Employment Law Report
Union Election Scoreboard: National Statistics
To help our readers follow union election activity in our practice area, we will occasionally post election statistics and other information, such as locations of activity and the companies and unions involved. For starters, here is the big picture, using nationwide statistics from election reports of the National Labor Relations Board, which are viewable on line at
http://www.nlrb.gov/publications/reports/election_reports.aspx.
Union Election Win Rates, 2000-2009
2009 | – | 66.8% |
2008 | – | 62.4% |
2007 | – | 58.6% |
2006 | – | 57.5% |
2005 | – | 58.9% |
2004 | – | 55.5% |
2003 | – | 56.4% |
2002 | – | 55.6% |
2001 | – | 53.1% |
2000 | – | 51.2% |
This data is for elections where the employees were not already represented by a union and were voting whether or not to be represented. Win rates in cases involving incumbent unions are even higher.
This data unquestionably shows that union win rates are going up and that for at least a decade unions have won a majority of these elections. This undermines organized labor’s argument that Congress needs to pass the Employee Free Choice Act in order to level the playing field. While the compromise bill reportedly being crafted by members of the Senate HELP Committee eliminates the card check provision of the original bill, this data indicates that even the provision for enhanced penalties against employers is unnecessary, because it shows that employers en masse are not illegally intimidating employees to vote against union representation.
