Unions Lost 2,704 Decertification Elections
in Decade, Surrendering Former Victories

AWhen unions are certified by the National Labor Relations Board and win a contract from a company or public institution, their job is only half done. After a year or more, if at least 30 percent of the workers in the bargaining unit, including those who had originally voted in opposition, want to get rid of the union, they can petition the Labor Board for a new election, which, if they win, terminates the union’s status to represent the workers.

In the decade 1997-2006, unions lost a total of 2,704 “decertification” elections of the 4,045 conducted by the NLRB, with unions never receiving as much as 36 percent of the vote in any given year. During the decade, the unions lost 123,661 members through decertification, after spending countless millions and years of effort to organize them into local unions.

To lose what unions have formerly won and by such “blowout” margins would indicate that something is wrong with the administration of numerous local unions and that far too many members don’t feel they are getting the treatment they deserve.

Yet, there has been no discussion of the decertification problem by AFL-CIO leaders for years, under their long-held view that bad and embarrassing news had best be kept from the membership, a policy easily accepted by CtW leaders. Yet some observations on this subject ought to be made:

• A number of union leaders are so eager to reach agreements with employers, they make deals that barely involve the workers, whom they use as bargaining chips. They may make concessions without consulting the workers. A good example was the Service Employees contract with a group of California nursing homes, fortunately withdrawn. In such cases, workers come to resent unions and respond favorably to decertification campaigns.

• Many local union leaders do not make a strong effort to welcome the new members, especially those who had formerly voted against the union. Those leaders do not take seriously that the employer will continue to use every available means to undermine his employees’ loyalty to the union.

• Not many unions have developed a well-run education program for new members, nor have they supplied a channel where new members can express their complaints and receive convincing responses. They are not involved in union activities or even invited to participate. They are treated as dues payers.

• It is outrageous that unions can muster no more than 35 percent of the vote in decertification elections. What did local leaders do, how badly did they behave, that would cause two-thirds of the bargaining unit to quit the union after enjoying its benefits? And what kind of a campaign did union leaders run to achieve such an abysmal result?

The shocking decertification losses are only the tip of the iceberg. The discontent among union members is deep and wide. Our leaders haven’t done anything to improve the lives of the nation’s working people in the 12 year’s they’ve been in office. (They may claim some credit for the increase in the minimum wage.) And they are guilty of running sham elections in which it is impossible for any candidate to challenge them.

It is true that there is no great public outcry against the self-serving, self-perpetuating AFL-CIO and CtW leaders, but the resentment and distrust is festering.

Our weekly column, “The World of Labor,” reports the struggles and victories of unions in countries around the globe. Check our web site: www.LaborEducator.org.