Filing A Representation Petition With The NLRB
The representation petition (RC) is used when employees are seeking to be represented by a Union. You may file a petition by contacting the nearest regional NLRB office.
Evidence Needed with a Petition
Generally, in order to file a petition with the NLRB, the petition must be accompanied by evidence demonstrating that the petition has the support of at least 30% of your fellow employees. This support usually will be in the form of dated signatures from interested employees who indicate by individual cards or signature sheets that they are interested in being represented by a particular Union for purpose of collective bargaining or having an election to achieve this purpose.
Who May File A Petition?
Any union, employer or individual may file a petition to obtain an election conducted by the NLRB. Please note that the NLRB has jurisdiction over most private employers. Generally, a petition wherein a union or employees are seeking to have a union represent employees may be filed at any time.
The Election
The purpose of most petition filings is to have the NLRB conduct a government-sponsored election. The NLRB assigns a high priority to all election cases. Elections generally are held less then 50 days from the date a petition is filed.
Who Votes?
Eligibility to vote is determined by an employee's job duties and placement of the job in defined collective-bargaining units. In general a bargaining unit is a group of two (2) or more employees of the same employer who share a "community of interest" in working conditions. A bargaining unit is most often defined through the use of job descriptions. For example, if an employer is a manufacturing facility, a group of employees sharing common interests might be defined as a unit of all production and maintenance employees. Depending on the circumstances, the same employer may or may not employ other, separate units of employees, such as drivers or clerical employees.
Who Doesn't Vote?
The NLRB normally excludes from voting eligibility all managers, supervisors and guards (although guards may be included in their own bargaining unit). Professional employees are excluded from units of non-professional employees unless professionals vote in a NLRB election to be included with non-professionals. Employees who have terminated their employment for legitimate considerations as of the day of the election are not eligible to vote.
Where Are Elections Held?
Most elections are held right at the work site where eligible employees perform their work. Some elections are conducted by balloting away from the work site, including by mail, where employees are dispersed over a wide geographic area, are assigned away from their normal workstations or under other circumstances. Polling places are set up by the NLRB agent(s) conducting the election. The main function of the NLRB agent is to assure that the election is conducted fairly and that each eligible employee is afforded the opportunity to freely vote a secret ballot. The actual count of the ballots normally is held at the site of the election in the presence of representatives and designated observers from each interested party.
Election details, for example the description of the bargaining unit, the voting eligibility of classes of employees, and the date and place of the election, usually are agreed to by the petitioning union and the employer involved with the assistance of a Board agent. When the parties cannot agree on such issues as the composition or scope of the bargaining unit, a "pre-election hearing" is conducted. Based upon the evidence introduced at the hearing, the Director of the NLRB Regional Office processing the election petition will issue a Decision deciding the election issues on which the parties could not agree.
Election Interference
Within 7 days of the election, any party may file objections concerning the conduct of the election asserting that the laboratory conditions necessary for holding a fair election were not met, thereby protesting the validity of the election results. Any party making such a claim is compelled to present its evidence in support thereof promptly to the local office of the NLRB, which will investigate the issues in an expeditious manner. An additional hearing may be conducted concerning these objections or any determinative challenges to the eligibility of an individual seeking to vote in the election.
Campaign speeches to assembled groups of employees on company time within the 24-hour period before the election, is an example of conduct the Board considers to interfere with employee free choice and could cause the election to be set aside.
Certification Of Election Results
The final step in the processing of a petition through an election is for the NLRB to issue a formal certification of the union as the duly designated collective bargaining representative or a certification of the results of the election in the event the union does not receive the support of a majority of the unit employees. A Certification of Representative provides the union with the authority to represent the employee group and to negotiate a contract on the employees' behalf. Under such circumstances, an employer is compelled by law to bargain in good faith with the union selected as the employees' representative.
