Security guards deauthorize union; payments now optional

Security guards employed by Triple Canopy, Inc. at roughly 20 sites in Michigan will no longer be required to pay a union, United Security Guards of America, as a condition of being employed.

Michigan resident James Reamsma, who led the effort to launch a deauthorization vote, also filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the union. Reamsma and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which gave him legal aid, await the outcome of that complaint.

Reamsma, who works out of the Grand Rapids area, launched the successful deauthorization effort earlier this year. The National Labor Relations Board, which oversees union elections, scheduled the vote for May. It did not announce the results until September.

The vote removes the union security clause from the contract between the union and Triple Canopy, which provides security at various federal installations. Guards at Triple Canopy’s locations in Michigan now can choose not to pay the union, but the union retains exclusive bargaining rights over the guards.

Federal labor officials waited too long to release the vote tally, Reamsma told Michigan Capitol Confidential. “It’s frustrating that the NLRB takes so long to process our election to free ourselves from having to pay dues to a union,” he said in a quote provided by the right-to-work organization.

“Many of us are retired police officers, or military, working part time, supplementing our income by providing security for government buildings across Michigan.”

Reamsma also filed unfair labor practice charges against the union in May, alleging it failed to comply with federal rules about disclosing its political spending. He was obligated to pay either dues or an agency fee, and he told the union he wanted to pay an agency fee. An agency fee does not fund political activities. Dues can fund political activities.

The union told Reamsma that the fee and the dues were the same amount, according to the right-to-work organization. The union “failed to provide the financial disclosures for itself and its affiliated unions, and a chance to object to its alleged reduced fee,” Reamsma said in a press release from the organization.

Reamsma also wanted to pay by check rather than through withholding, the organization said. Withholding allegedly continued, however, in violation of federal labor law.

CapCon could not contact the union for comment.