Washington, D.C. (June 8, 2004)<\/b> \u2013 The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) late Monday voted 3-2 to reconsider its policy of denying employees a secret ballot vote on unionization after a union has been recognized pursuant to the controversial \u201ccard check\u201d organizing process. <\/p>\n
In granting review of two cases appealed by National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation attorneys on behalf of employees at two automotive suppliers (Dana and Metaldyne) who recently found themselves organized by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, the federal agency is soliciting input from the labor-management community as to the general legality of an increasingly prevalent union organizing method that reduces employee freedom.<\/p>\n
The NLRB\u2019s ultimate decision will impact the enforceability of so-called \u201cneutrality\u201d agreements, contracts between a union and an employer under which the employer agrees to actively assist organizers in unionizing its workers. Under these coercive agreements, employers typically grant union operatives sweeping access to their workplaces and employees\u2019 personal information, strip workers of the opportunity to a secret ballot representation election, and hold mandatory \u201ccaptive audience\u201d speeches about why employees should be unionized. Workers are typically subjected to \u201ccard check\u201d drives in which union operatives bully workers face-to-face to sign union authorization cards that count as a \u201cvote\u201d in favor of unionization.<\/p>\n
In granting review, the majority wrote: \u201cWe believe that the increased use of recognition agreements, the varying contexts in which a recognition agreement can be reached, the superiority of Board supervised secret ballot elections, and the importance of Section 7 rights of employees [to refrain from unionization], are all factors which warrant a critical look at the issues raised herein.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NLRB ruling comes through the consolidated cases of employees at Dana Corporation in Upper Sandusky, Ohio and Metaldyne in St. Marys, Pennsylvania, who filed decertification petitions (with 35 percent and more than 50 percent of employees signing, respectively) seeking an election to decide whether officials of the nation\u2019s largest auto workers union truly enjoyed the support of a majority of employees and could lawfully act as their \u201cexclusive representative.\u201d The NLRB regional directors dismissed the election petitions, and the employees appealed to the NLRB in Washington, DC. <\/p>\n
The Board will reevaluate its so-called \u201cvoluntary recognition bar rule,\u201d the non-statutory, Board-created rule stipulating that unions gaining voluntary recognition from an employer may avoid all employee challenges and bargain with an employer for a so-called \u201creasonable period\u201d — sometimes lasting for up to one year.<\/p>\n