Decertification
Once a union is voted in, it is very difficult to remove. You can’t just “try out” a union. You can remove the union only through a process called decertification, where employees must do the work of collecting signatures and petitioning the National Labor Relations Board for an election to decertify the union.
When can a decertification election take place?
If voted in, the union cannot be decertified for a period of one year. Regardless of whether you like union representation or not, the Board will not accept any decertification efforts for the first year. If, after that, there is no contract in place, the bargaining unit can initiate decertification efforts.
If there is a contract in place after the first year, then a petition for decertification can be filed only during a thirty (30) day period between 60 and 90 days prior to expiration of the initial collective bargaining agreement.
The other common time that a decertification petition can be filed is after the third anniversary of a collective bargaining agreement that, by its terms, is longer than three years in duration.
Who gets to vote in a decertification election?
Any staff member who is covered by the collective bargaining agreement – regardless of whether they are members of the union or not.