Posts tagged certification
Opinion This Labor Day, Respect the Right to Join (or Not) a Union
September 8, 2026 // In that scenario, regulators should consider holding a new vote on whether current workers want a union. While it would be legal for the earlier group’s vote to bind the new hires, it may not be fair because the new workers may have a different opinion. This needs to be resolved before the union is established. Federal law has long been stacked against workers who seek to decertify unions that don’t represent their interests because that decertification has to be done through the union itself. Unsurprisingly, many unions will oppose their own members in these situations. If the workers are truly united in favor of a union, they will get one eventually. And if they aren’t united in favor of one, that wish should be respected, too. It should be the workers’ choice, after all.
SSM Health appealing certification of union vote at St. Mary’s Hospital in Madison
August 6, 2026 // National Labor Relations Board staff certified the union election late last month after nurses voted 511-63 to unionize with the Service Employees International Union of Wisconsin. SSM Health filed objections to the election with the NLRB, but the labor board overruled the objections in their “entirety” because SSM provided “insufficient” proof.
The Faster Labor Contracts Act would force workers into unions they never voted for
June 4, 2026 // The retail, leisure, and hospitality sectors, by contrast, are traditionally harder for unions to organize because the workers who would back a union are also less likely to stick around. That’s why the unions want contract deadlines to apply to all negotiations, not just cases in which companies may be deliberately delaying things. Unions might otherwise find themselves in a “herding cats” situation because workers are constantly coming and going.
Governor DeSantis signs bill tightening rules for public sector unions
May 4, 2026 // It requires at least 50% of employees in a bargaining unit to participate in certification or re-certification elections. A majority of those voting must back the union. Police, firefighters, correctional officers, EMTs and other public-safety units are treated differently under the bill.
Commentary: Is bill a state-led worker’s board, or a gift to SEIU?
April 7, 2025 // A secret ballot election for unionization requires a certain percentage of the bargaining unit to sign so-called “showing of interest” cards. When an organization allegedly has resorted to forgery is tasked with gathering and submitting these cards, it calls the integrity of the process into question. SB 1138 and HB 3838 present themselves as measures to improve workforce standards for care providers, but they have but one purpose — growing SEIU 503’s membership and influence. By embedding the union into training programs, handing it access to personal contact information and placing itself in workforce oversight, SEIU is positioned to grow its ranks at the expense of worker autonomy.
NUPD sergeant and sergeant detectives vote to be represented by a union
September 28, 2023 // On Sept. 8, the university filed a request for review of the NLRB’s decision and direction of election, citing that the regional director of the case “either misunderstood the evidence, misrepresented it, or simply ignored it — or a combination of all three — and misapplied the law.” The university reiterated its original arguments in opposing the election, saying the sergeants and sergeant detectives have independent judgment when issuing disciplinary and supervisory actions which would disqualify them from unionizing. On Sept. 15, the American Coalition of Public Safety filed a brief in opposition to the request for review, arguing that the university did not meet its burden of proof to show sergeants had supervisory status. Employees with supervisory status, or the ability to impose disciplinary actions and direct other employees using ‘independent judgment,’ are not protected under the National Labor Relations Act.
STATEN ISLAND: Amazon Union Dissidents, in Challenge to Leader, Move to Force Vote
July 11, 2023 // On Friday, the reform caucus sent the union’s leadership a letter laying out its proposal to hold prompt elections, saying it would go to court Monday if the leadership didn’t embrace the proposal. The reform group is made of up more than 40 active organizers who are also plaintiffs in the legal complaint, including Connor Spence, a union co-founder and former treasurer; Brett Daniels, the union’s former organizing director; and Brima Sylla, a prominent organizer at the Staten Island warehouse. The group said in its letter that enacting the proposal could “mean the difference between an A.L.U. which is strong, effective, and a beacon of democracy in the labor movement” and “an A.L.U. which, in the end, became exactly what Amazon warned workers it would become: a business that takes away the workers’ voices.”
Amazon now has a legal obligation to bargain with the union, and can face serious penalties if it doesn’t.
January 17, 2023 // The Amazon Labor Union has officially been certified by the National Labor Relations Board, the union announced on Wednesday night. Amazon is now legally obligated to start bargaining a contract in good faith with the ALU, nine months after workers first won their union election at the company’s mammoth JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island.