East End Food Co-op Workers Union Files for NLRB Election
Submitted on Wed, 08/02/2006 - 4:06am
On July 29th, the East End Food Co-op Workers Committee/IWW filed for a union recognition election with the National Labor Relations Board. We believe that involving the NLRB at this time will expedite the process towards an election and provide us with clear, legal guidance in determining certain legal issues, such as defining the bargaining unit and the conditions by which an election is valid.
Since July 12th we had tried to negotiate the terms of a non-NLRB election with management and UCW, but we found the process to be too complicated and impractical. In addition, certain issues such as ballot design were certain for impasse—a stalemate that would have eventually involved the NLRB. As there was no guarantee that a third-party election agreement would be reached by the end of July, it was in our best interest that we proceed with an NLRB election and let the Board resolve any issues upon which the parties have not reached agreement to date.
NLRB involvement addresses the concerns of both management and the union that employees participate in a democratic, fair, and legally valid election. With the NLRB’s guidance, we are assured that all of us can participate in a meaningful process towards union representation.