Dealing a New Hand on Card Check

Committee for a Level Playing Field For Union Elections



Costco, Starbucks, Whole Foods


An unofficial 6 point plan for creating dialogue on alternatives to Card Check, purportedly from the group (and members above)













This post contains no assessment or opinion except to note that details necessary to accurately assess either the merits or the implications of these six points are notably lacking.

Also, dialogue is always good, but timing, content and presentation matter a lot.



Card Check Alternative


1) Secret Ballot. Guarantee the right of management and unions to require a secret ballot under all circumstances.

(2) Certification and Decertification Treated Equally. Permit management to initiate a decertification campaign through a secret ballot election just as employees and unions are presently able to initiate certification and decertification campaigns.


(3) Date Certain for Elections. Guarantee a fixed time period for the secret-ballot election--i.e., do not permit delays of an established day for a secret ballot to certify or decertify a union.


(4) Equal Access to Employees for Campaign Purposes. Level playing field for unions and management to access employees during non-working hours during the campaign period, e.g., permitting each to make presentations to employees at a neutral location concerning the issue of whether to form a union.


(5) Expedited Enforcement and Stricter Penalties. Expedited enforcement for serious and pervasive violations of law by labor and management and stricter penalties for serious and pervasive violations (e.g., unlawful discharges), including the penalty of mandatory injunctions when appropriate.


(6) Preserve Private Collective Bargaining. No mandatory arbitration that dictates contract terms, but stricter penalties and expedited enforcement for violations of good faith bargaining rules, including an expedited timetable to begin bargaining after union certification.