Card check

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Card check is a method of organizing employees into a labor union in which employers enter into an agreement to recognize the unionization of its employees if a majority of employees in a bargaining unit sign authorization forms, or "cards".

1 Card Check in the United States
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Card Check in the United States

The signed cards are then submitted to the National Labor Relations Board, known as the NLRB. Under current U.S. law, the employer need not recognize the union as its employees' collective bargaining representative if a majority of employees express their intent to join the union under through card check; instead, employers may require a secret-ballot vote overseen by the NLRB.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the use of card check in 1969 stating, "Almost from the inception of the Act, then, it was recognized that a union did not have to be certified as the winner of a Board election to invoke a bargaining obligation; it could establish majority status by other means ... by showing convincing support, for instance, by a union-called strike or strike vote, or, as here, by possession of cards signed by a majority of the employees authorizing the union to represent them for collective bargaining purposes.' ^[1]

Under the proposed Employee Free Choice Act, introduced in the United States Congress in 2005 and again in 2007, the NLRB would recognize the union's role as the official bargaining representative if a majority of employees have authorized that representation via card check, without requiring a secret ballot election. ^[2] It was passed by the House on March 1, 2007. The Employee Free Choice Act allows employees to choose a secret ballot process to elect union representation if they do not desire a card check election, but employers are required to accept whichever method emplyees choose.

Organized labor groups argue that the card check process is preferable to traditional NLRB elections because it avoids the anti-union campaigns that can accompany elections and leads to healthier workplace relations by avoiding a direct confrontation between employer and its employees. Critics of card check organizing argue that the process takes away employees' right to vote for or against the union in a secret ballot and permits union intimidation of workers.