Legislation Proposed to Change Quickie Election Rules

Abstract

Unions are winning more elections than ever using the quickie, also known as “ambush,” election rules to cut into an employer's ability to campaign against the union. When there is only about two weeks between the union's filing of a National Labor Relations Board election petition—which may be the first notice the employer has of the union campaign—and the vote, unions win a lopsided 82 percent of the time. When employers have more than two weeks' notice, the union win rate drops to 67 percent, according to a Bloomberg BNA report. But the days of the union‐friendly, Obama‐era quickie election rules may be numbered, as Republicans have introduced legislation in Congress that would, among other things, set a minimum of 35 days from petition to election.