Ascension Genesys Hospital nurse charges Teamsters with additional abuses

A nurse at Ascension Genesys Hospital has filed two more federal labor charges against the Teamsters union for allegedly deducting union dues from her paycheck without her permission.

Michigan Capitol Confidential reported the original charges against the Teamsters Local 332 Aug. 14.

Madrina Wells, a nurse at the Grand Blanc Township hospital, originally filed federal labor charges claiming the Teamsters threatened to get her fired if she did not authorize union deductions.

The latest charges allege the Teamsters deducted union dues from Wells’ paycheck without permission.

The union deducted around $127 Aug. 9, which are full union membership dues, not the reduced agency fee, Patrick Semmens, vice president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email.

He said any amount deducted from Wells without her permission would violate her rights under federal law. Unions cannot deduct dues or fees from a paycheck without the worker’s consent.

“As soon as they are granted the coercive power to extort workers to pay them money or else be fired, union bosses inevitably go beyond what is legal, hoping to exploit the fact that workers don’t have the time to educate themselves about the overly complicated rules for what payments can or cannot be required under federal law,” said Semmens.

The Teamsters did not respond to a request for comment.

National Right to Work told CapCon that the number of cases it has filed for Michigan employees against unions has doubled in 2024 compared to 2023. The state’s right-to-work law was repealed in 2023.