Why does union decertify

A unionized employer no longer has the ability to negotiate the terms and conditions of employment individually with their employees. Rather, the terms and conditions are provided through a binding contract between the employer and union, known as the collective agreement [link to collective agreement].

Once a union is certified, then the collective bargaining phase starts. Similar to certification, in Ontario the Labour Relations Board may cancel a certification at any time, given that certain circumstances are met. A de-certification occurs where the majority of employees no longer support the union, or in circumstances where they do not want the union to represent them anymore.

Where it is shown that the union has in fact lost the support of the employees, then in these cases it may become possible to decertify the union under certain conditions. An application for decertification of a union cannot be brought until certain statute-mandated timelines and conditions are met.

During the de-certification process, it is important that employers do not interfere with the procedure. First, decertification petitions can be filed no more than 90 days and no less than 60 days before the expiration of a collective bargaining agreement. Thus, employees have a one-month period three months before the expiration of their contract in which they can file a decertification petition.

Second, decertification petitions can be filed after the collective bargaining agreement has expired. Since may agreements are extended during bargaining and never expire because employers do not want the threat of a strike , employees electing this option risk missing the window to file the decertification petition. Once a decertification petition is filed with the NLRB, a campaign period is triggered, and an election will be held a few weeks later.

She said that she was never presented with a card. Ivey and her colleagues then collected signatures for a Dana decertification election. After receiving the requisite number of signatures, she applied to the NLRB for a decertification election. Unfortunately, the Board handed down the Lamons Gasket decision between the time of the petition and the time of the election. As a result, Ivey and her colleagues were denied a secret ballot vote.

The four-year period in which workers must wait to ask for a secret ballot election for decertification after card check recognition, coupled with the overruling of Dana, makes addressing the problems associated with card check unreasonably difficult.