unlawfully attempting to fire Sebuabe for asserting his right to file a petition for a deauthorization election.

“URSO retaliated against Benson Sebuabe, an employee of MTAC, Inc., demanding his immediate termination for organizing and filing a UD petition (filed June 5, 2023 and refiled on June 9, 2023) with the NLRB, in violation of his Section 7 rights. As such URSO committed an unfair labor practice under 8(b)(1) and 8(b)(2),” the original charge stated.

Sebuabe’s employer officially fired him on June 28, just three weeks following the filing of the deauthorization petition. As a response, Foundation staff attorneys filed an unfair labor practice charge against Sebuabe’s employer.

“In their growing greed for forced dues, URSO union bosses have unleashed retaliatory action against a worker simply for attempting to exercise his clear statutory rights under the National Labor Relations Act,” declared Mark Mix, President of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. “The right to petition for and hold a deauthorization election to end union officials’ pay-up-or-be-fired threats is as clear as day in federal law, and Mr. Sebuabe cannot be terminated for choosing to exercise that right.”

“Ultimately, this case shows why every worker in America deserves the protection of a Right to Work law to make all payments strictly voluntary,” added Mix. “Workers should not have to navigate the complex deauthorization process and accompanying union pressure and retaliation tactics just to cut off dues to a union they oppose.”

The more leftist institutions like unions get punished, the better off we’ll be. In politics, if your enemies aren’t getting punished, or at least, your allies don’t make gains, you may as well become irrelevant. 

That’s the nature of the political beast. When it comes to defeating the Left, diminishing the power of labor unions is off the essence.

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