National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation or NRTWLDF (legally registered as the National Right to Work Legal Defense & Education Foundation Inc.) is an non-profit 501(c)3 organization that launches legal actions against labor organizations. Its mission is to "eliminate coercive union power and compulsory unionism abuses through strategic litigation, public information, and education programs."

The Foundation works together with the National Right to Work Committee, which lobbies for anti-union legislation. The NRTWLDF was founded in 1968. They say: "The National Right to Work Committee was then active in Congress and state legislatures...but it was not structured to give legal aid. So by 1968, the time had come...rather than working in the legislative arena, such an organization could fight through the court system."

Ties to the Bradley Foundation

Through 2016, NRTWLDF has received $1,161,500 from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.

Bradley detailed the most recent grants in internal documents examined by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD). Below is a description of the grants prepared by CMD. The quoted text was written by Bradley staff.

2015: $100,000 to support general operations of this anti union organization, a primary backer of anti-union legislation at the state and federal level which defunds unions, to help weaken the left. This grant is to support this organization’s “pursuit of vindicating and expanding employee rights in the face of Big Labor’s infringements on them.”

2014: $75,000 to support general operations. NRTWLDF won a “resounding victory” in Washington state Davenport v. Washington Education Association and also won case in the Supreme Court in 2012, Knox v SEIU. “Bradley has always expressed a particular interest in combating coercive union power as exercised through the anti democratic ‘card check’ process… NRTWLDF’s litigation and other activities emphasize the same interest… With the help of attorneys from NRTWLDF and the Bradley supported Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, three Wisconsin civil servants asked the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals last year to uphold Gov. Scott Walker’s public sector union reform measures in Act 10… It is also fighting union only project labor agreements and ‘labor peace’ ordinances.”

2013: $75,000 to support general operations. “Its 17 in house attorneys are currently litigating almost 200 cases and administrative actions in all 50 states.” NRTWLDF “is trying to stop the threat of forced unionism in new employment sectors. New union targets include doctors, nurses, home care workers, graduate students, airport screeners, temp workers, charter school teachers and independent contractors.”

Bradley Files

In 2017, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), publishers of SourceWatch, launched a series of articles on the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, exposing the inner-workings of one of America's largest right-wing foundations. 56,000 previously undisclosed documents laid bare the Bradley Foundation's highly politicized agenda. CMD detailed Bradley's efforts to map and measure right wing infrastructure nationwide, including by dismantling and defunding unions to impact state elections; bankrolling discredited spin doctor Richard Berman and his many front groups; and more. Find the series here at ExposedbyCMD.org.

Ties to the Koch Brothers

Mark Mix, the Foundation's president, attended the June 2010 Koch Strategy Group Meeting. He spoke on a panel entitled "Mobilizing Citizens for November" along with Koch operative Sean Noble, Karl Crow of Themis, and Tim Phillips of Americans for Prosperity.

According to Jane Mayer in her book Dark Money,

Fred Koch "was an early and active member of the Wichita-based DeMille Foundation for Political Freedom, an anti-labor group that was a forerunner of the National Right to Work Defense Foundation. In a revealing private letter, one of its staff members explained the group's "Astroturf" strategy. In reality, he said, big-business industrialists would run the group, serving as its "anonymous quarterbacks," and "call the turns." But he said they needed to sell the "yarn" that the group was "composed of housewives, farmers, small businessmen, professional people, wage earners-not big business industrialists." Otherwise, he admitted, the movement was "almost certainly doomed to failure.""

Koch Wiki

Charles Koch is the right-wing billionaire owner of Koch Industries. As one of the richest people in the world, he is a key funder of the right-wing infrastructure, including the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and the State Policy Network (SPN). In SourceWatch, key articles on Charles Koch and his late brother David include: Koch Brothers, Americans for Prosperity, Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, Stand Together, Koch Family Foundations, Koch Universities, and I360.

Notable Supreme Court Cases

• Abood v. Detroit Board of Education (1977)
• Ellis v. Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks, et al. (1984)
• Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson (1986)
• Communications Workers of America v. Beck (1988)
• Lehnert v. Ferris Faculty Association (1991)
• Air Line Pilots Association v. Miller (1998)
• Marquez v. Screen Actors Guild (1998)
• Davenport v. Washington Education Association (2007)
• Knox v. Service Employees International Union (2012)
• Harris v. Quinn (2014): the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in January 2014. Lawyers from the NRTWLDF argued that unionized home-care workers in Illinois, who are paid with state Medicaid money, should not be required to pay union dues. They asked the Court to overturn its decision in Abood, which allowed unions to collect compulsory dues that support non-political activities. Joel Rogers writes in The Nation that Harris is "arguably the most important labor law case the Court has considered in decades...NRTWC success here would be a disaster for labor, particularly for the public sector unions that traditionally rely more heavily on agency shop agreements."
• Janus v. AFSCME (2018)

Other Cases

As of February 2014, the Foundation's 11 staff attorneys and network of hundreds of local attorneys nationwide were involved in nearly 300 legal actions nationwide in courts and administrative agencies, including the National Labor Relations Board.

In March 2014, Foundation attorneys sued Volkswagen and the United Auto Workers in federal court in Chattanooga, Tennessee, alleging that VW violated the Labor Management Relations Act by providing "things of value" to UAW before an unsuccessful unionization vote. The UAW challenged the results of the election with the NLRB, requesting a new election, and the Foundation is seeking an injunction to prevent VW from holding mandatory employee meetings about the election if there is another vote.

Funding

NRTWLDF is not required to disclose its funders. Its major foundation funders, however, can be found through a search of the IRS filings. Here are some of the known funders:

• DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund: $765,300 (2010-2016)
• Galbraith Foundation: $750,000 (2012)
• Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation: $1,161,500 (2003-2016)

Core Financials

2016

• Total Revenue: $5,093,633
• Total Expenses: $6,013,795
• Net Assets: $19,080,578

Grants Distributed

• The Center on National Labor Policy: $25,000 for "litigation support"
• Foundation for Applied Conservative Leadership: $30,000 for "general support"
• National Institute for Labor Relations Research: $75,000 for "general support"

2015

• Total Revenue: $5,271,794
• Total Expenses: $6,299,710
• Net Assets: $19,197,860

Grants Distributed

• National Institute for Labor Relations Research: $75,000 for "general support"
• Illinois Policy Institute: $70,000 for "general support"
• The Center on National Labor Policy: $45,000 for "general support and litigation support"
• Foundation for Applied Conservative Leadership: $15,000 for "general support"

2014

• Total Revenue: $7,673,646
• Total Expenses: $6,186,508
• Net Assets: $20,446,032

Grants Distributed

• National Institute for Labor Relations Research: $75,000 for "general support"
• The Center on National Labor Policy: $34,500 for "general support and litigation support"
• The Citadel Foundation: $10,000 for "general support"
• Campaign for Liberty Foundation: $10,000 for "general support"

2013

• Total Revenue: $9,625,602
• Total Expenses: $7,359,003
• Net Assets: $19,053,684

Grants Distributed

• National Institute for Labor Relations Research: $75,000 for "general support"
• Employment Policies Institute: $50,000 for "general support"
• Foundation for Michigan Freedom: $250,000 for "general support"
• National Foundation for Gun Right: $8,000 for "general support"
• Frederick Douglas Society: $10,000 for "support of educational conference presentation"

2012

• Total Revenue: $8,544,587
• Total Expenses: $6,181,650
• Net Assets: $15,574,359

Grants Distributed

• National Institute for Labor Relations Research: $75,000 for "general support"
• Great Lakes Education Foundation: $250,000 for "general support"

1991-2005

The Foundation received 85 grants totaling $4.54 million from conservative foundations between 1991 and 2005, including the Castle Rock Foundation, John M. Olin Foundation, Inc., and the Walton Family Foundation, according to Media Transparency.

Personnel

As of July 2017:

Leadership Team

• Mark Mix, Trustee and President
• Raymond J. Lajeunesse, Vice President, Treasurer, Legal Director
• B. Cameron, Attorney
• G. Taubman, Attorney
• M. Chappelll, Attorney
• R. Clair, Corporate Counsel
• J. Raudabaugh, Attorney

View the complete list of Foundation litigators here.

Board of Trustees

• Mark Mix, Trustee and President
• Dr. Frederick C. Fowler, III, Chairman of the Board of Trustees
• Duncan Scott, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees
• Reed Larson, Trustee
• Steve Antosh, Trustee
• Patty Buffett, Trustee
• Sandra Crandall, Trustee
• Eva Lynne Disbro, Trustee
• William Duross, III, Trustee
• Brent Reynolds, Trustee
• Joseph B. Meehan, Trustee
• Mark McGrane, Trustee
• Charles Serio, Trustee
• Victor Senese, Trustee
• Kirk Shelley, Trustee

Former Trustees:

• G. Steve Allen
• Ethelmae Humphreys, Trustee
• Jon Sween, Trustee

Contact Information

National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
8001 Braddock Road
Springfield, Virginia 22160
Phone: (703) 321-8510 and (800) 336-3600
Fax: (703) 321-9613
Website: http://www.nrtw.org
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RightToWork<ref> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NationalRightToWork/

Articles & Resources

IRS Form 990 Filings

2016

2015

2014

2013