Getting rid of a union
Can you "test drive" a union and, if you decide you don't like it, vote it out again? Unions want you to think so. For example, the International Association of Machinists web site says this:
Unfortunately, it's not that simple.
Voting a union out (called "decertification") is a complicated and difficult legal process, and there are many things unions do to make it even harder to get rid of them.
WHEN can workers try to decertify a union?
The law says union-represented workers can try to decertify their union only at certain times.
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First, workers can't vote a union out immediately after it gets in:
If the union is voted in, workers have to wait until one year after the union is certified as workers' bargaining representative by the NLRB.
If the union gets in via a "card check" where the company voluntarily recognizes the union without a vote, workers have to wait until one year after the first contract bargaining meeting takes place between the union and company management.
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Second, workers cannot decertify their union while there is a union contract in effect - the law calls this a "contract bar" to a decertification vote.
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Third, workers who want a decertification vote must file their request with the NLRB during a short, 30-day "window period" between 90 and 60 days before the contract ends (or, if the contract is for more than 3 years, between 90 and 60 days before the end of the third year of the contract). If they miss that window period by even a day, the NLRB will not hold a vote.
HOW can workers try to decertify a union?
The National Right To Work Legal Defense Foundation gives a detailed description of the process whereby workers can try to vote their union out. Here's a brief summary:
1. Get signatures. Workers must get at least 30% of the
union-represented workers to sign cards or petitions saying they want to decertify the union. Signifantly, if more than 50% sign, the workers can go directly to management and ask them to withdraw recognition of the union. It's up to management to decide whether they want to do that.
2. Prepare documents. The National Labor Relations Board
has several forms that need to be completed and sent to the NLRB, the company and the union.
3. "File and serve." During the limited time periods in which
the NLRB will accept decertification requests, workers must file the forms and send copies to the company and the union.
4. Vote. If a majority of the entire group the union represents
(NOT a majority of those who actually vote) votes in favor of decertification, the union is thrown out. If the vote is tied, the union also loses. But if fewer than half of the entire group votes for decertification, the union stays.
For more details, click here.
Despite the obstacles, workers do sometimes vote their union out.
During the one year period of July 1, 2014 – June 30, 2015, for example:
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The Teamsters had 39 decertification attempts, 54% were successful
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The IBEW had 16 decertification attempts, 56% were successful
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The Steelworkers had 14 decertification attempts, 50% were successful
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The Food & Commercial Workers had 13 decertification attempts, 54% were successful
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The IAM had 11 decertification attempts, 73% were successful
How do unions fight against being “decertified” (and losing the dues those members pay)?
Here are just a few of the things unions do:
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Agree to a contract.
If the union signs a contract within one year of being voted in, the union can’t be voted out for as long as the contract lasts – and possibly for as long as future contracts last. Sometimes unions sign bad contracts just so they can’t be voted out.
That’s what the International Association of Machinists did at Vought Aircraft in Charleston, S.C. Vought employees did not like the proposed contract, but the IAM conducted a quick, secret vote (only 13 workers out of nearly 300 participated) to approve the contract just one day before their first anniversary of being voted in. This ensured that the IAM remained in place as bargaining representative. Later, those workers still voted the union out. To read more, click here.
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Punish members who try to vote them out.
Union constitutions say members can be punished for trying to get rid of the union. For example, the IAM Constitution says members can be punished for “Attempting, inaugurating, or encouraging secession from the I.A.M.” (Article L, Sec. 3, p. 147). Similarly, the Steelworkers Union Constitution says members can be punished for "advocating or attempting to bring about the withdrawal of the International Union of any Local Union or any member or group of members." (Article XII, Sec. 1, pp. 57-58). The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Constitution says members can be punished for "engaging in activities designed to bring about a withdrawal or secession from the I.B.E.W." (Article XXV, Sec. 1, p. 76).
Members found guilty of trying to get rid of their union can be suspended, expelled from the union, or fined. There’s no limit to the amount of the fine, and if the member fails to pay, the union can take him/her to court – and the member will be forced to pay court costs as well!
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Make sure management stays “hands-off.”
By law, management isn’t allowed to help workers who want to get rid of their union.
On their own time and using their own money, union members must start decertification campaigns. It’s up to the union members alone to obtain legal advice and try to meet all the government rules and regulations. And as you would expect, the union fights hard to stay.
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Use legal tactics to prevent a vote.
A union can file an unlimited number of “unfair labor practice” charges with the National Labor Relations Board that prevent workers from voting them out. Since workers have to pay their own legal costs, it’s hard (and expensive) for them to fight this strategy.
Another option: "Deauthorization"
A deauthorization election is different than a vote to get the union out of the workplace ("decertification"). A "deauthorization election" just removes the union's "union security clause" from the contract -- the clause that says workers must pay the union or be fired. But the union continues to represent the workers.
Of course, this only applies to people working in non-Right to Work States. Unions cannot force workers to pay dues in states that are Right to Work.
The process for deauthorization is the same as for decertification: (a) get 30% or more of the group of workers the union represents to sign cards saying they want to deauthorize the union; (b) complete and submit the appropriate NLRB forms; (c) vote.
Unlike a decertification petition, though, a deauthorization petition can be filed with the National Labor Relations Board at any time, even when a contract is in effect.
Since "deauthorization" means workers no longer have to pay the union, unions fight as hard against deauthorization as they do against decertification. In fact, many unions feel deauthorization is worse than decertification because they have to continue representing the workers without being paid for doing so.
For more information, click here.
Workers at Chino Mine in New Mexico are glad they decertified the Steelworkers
In a recent interview with two people who were involved in the decertification of the United Steelworkers Local 9424-3, they feel the decertification was beneficial to all the workers at Chino Mine.
"I'd like to say the bigger reason why I began the petition to decertify the union was because I wanted the same thing as the workers who were not part of the union," Shane Shores said.
Edward Hooten agreed. "We had no opportunity. We were stuck as a truck driver, for instance, even if we wanted to train on other equipment. We felt like we were in dead-end positions. It wasn't the bosses, it was the union regulations holding us down."
"We can cross-train now," Hooten said. "Anyone who was non-union didn't want to talk to us while we were trying to get information, because they feared issues with the union."
"We have better morale at the mine now," Shane Shores said. "Once the vote came in and the union decertified, within a month, we had a meeting at the Conference Center. They told us, as of right then, we had a $3-an-hour raise. We have better dental and better medical insurance. They added optical insurance, better life insurance and we were eligible for a 401k."
Hooten said the union was dormant and didn't do anything for the workers. "They had redone the contract after the re-start up, and we never saw anyone from the union for years."
To read more click here.
Telling workers “If you don’t like us you can just vote us out” is a strategy many unions use to get voted in.
The truth is, once a union has been voted in, they are there to stay, and in non-Right to Work states workers must pay the union just to keep their jobs