By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


A Livingston County-based electrician’s claim that a union violated the National Labor Relations Act has been dismissed.

Charles Lanning filed the complaint in February against the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 58, alleging that it never told him he had the legal right to resign his union membership and then subsequently fined him $10,000. But in a letter issued April 27th by Terry Morgan, Regional Director for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Lanning’s complaint was dismissed due to insufficient evidence that the union “breached its duty of fair representation.”

Lanning’s complaint stated that when he left his electrician contracting job in 2018 to work for his wife's company, Homestead Enterprises of Howell, he inquired about his obligations to the union and was told that while he no longer needed to pay working dues, he was still obligated to pay quarterly dues. He alleged that was a false representation. He furthermore said that union representatives pressured his wife to sign an IBEW contract, but then two months later notified him of charges for violating union rules and fined him $10,000.

The National Right to Work Legal Foundation, which represented Lanning, asserted that was illegal. But in the dismissal, Morgan said the union had met its obligation of notifying Lanning through its annual newsletter he had the right to resign his membership and that once he raised the matter in January of this year, his request was “promptly” honored. The NLRB said their investigation also determined that the fines imposed against Lanning were in accordance with union rules.

The National Right to Work Legal Foundation immediately filed an appeal of the decision, but no further dates have been set.