Help Get Rid of a Union

In the US, except in the so-called "right to work" states, a union contract almost always includes a provision which requires that you, the employee, must pay some kind of fees or dues to the union. You may not want, however, to support that union as your “exclusive bargaining representative”and become locked in along with the company and your coworkers.

Many workers are scared into believing removing a union from their work place and everyone acting independently will guarantee that their company will keep them on. What often happens instead is that employers are now free to terminate them at will, as they are no longer obligated by contract and now employees are no longer interested in supporting the community of their co-workers. By using such tactics, corporations effectively divide and conquer the workforce by pitting them against one another. Of course, there are occasions when one union is no longer favored by employees and they may consider that another union will represent them better, be a better fit in understanding their needs, and work together better with them. "Under the National Labor Relations Act (NRLA), if 30% or more of the employees in a bargaining unit sign a Decertification (decert) 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 “exclusive representation."[1]

Steps

  1. Consider whether and how you (or someone you know) may be employed in a workplace where a union has the right to “represent” you and collectively bargain for you which many workers may/may not like.
  2. Look into how your National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) USA and your state's laws give unions “exclusive representation” power, but that contract may be: [1]
    • Terminated by the workers as a decert, or
    • Changed by state and local contracts, or laws (statutes).
  3. Check that some state governments grant bargaining privileges that:[1]
    • Give union officials monopoly (exclusive) power to make contracts;
    • Bar you and other employees from individually negotiating your own contracts and terms of employment.
  4. Explore decert elections: though it is generally challenging, the NLRA allows employees to call for a special election to completely get rid of the union as their “exclusive representative.”[1]
    • "Decertification Election" -- employees revoke the union’s "certification" to be the exclusive "bargaining representative".
      • In effect, the union may be voted out of your workplace.
      • Elections of this type occur under the laws in the NLRA, which governs the general U.S. national labor relations of most private sector workers.
  5. Decide whether you would prefer to seek to decertify in order to have a workplace where you are free to discuss your terms and conditions of employment directly with the employer, without intervention by a third-party (union).
  6. Decide whether you would work for state right to work legislation -- if you prefer a workplace in which union membership and the payment of dues is voluntary, which may require the company and union hierarchy to be accountable to negotiated, agreed upon rules, without requiring unionism or money from you to the union.
    • Instead of relying on the power of rules in the union-state to gain financial support for the union -- perhaps, including firings for refusing or failing to follow union-contract rules -- union officials may have to sell the benefits of union membership to each individual employee in the open union shop.
  7. To get started: The petitioning employees should decide the strength of the support for decertification within your specific bargaining unit. It can be worth it, only if you, the petition signers, agree that you could win.
  8. Get the official "NLRB’s Petition form" at the website which requires Adobe Acrobat Reader (PDF). You can find a directory of the regional NLRB offices in your area on the website.[2]
  9. Get/collect signatures when the employees are on non-work time (before and after shifts, at lunches and at breaks), and in non-work areas! You must fill in the names of the union and the employer in the blank spaces above on the petition form before you collect signatures.
    • Use no employer help to collect signatures of 30% or more of employees, with no employer resources to get votes (no employer motivation, promises and not on company work time), or it will be thrown out, if proven.
  10. Attach the separate NLRB “Petition cover sheet”, filled out, which is "NLRB Form 502". This one sheet of paper is easy to fill out, and is available from any Regional Office of the NLRB.[2]
    • If the number of valid signatures are more than 50% of the eligible employees of that particular bargaining unit represented by the union, then the signed employees can request that your employer immediately withdraw recognition from the union, because it does not enjoy the support of a majority of employees in the bargaining unit.
  11. To win: You need the simple majority of only those that actually cast the ballot on the "official election day, place and time allowed" with the positive answers meaning Yes, I agree to decertify (more than 50% out of those who showed up and voted).[1]

When employees can file

  1. Check for National Labor Relations Board rules for a decertification election or barring these such as the:[1]
    • "Certification bar" -- stops petitions for a decertification election from being filed for one (1) year after a union wins an NLRB conducted election.
    • "Contract bar" -- holds that petitions for a decertification election cannot be filed during the first three (3) years of a collective bargaining agreement, except for during a certain 30-day "window period."
    • “Window period” -- for 30-days filing a decertification petition with the NLRB occurs 60 to 90 days "prior to" the expiration date or 3 year anniversary of the contract, whichever comes first. In the health care industry (such as hospitals), the 30-day “window period” occurs 90 to 120 days "before" the expiration date of the contract, or after the 3 year anniversary of that contract (if not expired), whichever comes first.
    • "Contract expired" -- a decertification petition can also be filed anytime after a contract expires or becomes more than 3 years old.
    • "Successor contract" -- if your employer and the union enter into a successor contract, the new contract will begin another 3 year "contract bar" on decertification elections. Thus, if you miss the "window period" for filing a petition for a decertification election, you may have to wait for another 3 years to request a decertification election.

Petitions

  1. Be sure your petition is an employee effort (not lead by the company). Employer assistance is unlawful.
  2. Realize that there is any employer assistance, the union can nullify the effort by filing an "unfair labor practice" charge and winning that.
  3. To proceed, employees can collect signatures on a petition, to decert or deauth, which may read something like the examples that are available from the: nrtw, National Right to Work Organization.

Example Petition: "Something like this one"

  1. It is good to get the latest, official NLRB form to see what they recommend, to be clear and defined. Sample form:[1]

    PETITION TO REMOVE UNION AS REPRESENTATIVE

    The undersigned employees of ________________________ (employer name) do not want to be represented by ________________________ (union name), hereafter referred to as “union”.

    Should the undersigned employees constitute 30% or more, but less than 50%, of the bargaining unit represented by the union, the undersigned employees hereby petition the National Labor Relations Board to hold a decertification election to determine whether the majority of employees also no longer wish to be represented by the union.

    In addition, should the undersigned employees constitute 50% or more of the bargaining unit represented by the union, the undersigned employees hereby request that our employer immediately withdraw recognition from the union, as it does not enjoy the support of a majority of employees in the bargaining unit.

    _______________________ _______________________ ____________
    Name (Print) .......................... Signature .......................... Date

    _______________________ _______________________ ____________
    Name (Print) .......................... Signature .......................... Date

    _______________________ _______________________ ____________
    Name (Print) .......................... Signature .......................... Date

    _______________________ _______________________ ____________
    Name (Print) .......................... Signature .......................... Date

    _______________________ _______________________ ____________
    Name (Print) .......................... Signature .......................... Date

Decert versus deauth elections

  1. Research the difference between these decertification and deauthorization elections.
  2. Find out about your own kind of union, like "state and local government employees" or "public school employees" who have comparable procedures that may differ from private sector "decertification" processes.
  3. Consider "public sector deauthorization laws" -- state laws governing public employees that provide for:[1]
    • Decertification election to totally remove the union.
    • Deauthorization election to only remove the “union security” clause from the contract election. It has only one purpose and effect, to undo union required payments and membership in the union, but:
      • Keeps the union as the exclusive bargaining representative.
      • Keeps the collective bargaining agreement in effect, except for the required unionism clause (membership or dues become voluntary).

Tips

  • Decertifying a union is up to only the workers under state and federal laws.
  • If a contract expires, then eventually a company may stop following their no-longer agreed union rules.
  • Of course, the unions protect their government-granted powers to collect dues from you or independent-minded workers by seeking political allies using their funds in donations and encouraging union members to be political volunteers.
  • Currently, 24 U.S. states provide the "right to work" without having to pay union dues (open or merit shop), and similar bills have been introduced in several required unionism (closed union shop) states in recent years.[1]

Warnings

  • Caveat: In the U.S.A., law and rules and procedures for airlines and railways differ from other employers covered by the "U.S. Railway Labor Act (RLA)", not the NLRA laws and regulations.

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 "Decertification elections" http://www.nrtw.org/decertification-election
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Federal government National Labor Relations Board http://www.nlrb.gov/

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