Card Checks and Neutrality Agreements
Regardless of the reason unions lose more elections than they win, one thing is clear: Many
unions including UNITE HERE (the union representing the largest number of hotel employees) no longer
wish to organize under the traditional NLRB election rules. In fact, as one organizer stated: "[W]e will
never go to an NLRB election again."3 Instead UNITE HERE's strategy is to organize using card-check and
neutrality agreements instead of NLRB-supervised elections. To accomplish this objective, unions need
to have some leverage over employers to pressure them into signing card-check and neutrality
agreements.
Although neutrality agreements come in several forms, the common denominator for all of
them is that employers agree to stay neutral with regard to the unions attempt to organize the
workforce in exchange for the union promising labor peace.4 Some agreements simply state that the
employer will remain neutral with no other language, while other agreements contain more specific
provisions.5 For example, UNITE HERE's standard agreements clearly state that employers "will not
communicate opposition" to the union's efforts.
Neutrality agreements commonly provide the union with access to employees in the form of a
list of their names and addresses (and sometimes telephone numbers), as well as permission to come
onto company property during work hours for the purpose of collecting signed authorization cards. This
provision diverges from the guidelines set up by the NLRB and the courts, under which an employer has
no obligation to provide the union with such sweeping access to its employees, and may actually be
prohibited from doing so.
Finally, most neutrality agreements also include a card-check provision, which requires the
employer to recognize the union if a majority of bargaining-unit employees sign authorization cards.
Under a card-check agreement, the employees do not engage in a secret-ballot election. Instead, the
employer recognizes the union if it presents the company with a majority of signed authorization cards.
From an employer perspective, the obvious problem with card-check and neutrality agreements is that it
takes away your ability to campaign against the union.