John Lehman and Ryan Hastings, employees at Spirit Aerosystems’ Wichita manufacturing plant, were well-known critics of their two IAM Local representatives – often finding themselves in the crosshairs of the union officials. When the two shared a video of a safety violation at the plant with colleagues, it ultimately ended up in the hands of their union rep who, rather than discussing this newfound knowledge of the safety hazard with management, chose to forward the video to Spirit’s leadership in an effort to get Lehman and Hastings fired. They succeeded Leman and Hastings filed an unfair labor practice charge against the union for misrepresentation and last month an NLRB judge ruled in their favor, ordering the union to:
Cease and desist from: Attempting to cause or causing Spirit Aerosystems to discharge employee-members because of their dissident union and/or other protected concerted activities. Threatening employee-members with bodily harm or impeding their grievances because of their protected concerted activities. Discriminatorily and/or arbitrarily processing employee-members’ grievances because of their protected concerted activities.
