House Report Reveals ‘Blatant Misconduct’ In NLRB’s Mail Ballot Union Elections

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce released a report on Thursday detailing widespread mismanagement and misconduct by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in its expansion of mail ballot elections for unions. The report, which was initiated by a whistleblower cooperating with the committee, found that the NLRB’s November 2020 decision to increase the use of mail ballots due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to decreased voter turnout and a rise in institutional and integrity issues.

Education and the Workforce Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx criticized the NLRB, stating, “Through blatant misconduct that resulted in the disenfranchisement of workers participating in union elections, the NLRB has outright corrupted its once gold standard of secret ballot, onsite elections.”

The report cites several instances of misconduct, including an NLRB official in Buffalo, New York, informing voters that they could hand-deliver their ballots to the agency’s local office and slide them under the door if no one was there to accept them, violating the election agreement. In another case in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, region, an NLRB agent offered to deliver a ballot in person to a potential voter while on the clock, despite the notice of election requiring a secret ballot carried out by mail.

Internal emails also indicate that NLRB officials handling votes for an election by workers at Airway Cleaners appeared to change the number on a submitted ballot to reconcile discrepancies, violating integrity rules.

The NLRB has been emboldened under the Biden administration, with the president pledging to be the most “pro-union president you’ve ever seen.” The report’s findings highlight the need for increased oversight and accountability in the agency’s handling of union elections to ensure fairness and integrity in the process.

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