“There are three kinds of lies: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics”
Mark Twain
There is an National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) statistic that union’s love to cite, namely that unions win well north of 68% of all elections held to organize a company. This is simply a twisting of statistics. For example, many formally filed union petitions will never show up in these NLRB statistics! Why? Because if a union withdraws its petition because it knew that it had zero chance of winning, the NLRB does not include that petition in the union win/loss record. For the unions, no election means no loss which means better stats. It’s all smoke and mirrors!
Who Really Wins Most Elections?
Here are the real numbers. In fiscal year 2021, unions filed 1,125 Representation Petitions with the NLRB. 145 of those petitions were withdrawn by unions after effective employer campaigns eroded its initial support to the point the union knew it would lose a vote!
According to NLRB records Unions won 529 elections. This gave the unions a 54% win-rate (the lowest in years!). But wait! Unions withdraw 145, or a little more than 1 in 10 petitions filed, because employer campaigning or legal maneuvering diminished support to a point the union had no hope of winning. A withdrawal is the same as a union loss! 529 wins out of 1,125 petitions filed represents a 47% win-rate.
Despite the rhetoric or union narrative, Employers in 2021 won a majority of the election petitions filed.
Due Diligence
Employers must always take a union petition very seriously. Statistics show that the cost of running a union versus non-union business is 20 – 25% higher. If you receive a petition seek advice from an expert. You need a legal strategy and a campaign strategy to secure these withdrawals, or in the case of an election, the winning vote tally. Call NLRA for some quick advice and to assist with your campaign. We bring a win home for our clients 96% of the time. Check us out at NLRAdvocates.com or grab a free 15 minute consult.
