Healthcare employee fights union interference in decertification election

Laura Gallo, a Senior Patient Representative at Sun River Health in Long Island, New York, has taken significant steps to challenge the United Healthcare Workers East union's attempt to prevent her and her coworkers from holding a vote to decertify the union. After submitting a petition for union decertification to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in August, Gallo encountered an unexpected hurdle when her petition was dismissed by an NLRB Regional Director without an opportunity for correction.

Gallo’s efforts have gained support from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which is providing her with free legal assistance. The foundation's attorneys filed a brief contesting the dismissal of the petition by NLRB Region 29, suggesting that it may have been influenced by secretive communications between the region and union officials. Following this intervention, NLRB Region 29 agreed to reconsider Gallo’s petition.

In New York, where Right to Work protections do not apply to private sector employees, workers can be compelled to pay union dues or fees as part of their employment contracts. A successful decertification vote would remove these obligations and end the union's monopoly bargaining power over all employees in a workplace.