If successful, these efforts will add over 800 AT&T employees from California, Texas, and Tennessee who have challenged CWA card checks. Under card check, union organizers bypass the secret ballot election process and collect cards face-to-face from employees that are then counted as “votes” for the union. Many workers report being pressured or threatened into signing without the privacy of a secret ballot vote.
In Tennessee and elsewhere, CWA union officials argued that units of AT&T In-Home Experts unionized through card check were already “merged” into a larger unit comprised of thousands of employees. This would effectively trap workers in the union because petitioning for a decertification vote in such a large unit would be nearly impossible.
National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys successfully countered this argument, resulting in votes being scheduled. Faced with an inevitable vote among workers in Tennessee, California, and Texas, CWA officials conceded defeat instead of facing a decertification vote.
CWA union officials used the card check process to claim monopoly bargaining power over AT&T In-Home Experts in California, Tennessee, and Texas. However, Foundation-backed 2020 reforms to NLRB’s election rules allowed these workers to challenge the CWA union’s power successfully.
Collectively referred to as the “Election Protection Rule,” these reforms permit employees to submit decertification petitions within a 45-day window after finalizing a card check. The rule also prevents union officials from manipulating charges alleging employer misconduct to block workers from casting ballots in a decertification election.
The Biden-Harris NLRB issued a final rule in late July that will undo the Election Protection Rule and make it harder for rank-and-file workers to exercise their right to vote out union officials they oppose. While this rule change will not affect current decertification votes requested by AT&T Mobility employees, it will likely delay similar efforts after taking effect at the end of September.
The NLRB is responsible for enforcing federal labor law and administering votes to certify and decertify unions. Both employees filed decertification petitions in August with signatures from more than 30% of required employees and seek to challenge “card check” unionizations imposed by CWA bosses.
“If Mrs. Jones and Mr. Swift had filed their decertification petitions just a few months later, they would be trapped in a union they oppose,” commented National Right to Work Foundation President Mark Mix. “This is yet another example of the Biden-Harris NLRB steamrolling the rights of independent-minded employees so union bosses can expand their forced dues ranks.”
“American workers don’t deserve to be stripped of this freedom,” added Mix. “Those prevented from voting out unwanted union bosses due to this rule change are encouraged to contact the Foundation to explore their legal options.”
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