Denied the Right to Bargain: Why We Need First Contract Arbitration

The goal of workers seeking to form a union is to sit at the table with the employer
and bargain an agreement on their wages, benefits, and working conditions. Gaining
union representation can be a long and arduous process for workers. Even when workers
are able to form a union, the NLRA fails them because so many are denied the right to
collectively bargain with their employer.

A recent study document that only 38% of new unions are able to negotiate a first
contract within one year of NLRB certification and only 56% are able to achieve a
contract after two years. That means that under the NLRA, 44% of new unions still don't
have contracts two years after they are certified, and many newly-unionized workers
never achieve a first contract.

We broke down what these delays mean for several states. Download the individual reports here.


Sources

1. John-Paul Ferguson, The Eyes of the Needles: A Sequential Model of Union Organizing Drives, 62 Industrial Relations Review No. 1, (Oct. 2008).

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