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An employee at Rowell Chemical Corporation in Willow Springs, Illinois, has requested that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) overturn a regional decision preventing a vote to remove the Teamsters Local 710 union. Jeffrey Johnston, the worker involved, is being assisted by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
The NLRB, headquartered in Washington, D.C., manages elections for union certification and decertification and resolves disputes between employers, unions, and employees. Johnston's appeal argues that regional officials blocked his request for a union removal vote based on questionable "blocking charges" filed by Teamsters against Rowell management.
Blocking charges are often used by union officials to delay or cancel decertification votes. These charges are sometimes unproven and unrelated to workers' reasons for wanting to remove a union. In 2020, the NLRB adopted reforms allowing workers to vote before related litigation was handled. However, in 2024 under the Biden administration, a new rule was implemented allowing union officials to use blocking charges to halt election proceedings entirely.
