WASHINGTON – The American Meat Institute along with more than 225 of business groups joined forces in filing a brief urging the National Labor Relations Board to protect employees’ rights to secret ballot elections in union-organizing campaigns.

Lamons Gasket Company, 355 NLRB 157 (2010), which is the case before the NLRB, centers around “card check,” which is an essential component of the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).


The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and signatories asked the NLRB in an amicus brief filed this week not to abandon important protections against card check that were established in the 2007 Board decision Dana Corp, 351 NLRB 434. The brief urges the Board to preserve an employee’s right to petition the NLRB for a secret ballot election within 45 days of unionization through card check.

“Dana's 45-day notice period provides a narrow but necessary window for employees to test the majority status of a union recognized through card check,” according to the amicus brief.

AMI said that without this protection, employees could be denied access to a secret ballot election for up to a year, or possibly more.

To read the brief, visit:http://www.myprivateballot.com/docs/101030-amicus_brief_cdw_with_signatories.pdf.