That Union Thing
Union Representation Through Card Check
What is Card Check and Why is it Better than an NLRB Election?
- Under Card Check procedures, after a majority of employees sign cards authorizing union representation, an employer voluntarily agrees to recognize the union as bargaining agent with respect to wages and working conditions. A respected neutral third party verifies that a true majority have signed authorization forms.
- Card Check takes less time to determine majority support than lengthy election processes.
- Card Check requires authorization from a majority of all employees, while an NLRB election only requires a majority of those voting.
Legislation Moves to Expand Card Check
The Employee Free Choice Act, sponsored by Senator Edward Kennedy and Representative George Miller, would allow employees to more freely choose union representation by signing authorization cards rather than the more cumbersome election process, would provide mediation and arbitration for first contract disputes, and would establish stronger penalties for employers that try to hamper unionization through violation of labor law. Introduced in November 2003, the legislation now has over 30 senators and 202 representatives as co-sponsors. Under current law, employers can refuse to recognize that a union has obtained authorization cards from a majority of employees and demand that an NLRB election be held.
Labor Board Moves to Restrict Card Check
This past June, after receiving an inquiry regarding a card check agreement between the UAW and auto parts makers Dana Corp and Metaldyne Corp, the NLRB in a 3-2 partyline vote said it would take a “critical look” at union representation obtained through card check agreements rather than NLRB elections. A ruling, which may take a year to arrive, might allow workers to petition for an immediate decertification vote after union recognition, rather than requiring a one-year grace period to allow time to bargain a first contract.
From AFL-CIO Work in Progress:
CHOOSING A VOICE:—At the Palms of Sebring nursing home in Sebring, Fla., 122 certified nursing assistants voted for UFCW Local 1625 on April 8. And an April 7 card-check at the Lake Placid Nursing Home in Lake Placid, Fla., also gave 118 certified nursing assistants a voice at work with Local 1625. Sixty-three certified nursing assistants at the Kenilworth Care & Rehab Center in Sebring, Fla., voted for Local 1626 on April 2. Also voting for UFCW were 114 workers at Rehabilitation and Nursing Center of Broward and 80 at Pompano Rehabilitation and Nursing Center.
A STRONG VOICE—Sixty-nine certified nursing assistants at Palm Gardens nursing home in Aventura, Fla., chose Local 769 through a card-check process, in which an employer agrees to honor the workers’ choice after a majority indicates the desire to form a union by signing authorization cards.
POINT BLANK VICTORY—After a two-year campaign that included an unfair labor practice strike, Point Blank Body Armor Inc. on April 20 announced it has recognized the choice of its 250 workers for representation with UNITE at its Oakland Park, Fla., plant, by majority verification procedures.
NOT SO YUMMY—The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a group of Florida farm workers who pick tomatoes for a Taco Bell contractor, will protest subpoverty wages and sweatshop working conditions outside the annual Yum! Brands shareholders meeting in Louisville, Ky., on May 20. Yum! Brands is the world’s largest restaurant company and owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, Long John Silvers and A&W Restaurants. The workers will build a “Pyramid of Poverty” with picking buckets, representing the low pay rate for each pound of tomatoes they pick. At the current rate, a farm worker must pick two tons of tomatoes to earn $50.
A SUNNY WIN—The 1,200 maintenance workers and custodians at the University of Florida in Gainesville voted May 19 to join AFSCME Council 79. And by an overwhelming margin, 250 service employees at the University of Central Florida voted to join AFSCME Council 79. The university is the sixth of 11 state campuses to organize and restore collective bargaining rights since Gov. Jeb Bush (R) eliminated those rights in 2003. And in Washington County, Fla., 50 bus drivers won a voice on the job with AFSCME Council 79.
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