Hamilton, AL (February 3, 2015) – Workers in a local parts manufacturing plant are voting a fourth time in a federally-supervised union election after union officials skirted being kicked out of the workplace in a recent election tainted by ballot stuffing and mishandling of ballots.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will conduct the fourth election after NTN-Bower Corporation employee Ginger Estes, who is receiving free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, filed objections to the tainted third election.

United Auto Workers (UAW) union officials currently hold monopoly bargaining power over 140 NTN-Bower manufacturing workers. Ginger Estes and other employees at the plant requested an election with the NLRB in 2013 to determine whether to remove the UAW union from their workplace.

After workers cast ballots in the first election, union and company officials agreed to set aside that election and allow the workers to vote in a second election. In the second election, workers voted to remove the union by a margin of two votes. Union officials challenged the results of that election, and a 2-1 panel of the Obama Labor Board voted to invalidate the results and schedule a third election.

On January 16, 2015, workers voted a third time to determine whether to remove the UAW union from their workplace. Even though 139 workers voted in the third election out of the 140 eligible, 148 ballots were cast. UAW union officials skirted being kicked out of the workplace by a small margin.

After Estes formally challenged the results of the tainted third election, the NLRB and all parties agreed to hold a fourth election.

“This is a good example of a rigged election characterized by obvious ballot box stuffing and mishandling of ballots,” said Mark Mix, president of National Right to Work. “This case underscores the difficulty workers often experience when trying to remove unwanted unions from their workplaces.”

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.