Importance of Voting in NLRB Elections

Do employees have to vote?

• No, but we want everyone to vote and everyone should vote.
• Employees have the right to decide whether or not to participate in union activities or the election process. However, managers will encourage employees to vote because the election will be decided by a simple majority of employees who actually vote. For example, if only 10 people vote, just six votes will determine the outcome for the entire unit– which in this case is several hundred Post engineering employees.
• Even if employees do not want to vote or be involved, if the union is voted in, they will be part of the bargaining unit, the union will be their bargaining representative, and they will be covered under any labor contract that is negotiated – they cannot opt out.  

Is an employee bound to vote “yes” for the union if they signed an authorization card?

• No.
• Employees who earlier signed cards authorizing the Tech Guild to petition for an election are not bound to vote for the union. Even if they signed a card, they have the right to vote “no” to the union in the election. 
• It is not uncommon for employees to change their minds about having a union after they’ve heard from both their employer and the union. So far, employees have only heard the union’s side. We want them to hear The Post’s views too. 
• How each employee votes is their choice alone. In NLRB-supervised secret ballot elections, no one knows how any individual voted (unless the employee chooses to share).