U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Compensation and Working Conditions Online

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Union Representation Elections, 1998-2002

Originally Posted: April 28, 2003

National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Union Representation Elections, 1998-2002 (1)
Year	Total number of elections	Elections won by unions	Percent won by unions	Number of eligible employees in wins
1998	3,339	1,869	56	90,658
1999	3,162	1,676	53	104,045
2000	2,988	1,549	51	107,359
2001	2,707	1,445	53	79,765
2002	2,599	1,423	54	78,243
Footnotes: (1) Closed cases resulting from petitions filed by a union or employees seeking an election to determine a collective bargaining representative, or petitions from employers seeking an election to determine a collective bargaining representative.
Source: National Labor Relations Board.

One of the principal functions of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is to determine, through secret-ballot elections, the free choice of employees regarding whether or not they wish to be represented by a union in dealing with their employers, and if they do wish to be, by which union. The following is a summary of the NLRB union representation elections for the 1998-2002 period:

The number of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) union representation elections declined in 4 consecutive years during the 1998-2002 period.
The number of NLRB elections won by unions also declined 4 years in a row during the period.
The percent of NLRB elections won by unions ranged from 51 to 56 percent over the 5-year period, with slight increases occurring from 2000 to 2002.
The number of eligible employees affected by NLRB elections that were won by unions fluctuated over the 5-year period, increasing substantially from 1998 to 1999 and declining markedly from 2000 to 2001.

Michael H. Cimini
Economist (Retired), formerly with the Office of Compensation and Working Conditions, Bureau of Labor Statistics.