How Do I File A Petition or Remove A Union?
The National Labor Relations Act provides the legal framework for private-sector employees to organize into bargaining units in their workplace, or to dissolve their labor unions through a decertification petition.
Information Officers at any NLRB Regional Office will answer questions regarding representation or decertification petitions and provide assistance with completing petition forms. To file a petition to form a union or to decertify an existing one, parties must file the forms at the Regional Office that has jurisdiction over the area where the workplace is located. Go to the page titled Locating Our Offices to find a Regional Office.
The filing of a petition seeking certification or decertification of a union should be accompanied by a sufficient showing of interest to support such a petition. Support is typically demonstrated by submitting dated signatures of at least 30% of employees in the bargaining unit in favor of forming a union, or to decertify a currently recognized union.
For more information on filing a union organization or decertification petition, read the Procedures Guide.
Any union, employer or individual may file a petition to obtain an election conducted by the NLRB.
Workers Excluded from NLRB Coverage
The NLRA does not include coverage for all workers. The Act specifically excludes from its coverage individuals who are:
- employed as agricultural laborers
- employed in the domestic service of any person or family in a home
- employed by a parent or spouse
- employed as an independent contractor
- employed as a supervisor (supervisors that have been discriminated against for refusing to violate the NLRA may be covered)
- employed by an employer subject to the Railway Labor Act, such as railroads and airlines
- employed by Federal, state, or local government
- employed by any other person who is not an employer as defined in the NLRA
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