A principle of labor law is that if a majority of workers at a business want a union, they should be able to vote for one. And if the majority supports the union in that vote, they win. Unfortunately, this process doesn’t always work out that way, because under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), there is no quorum requirement. In other words, if there’s a workplace with 100 people in it, but only five vote in the election, the union could represent all 100 workers with just three votes. This would be like a presidential election with the winning candidate capturing just three percent of the electorate.
Rep. Tim Walberg has now introduced a bill to fix this problem and make union elections more democratic. In an opinion article in the August 2 edition of The Washington Times, Rep. Walberg discusses his Worker Enfranchisement Act. The bill, which is not yet posted to the House of Representatives website, reportedly would “require the participation of a two-thirds quorum of eligible employees in unionization elections, guaranteeing that a strong majority of workers’ voices are heard.”
The article goes on to say that if that quorum threshold is met, then the results of the election would stand, but if the threshold is not met then the election would be invalidated. It notes that even the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) operates by this quorum requirement—at least three of the Board’s five members must participate to issue a rule or decision.
For union organizers, the current system presents an incentive to focus their efforts just on those who support the union while ignoring those who do not. By driving up participation among the former, organizers increase the odds of a union victory even if it doesn’t amount to a true majority of the workplace.
By requiring participation of a two-thirds quorum, the Worker Enfranchisement Act would strengthen the rights of all workers who would be covered by a union contract. Moreover, as the article notes, if such a requirement were in place right now, “80% of the unionization elections in fiscal 2023 would still have been valid, and unions would have won nearly all of them.”
Time will tell what happens in this November’s elections, but depending on who wins the White House and each house of Congress, there may be an opportunity to enact meaningful labor reform legislation. The Worker Enfranchisement Act would be a welcome part of such an effort.
About the authors
Sean P. Redmond
Sean P. Redmond is Vice President, Labor Policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
