Across Florida, drivers for beverage distributor Breakthru Beverage are supporting a petition that asks the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a vote to remove Teamsters union officials from several distribution facilities.
Breakthru driver Tim Zulinki submitted the petition to the NLRB with free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, according to the organization.
The NLRB is the federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law, a task that includes administering votes to install (or “certify”) and remove (or “decertify”) unions in workplaces. Zulinki obtained signatures on his decertification petition well exceeding the necessary threshold to trigger a secret ballot election, according to the organization. Breakthru employs drivers at distribution centers in Jacksonville, Midway, Pensacola, Orlando, Fort Myers and Tampa.
Florida is a Right to Work state, meaning Teamsters union officials cannot demand that Breakthru drivers pay union dues as a condition of getting or keeping a job. In states that lack Right to Work protections, union officials can have workers fired for refusal to pay dues or fees to a union, according to the organization. Though forced dues are prohibited in Florida and other Right to Work states, union officials can still impose their exclusive “representation” powers on every worker in a workplace, including those who oppose the union or voted against it.
Now, the NLRB will examine the petition and should schedule an election quickly. If Zulinki and a majority of those participating in the decertification election vote against the Teamsters, hundreds of Breakthru drivers across the Sunshine State will be free from Teamsters union officials’ exclusive representation power, according to the organization.
Breakthru Beverage Drivers Back Union Removal Effort
In June, Teamsters union bosses ordered Breakthru drivers on strike. The strike order ended at the close of October, according to the organization, as union officials announced that they and Breakthru management had finalized a new contract. Zulinki submitted his decertification petition just before the contract became effective – which is crucial timing considering the NLRB’s non-statutory “contract bar” policy normally blocks workers from filing decertification petitions for up to three years after a contract is approved. The contract bar appears nowhere in the text of federal labor law, but is the invention of union boss-friendly NLRB decisions.
Teamsters union officials have a track record of supporting agendas that are opposed by the workers they claim to represent, according to the organization. During the 2024 election cycle, the union’s upper echelon chose not to endorse Donald Trump because he would not commit to eliminating Right to Work and granting forced dues power to union bosses nationwide. Nearly 80% of American union members back Right to Work.
National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys have also seen a marked rise in requests from workers seeking legal assistance in Teamsters decertification cases, according to the organization.
“Sean O’Brien & Co.’s propaganda about the Teamsters union’s supposed ‘victory’ across Florida after the Breakthru strike is being contradicted by rank-and-file workers in real time,” said National Right to Work Foundation president Mark Mix in a news release. “Mr. Zulinki and his coworkers want freedom from the Teamsters hierarchy, which is increasingly proving to be radical and out-of-touch with what workers want.”
“While Florida provides important protections for independent-minded workers through its Right to Work law, ultimately no worker should be subject to union monopoly bargaining control they disagree with,” Mix added.
