Nurse at Ascension Genesys Hospital accuses Teamsters of further abuses – Michigan Capitol Confidential

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Complaint alleges union withheld dues without permission

An Ascension Genesys Hospital nurse has filed two more labor charges in federal court against the Teamsters union for allegedly deducting union dues from her pay without her permission.

Michigan Capitol Confidential reported on the original charges against Teamsters Local 332 on August 14.

Madrina Wells, a nurse at Grand Blanc Township Hospital, originally filed suit in federal labor court, claiming the Teamsters threatened to fire her if she did not approve the union deductions.

According to the latest charges, the Teamsters arbitrarily deducted union dues from Wells' salary.

The union deducted about $127 on August 9. This was the full union membership fee and not the reduced agency fee, Patrick Semmens, vice president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, told Michigan Capitol Confidential in an email.

He said any amount deducted from Wells without her permission violated her rights under federal law. Unions cannot deduct dues or fees from paychecks without the employee's consent.

“Once they are given the power to extort money from workers or face firing, union bosses inevitably overstep the boundaries of what is legal. They hope to take advantage of the fact that workers do not have time to learn the overly complicated rules that govern what payments can and cannot be demanded under federal law,” Semmens said.

The Teamsters did not respond to a request for comment.

National Right to Work told CapCon that the number of lawsuits it filed against unions on behalf of Michigan workers doubled in 2024 compared to 2023. The state's Right to Work law was repealed in 2023.