How to Form a Union

If you are at the stage of getting your coworkers involved, you’ve already had a couple of meetings with a UNAC/UHCP organizer where you explained your workplace concerns and you’ve learned the steps needed to form a union. Once you come to understand that most of your concerns have been resolved by nurses at other UNAC/UHCP hospitals due to strong professional contract language (i.e., team nursing, floating, staffing ratios, staffing according to patient acuity, protection against unfair terminations and write-ups, etc.), you are ready to talk to your coworkers about forming a union. In order to form a union, a large majority must want to form a union with you. It’s important for you to meet with an organizer to learn the best way to build a strong majority.

The simplest method to form a union is through Majority Sign-up. UHCP provides you with union authorization cards and if 50 percent plus one of your coworkers sign the cards in favor of forming a union, then you can get certified by the Federal Government, thus clearing the way for you and your coworkers to start negotiating with your management.

Any employee who does not sign a written authorization form is presumed not to support union representation. The Majority Sign-up method of forming a union avoids coercion and harassment of employees and eliminates some of the delays that frustrate employees’ efforts to form unions. In fact, academic studies show that workers who organize under Majority Sign-up feel less pressure from coworkers to support the union than workers who organize under the NLRB Election process.

Workers who vote by Majority Sign-up also report far less pressure or coercion from management to oppose the union than workers who go through NLRB Elections. Many responsible major companies such as Kaiser Permanente and Cingular Wireless have agreed to recognize a union when a majority of employees sign-up. These employers have found Majority Sign-up to be a free and fair way to assess workers’ choice—and it results in less conflict between employers and employees.

NLRB Election

In 1935, Congress enacted the National Labor Relations Act. The federal government created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to preside over union elections. People call the current NLRB Election system a secret ballot election, but it’s not like any democratic election held anywhere else in our society. It’s really a management-controlled election process where hospital administrators have all the power.

Most employers will insist that you form your union through the NLRB Election process, rather than Majority Sign-up. Take a moment to think why your employer would insist that you form your union this way. If you guessed that it’s more difficult and takes a lot more time than the Majority Sign-up method, then you guessed correctly. Employers control the information you can receive and routinely poison the process by intimidating, harassing, coercing and even firing employees who try to organize unions. It’s hard to imagine any employee having free choice after being browbeaten by a supervisor to oppose the union or being told they may lose their job and livelihood if they vote for the union.

We want you to be able to form a union as quickly as possible so that you can move on to negotiations with management. The quickest path to certifying your union is through Majority Sign-up. We find that most Health Care Professionals prefer to have their union certified by having the majority of their coworkers sign union authorization cards.

Even if Majority Sign-up is your preference, with the way the law is structured today management has the right to force you and your coworkers to have an election. Once this happens, an agreement must be reached between you and management. Typically, employers use this as a delaying point to draw your election out as long as possible.

After the NLRB has determined that greater than 30 percent support for a union has been achieved through gathered Union Representation Authorization Cards, they will preside over negotiations between you (supported by UNAC/UHCP) and your management to determine an election date and location and who should be included in your union. After an election date is set, it is very common for employers to start their campaign to convince you and your coworkers not to form a union. We believe that, as Health Care Professionals, we have the ability to choose a union – free of employer disruption.

Yes, your card is confidential. You might be wondering how your employer will know whether you and your coworkers have obtained enough card signers to qualify for an election. The answer is simple – instead of your management checking the cards, a neutral Federal agent from the National Labor Relations Board will verify the results and notify your management whether or not enough support was obtained to trigger an election. Your card is 100% confidential.

UNAC/UHCP’s position is that everyone should be allowed to be part of the union, except Health Care Professionals who have the ability to hire and fire. Full-time, part-time, and rotating Charge Nurses are part of our union at almost every UNAC/UHCP hospital and we believe they should be included in your union. You should be aware that your employer might insist that all Charge Nurses be removed from your union effort in order to weaken your ability to win your election. You definitely have the right to make a case for who should be included in your union.

Elections can take place on one day or over several days. Voting is optional and the majority of the submitted votes will determine the outcome of the election. If there are 100 eligible Health Care Professionals who work for your employer, and 50 of them vote, then 26 must vote “Yes” in order for you to win your election.

On Election Day, a neutral agent from the National Labor Relations Board will conduct your election. The location of the election might be at your hospital or at a nearby, neutral location.

There will most likely be three observers in the voting room. One of the observers will be one of your pro-union coworkers; another will be a person chosen by your employer who is NOT a member of management; and the final person will be the NLRB Government Agent. These observers are there to ensure that all the rules are followed.

You will first be asked to verify your identity with your Employer ID. Then you will receive a ballot that you will be asked to fill out privately in a voting booth. Once you have completed your ballot, you will be asked to fold it and place it in a voting box. Your vote will be anonymous because you are only allowed to check the box “Yes” or “No” – you are not allowed to write your name. Doing so will invalidate your vote.