Operations In Fiscal Year 1988 - National Labor Relations Board

IvRepresentation ProceedingsThe Act requires that an employer bargain with the representativedesignated by a majority of its employees in a unit appropriatefor collective bargaining. But it does not require that therepresentative be designated by any particular procedure as longas the representative is clearly the choice of a majority of theemployees. As one method for employees to select a majorityrepresentative, the Act authorizes the Board to conduct representationelections. The Board may conduct such an election after apetition has been filed by or on behalf of a group of employeesor by an employer confronted with a claim for recognition froman individual or a labor organization. Incident to its authority toconduct elections, the Board has the power to determine the unitof employees appropriate for collective bargaining and to formallycertify a collective-bargaining representative on the basis ofthe results of the election. Once certified by the Board, the bargainingagent is the exclusive representative of all employees inthe appropriate unit for collective bargaining with respect torates of pay, wages, hours of employment, and other conditionsof employment. The Act also empowers the Board to conductelections to decertify incumbent bargaining agents that have beenpreviously certified or that are being currently recognized by theemployer. Decertification petitions may be filed by employees,by individuals other than management representatives, or bylabor orgánizations acting on behalf of employees.This chapter concerns some of the Board's decisions duringthe past fiscal year in which the general rules governing the determinationof bargaining representative were adapted to novelsituations or reexamined in the light of changed circumstances.A. Bars to Conduct of ElectionsThe Board, in the interest of promoting the stability of laborrelations, will sometimes find that circumstances appropriatelypreclude the raising of a question concerning representation.One such circumstance occurs under the Board's contract-barrules. Under these rules, an election among employees currentlycovered by a valid collective-bargaining agreement may, withcertain exceptions, be barred by an outstanding contract. Generally,these rules require that, to operate as a bar, the contract41