Citation

Lafer G. Working USA 2008; 11(1): 71-98.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1743-4580.2008.00187.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The election procedures of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) fall dramatically short of American standards defining “free and fair” elections, and indeed embody practices that our government would reject in any other country. This article examines the ways in which the Employee Free Choice Act, mandating union recognition based on signed statements from a majority of employees, redresses some of the most undemocratic aspects of current NLRB practice. Finally, the article argue that the analogy between unionization and elections to public office is fundamentally misplaced. When the act of union formation is correctly understood, the logic of creating a union through signed statements is even clearer. Ultimately it is unionization itself—not the process through which employees choose to form a union—that creates lasting democratic practices within the workplace.