Unions hate secret ballot elections. Conducted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), such elections are the time-honored method for forming a union bargaining unit. Most companies say they are the only fair way to assess worker sentiment about union representation because employees vote in secret, shielded from potential peer pressure.
But unions contend the elections give the employers too much control–and that employers abuse their power by intimidating workers into voting against the union. So in recent years many unions have pushed an alternative–the card-check agreement. These agreements allow the union to solicit employees to sign authorization cards asking for union representation. If a majority of the employees sign, the employer agrees to recognize the bargaining unit. Buoyed by its success in getting employers to agree to card-checks, organized labor launched a massive effort this year to convince Congress to replace secret ballot elections with card-check agreements. Called the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), the legislation died in the Senate in June.
