Protecting Workers’ Rights to

Secret Ballot Elections on Decisions to Unionize

September 27, 2006

Nothing is more fundamental to the concept of democracy than the right to a secret ballot election.  However, in the face of dwindling membership, organized labor increasingly pressures employers (by way of threat, boycott, or public relations and public pressure) to recognize unions based on a “card-check” rather than the customary secret ballot election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).  Under a “card check” system, a union gathers “authorization cards” purportedly signed by workers expressing their desire for the union to represent them.  By their very nature, these “card checks” strip an employee of the right to choose – freely and anonymously – whether to unionize, while leaving them open to harassment, intimidation, and union pressure. 

The Secret Ballot Protection Act (H.R. 874) would guarantee workers the right to a secret ballot election, conducted by the NLRB, on deciding whether to unionize, while prohibiting unions from being recognized based on a card check.  This fundamental protection would force unions to win a majority of worker support in an anonymous, secret ballot election while eliminating any shroud of union intimidation.

The Secret Ballot Protection Act: Why Is It Needed?

Organized labor currently represents eight percent of the American workforce, the lowest percentage in modern history.  In order to increase their membership rolls, unions have moved aggressively to promote card-check recognition (in which a union gathers “authorization cards” purportedly signed by workers expressing their desire for the union to represent them) as a critical component of their organizing strategy.  Consider these trends, however:

·        A recent study reports that since 1997, roughly one in four newly-organized union workers were obtained by way of a card-check;

·        However, there have been more than ten times as many NLRB-conducted elections than successful card check campaigns each year; and

·        In addition, the number of workers organized in a successful card check campaign usually encompasses several hundred, while a successful election campaign typically yields under a hundred new union workers.  This suggests that when given the opportunity to vote in a secret ballot election, many workers choose not to be represented by an organized labor union. 

As a result, organized labor is increasingly pressuring employers (by way of threat, boycott, or public relations and public pressure) to recognize based on a card-check agreement rather than the customary secret ballot election supervised by the NLRB.  Under current law, employers may voluntarily recognize unions based on card checks, but they are not required to do so.  They may insist upon an election administered by the NLRB.

The Secret Ballot Protection Act: What Would It Do?

The Secret Ballot Protection Act would prohibit a union from being recognized based on a card check, provide that a union may only be recognized by an employer following certification by the NLRB if it has won majority support in a secret ballot election conducted by the NLRB, and guarantee the right of every worker to a secret-ballot vote on the decision whether to unionize. 

Under the Secret Ballot Protection Act, a union would not be able to pressure an employer to recognize it based on a card-check, and an employer would not be pressured (or able) to “bargain away” its workers’ rights to a secret ballot election.  Specifically, the Secret Ballot Protection Act:

·        Preserves the sanctity of worker free choice and the right to a secret-ballot election;

·        Protects workers from intimidation, threats, misinformation, or coercion by a union or co-workers to “sign the card”; and

·        Eliminates a union’s ability to pressure an employer to agree to card-check recognition.