Louisiana poultry worker seeks NLRB review over blocked union decertification vote

Coty Hally, an employee at Wayne Sanderson Farms' poultry facility in Hammond, Louisiana, is challenging a decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that prevents him and his coworkers from voting out the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 455 union. Hally's challenge is against the "contract bar," a policy that protects union officials from decertification efforts for three years after a union contract is signed.

Hally argues that this policy limits employees' rights to choose their representatives. "The contract-bar is a Board created limitation on employee statutory rights to seek an election and determine their own representative," states Hally’s Request for Review. He believes it conflicts with the National Labor Relations Act's core purpose.

Hally claims UFCW officials have not been negotiating effectively for workers like him. "This union doesn’t represent us, and it’s ridiculous that the UFCW is manipulating this one dated NLRB policy to keep us trapped in the union," he commented.