Washington, D.C. (June 8, 2004) – 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 “card check” organizing process.

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.

The NLRB’s ultimate decision will impact the enforceability of so-called “neutrality” 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’ personal information, strip workers of the opportunity to a secret ballot representation election, and hold mandatory “captive audience” speeches about why employees should be unionized. Workers are typically subjected to “card check” drives in which union operatives bully workers face-to-face to sign union authorization cards that count as a “vote” in favor of unionization.

In granting review, the majority wrote: “We 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.”

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’s largest auto workers union truly enjoyed the support of a majority of employees and could lawfully act as their “exclusive representative.” The NLRB regional directors dismissed the election petitions, and the employees appealed to the NLRB in Washington, DC.

The Board will reevaluate its so-called “voluntary recognition bar rule,” 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 “reasonable period” — sometimes lasting for up to one year.

“Increasingly unable to sell workers on union membership, union officials have resorted to coercive tactics such as ‘neutrality’ agreements and the in-your-face “card check” solicitation process to intimidate workers into supporting a union,” said Stefan Gleason, Vice President of the National Right to Work Foundation. “Employees should be allowed to decide whether to unionize free of union and employer coercion.”

If the NLRB voids the “voluntary recognition bar” and a decertification election is allowed and successful, the UAW would lose its power to act as the “exclusive bargaining representative” of the employees at Dana and Metaldyne. The employees would then be free to negotiate their own terms and conditions of employment.

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in about 200 cases nationwide per year.