{"id":1779,"date":"2007-12-31T19:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T04:00:00","slug":"decertification-election-1","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.nrtw.org\/es\/decertification-election-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Decertification Election"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHAT IS A DECERTIFICATION ELECTION?<\/b> You (or someone you know) may be employed in a workplace where a union has the right to \u00abrepresent,\u00bb and collectively bargain for, all employees. This is frequently referred to as \u00abexclusive representation,\u00bb but it is really the government-granted monopoly bargaining privilege that gives union officials the power to make contracts that workers may not like while barring employees from negotiating their own terms of employment. Except in Right to Work states<\/a>, these contracts almost always include a provision which mandates that employees be fired for not paying dues to a union they do not wish to support. <\/p>\n

Though it is generally an uphill battle, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)<\/i> allows employees to call for a special election to get rid of the union as their \u00abexclusive representative.\u00bb This is called a Decertification Election, because employees revoke the union’s \u00abcertification\u00bb to be the \u00abexclusive bargaining representative.\u00bb In effect, the union is voted out of the workplace. (NOTE: Decertification elections of the type described here only occur under the NLRA, which governs the labor relations of most private sector workers. Airline and railway workers, who
\nare covered by the Railway Labor Act<\/i> (RLA), must follow a different
\nprocedure, described here<\/a>. Many state bargaining laws that apply
\nto state and local government employees or public school employees also have
\nanalogous procedures for decertification, which are summarized here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

A decertification election has only one purpose and effect: to remove the union as the \u00abexclusive bargaining representative\u00bb of the employees. A decertification election is different from a \u00abdeauthorization<\/a>\u00bb election. A deauthorization election has only one purpose and effect: to remove the \u00abunion security \u00bb forced-unionism clause from the contract. In a deauthorization election, the union remains as the exclusive bargaining representative, and the collective bargaining agreement remains in effect, except for the forced unionism clause. <\/p>\n

The National Labor Relations Board maintains many rules governing when<\/i> employees can file for a decertification election. For unions already in place with a negotiated contract, the NLRB’s general rule is that decertification elections can only be held near the expiration of the contract (or every three years, whichever comes first). This is called the \u00abcontract bar\u00bb rule. If you miss that window period, you will have to wait for the next one. For ‘new\u00bb unions which just became the exclusive bargaining representative and do not yet have a collective bargaining agreement, the general NLRB rule is that the union and employer must bargain in good faith for approximately a year before the NLRB will hold a decertification election. <\/p>\n

Most employees prefer a workplace where they are free to discuss their terms and conditions of employment directly with the employer, without intervention by a third-party. They also prefer a workplace in which union membership and the payment of dues is voluntary, as this forces the union hierarchy to be more accountable to the rank-and-file workers. Instead of relying on threats, intimidation, and even firings to gain financial support, union officials have to sell the benefits of union membership to the individual employees. <\/p>\n

Under the National Labor Relations Act<\/i>, if 30% or more of the employees in a bargaining unit sign a Decertification Petition, the National Labor Relations Board will conduct a secret ballot election to determine if a majority of the employees wish to decertify the union and stop it from any further \u00abexclusive representation.\u00bb If the petitioning employees win that election, then the company becomes nonunion and all employees are free to bargain on their own, and negotiate their own terms and conditions of employment. Moreover, if 50% or more of the employees in a bargaining unit sign a petition that they no longer want to be represented by the union, the
\nemployer can withdraw recognition without an election if it wishes to do so.<\/p>\n

The petition must be an employee effort. Employer assistance is unlawful and, if there is any, the union will nullify the effort by filing an unfair labor practice charge.<\/p>\n

HOW TO GET STARTED:<\/b> First, employees should assess the strength of support for decertification within their specific bargaining unit. Usually, is it not worth calling for such an election unless the petitioning employees believe they will be able to garner the support of a majority of their fellow employees. The petitioning employees will need the votes of a majority of those employees who show up to vote on election day. <\/p>\n

In order to proceed, employees should collect signatures on a petition which reads something like the following:<\/p>\n

\n
<\/p>\n

PETITION FOR DECERTIFICATION (RD) —<\/font><\/b>
\n
REMOVAL OF REPRESENTATIVE<\/font><\/b><\/center><\/p>\n

The undersigned employees of _______________________ (employer name) do not
\nwant to be represented by _____________________ (union name). <\/p>\n

Should the undersigned employees constitute 30% or more, but less than 50%, of
\nthe bargaining unit represented by ___________________ (union name), the undersigned employees
\nhereby petition the National Labor Relations Board to hold a
\ndecertification election to determine whether the majority of employees
\nalso no longer wish to be represented by this union. <\/p>\n

In addition, should the undersigned employees constitute 50% or more of
\nthe bargaining unit represented by ___________________ (union name), the undersigned
\nemployees hereby request that __________________ (employer name)
\nimmediately withdraw recognition from this union, as it does not enjoy the
\nsupport of a majority of employees in the bargaining unit.
\n
 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
_______________________<\/td>\n_______________________<\/td>\n____________<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Name (Print)<\/td>\nSignature<\/td>\nDate<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
_______________________<\/td>\n_______________________<\/td>\n____________<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Name (Print)<\/td>\nSignature<\/td>\nDate<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
_______________________<\/td>\n_______________________<\/td>\n____________<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Name (Print)<\/td>\nSignature<\/td>\nDate<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
_______________________<\/td>\n_______________________<\/td>\n____________<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Name (Print)<\/td>\nSignature<\/td>\nDate<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
_______________________<\/td>\n_______________________<\/td>\n____________<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Name (Print)<\/td>\nSignature<\/td>\nDate<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

\n
These signatures should be collected when the employees are on non-work
\ntime, and in non-work areas! You must fill in the names of the union and employer in the blank spaces above before<\/u> you collect signatures. There should be no employer help, and employer resources should not be used.<\/b><\/p>\n

For more signature blanks, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Once employees have collected the appropriate number if signatures, they also need to fill out a separate NLRB \u00abPetition\u00bb cover sheet, NLRB Form 502<\/a>.  This single sheet of paper is easy to fill out, and is available from any Regional Office of the NLRB.  The NLRB’s website<\/a> contains copies of the Petition form<\/a> (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader<\/a>) and others<\/a>, as well as a directory of the regional NLRB offices<\/a> in your area. <\/p>\n

For more information about other options related to limiting union coercive power over workers,
\nclick here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Finally, you may contact Foundation staff attorneys<\/a> if you have questions about how to proceed, need assistance getting through to the NLRB, or encounter legal difficulties interfering with your efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WHAT IS A DECERTIFICATION ELECTION?<\/b> You (or someone you know) may be employed in a workplace where a union has the right to \u00abrepresent,\u00bb and collectively bargain for, all employees. This is frequently referred to as \u00abexclusive representation,\u00bb but it is really the government-granted monopoly bargaining privilege that gives union officials the power to make contracts that workers may not like while barring employees from negotiating their own terms of employment. Except in Right to Work states<\/a>, these contracts almost always include a provision which mandates that employees be fired for not paying dues to a union they do not wish to support. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1779","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nDecertification Election - National Right to Work Foundation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nrtw.org\/decertification-election-1\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Decertification Election - National Right to Work Foundation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WHAT IS A DECERTIFICATION ELECTION? You (or someone you know) may be employed in a workplace where a union has the right to "represent," and collectively bargain for, all employees. This is frequently referred to as "exclusive representation," but it is really the government-granted monopoly bargaining privilege that gives union officials the power to make contracts that workers may not like while barring employees from negotiating their own terms of employment. 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