Lyons Township High Food Crew Removes Union: Group

LA GRANGE, IL – Foodservice workers at Lyons Township High School's two campuses removed their union before an election would have taken place, a nonprofit group said Wednesday.

The National Right to Work Foundation, which says it fights against "coercive" union power, issued a statement announcing the change.

The employees work for a private company, Quest Food Management Services, which the high school hired last year as its cafeteria vendor.

They have been represented by the Service Employees International Union Local 73, which could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.

Quest employee Lisa Latelle filed a petition backed by the majority of her coworkers with the National Labor Relations Board, seeking a union decertification vote, the foundation said.

The election would have been scheduled for late January, but the union pulled out before that, likely fearing a lopsided vote against it, the foundation said.

"SEIU union officials did not represent our interests in the workplace, yet money was constantly coming out of our paychecks to support their activities," Latelle said in the statement. "The vast majority of my coworkers had had enough of that, and we're glad we could band together to free ourselves of the SEIU's control."

Latelle headed the union removal effort with free legal help from the foundation, according to the statement.

"Right-to-work" advocates oppose mandating employees to join or pay dues to unions.

"It is wrong to force any worker under union bosses' so-called 'representation' against their will," Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, said in the statement. "Yet in Illinois, workers are not only forced under union monopolies, but can be required to fund union activities or else be fired."