- Card Check would deprive workers of the ability to vote in a private ballot
election during union organizing drives.
- Back in the 1950s, roughly one-third of the workforce was unionized. Today, that
number has declined to just 12 percent, with 7 percent of the private sector
workforce belonging to a union and the rest working in government jobs.
- Under the private ballot process, union organizers ask workers to sign cards
indicating an interest in an election. Once 30% have signed cards, the union can
petition the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a private ballot
election.
- Both the union and the employer are given the opportunity to present their side,
after which workers cast votes in a federally-supervised PRIVATE BALLOT
election. If the union gets more than 50% of the votes, the union is certified
by the NLRB and the employer must begin collective bargaining.
- Card Check abolishes private ballot elections and replaces it with a process
that requires only signature cards.
- Card Check allows unions to skip the time and expense that comes with a private
ballot election. Under Card Check, if union organizers can persuade more than
50% of workers at a facility to sign cards, they win.
- Workers could be asked to sign a card anywhere, including at their homes or the
dead of night. Union organizers could go back to any worker who declines to sign
over and over again until they get the desired result. And once the union hits
the 50% threshold, the NLRB would be prohibited from
holding a private ballot election — even if many workers want one.
- Under Card Check, a union has no obligation to tell an employer it is launching
an organization drive. An employer may not find out an organizing campaign is
underway until ordered by the Federal government to start collective bargaining.
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