DC Employee Says Union Official Assaulted Him for Opposing Labor Leadership

‘The union should not be run as the personal fiefdom of union bosses who do everything they can to insulate themselves from accountability’

Patrick Hauf • June 7, 2022 4:59 am

A D.C. public transportation worker says union officials threatened and assaulted him after he criticized the labor group’s leadership.

Thomas McLamb, a driver for the city’s transportation services, alleges Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 official Tiyaka Boone assaulted him at work just days after the union’s president told his team to “slap” employees who opposed his agenda, according to filings with the National Labor Relations Board. At the time of the November assault, McLamb was campaigning for union office in opposition to its leadership. The driver claims labor officials retaliated against him for simply expressing ideas on how the union could improve.

“The union should not be run as the personal fiefdom of union bosses who do everything they can to insulate themselves from accountability, yet that’s how ATU officials have treated it, complete with threats and violence against me for calling out union officials’ shortcomings,” McLamb told the Free Beacon.

The nation’s top labor arbiter will hear the case against ATU as the Biden administration pushes for legislation that would provide the most significant boost for labor unions in decades. The House last year passed the PRO Act, which would limit employment for independent contractors and put an end to “right to work” laws in 27 states that ban union membership as a term of employment. The Senate has yet to vote on the bill.

The ATU has more than 200,000 members in North America and has spent millions on U.S. elections in recent years, nearly all of which has gone to Democratic candidates.

McLamb’s employer, Transdev, placed the driver on unpaid leave at the union’s request, but the company reinstated him following a separate legal settlement. McLamb is still required to pay union dues, however, because he’s based in nearby Maryland, which is not a right-to-work state.

Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, which represents McLamb, said there is no legitimate reason for McLamb to be forced to pay dues to a union that has targeted him.

“No American employee should have to go to work thinking that they could be fired, mugged, or slandered merely for exercising their right to oppose union officials,” Mix said.

ATU Local 689 did not respond to a request for comment.