The National Right to Work Committee was then active in Congress and state legislatures, pressing for elimination of compulsory unionism, but it was not structured to give legal aid to individuals. So by 1968, the time had come for an organization that could provide free legal aid to these victimized employees. Rather than working in the legislative arena, such an organization could fight through the court system, to protect employees from violations of their rights resulting from compulsory unionism. The time had come for the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. The Foundation's caseload is growing every day with new complaints of coercion and denial of individual rights by union officials.
Abuses arising from compulsory unionism take many forms.
Since 1968, the Foundation has received charitable contributions from more than 300,000 Americans dedicated to the protection of individual freedom. The Foundation's staff of expert, innovative attorneys has fought for the rights of more than 30,000 employees in more than 1,800 cases, all the way from arbitration hearings to the U.S. Supreme Court. Millions have felt the impact. Through a coordinated system of legal actions, the Foundation steadily is shaping the law to protect the basic constitutional rights of the nation's workers. Among the Foundation's victories are Communications Workers v. Beck , Abrams v. Communications Workers , Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson , Abood v. Detroit Board of Education , Ellis v. BRAC , and Lehnert v. Ferris Faculty Association .