What's an Armour-Globe Election?
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Satire: workers push an employee out. |
An Armour-Globe election is a special kind of union vote where a small, unrepresented group of employees can decide whether they want to join an existing union that already represents other workers at the same company.
Here's the hitch: The election will only be allowed if the group is clearly defined and shares enough in common with the current union group, like similar job duties or working conditions.
Article By Harrison Rose Tate
Armour-Globe Elections Aren't New
In fact, these two key cases are tied to the earliest days of the National Labor Relations Board.
Globe Machine & Stamping Co. (1939): Affirmed employees’ right to vote on inclusion in bargaining units under certain circumstances.
Armour & Co. (1944): The Board ruled that previously unrepresented employees could vote to join an existing unit.
To Join or Not to Join
On the upside, this ruling lets unions close the gap when a few employees are left out of an otherwise unionized workplace.
There are two basic scenarios. One is strategic. The other is organic.
In the strategic case, unions might leave certain employees out of the original bargaining unit if they’re not sure they’ll get majority support. Later, if those employees form a clearly defined group and have enough in common with the rest of the workforce, the union can file a petition to let them vote on joining. Alternately, they'll deliberately gerrymander. They'll carefully construct groups of employees to get majority support, which sometimes leaves certain individual employees or small groups of employees unrepresented in a context where a union represents all or almost all other employees at a facility.
Unions generally only try to organize a group or “unit” of employees the union thinks will deliver majority support to the union (by way of card-check for voluntary recognition or in a NLRB election).
In the organic case, workforces shift over time. New roles appear. Departments grow. Suddenly, there’s a small group of excluded employees who didn’t exist when the original union formed. An Armour-Globe election gives them a way in.
But it’s not always simple. The company may challenge whether the group really fits. There’s also no checkbox for Armour-Globe elections on the NLRB’s petition form, so special instructions must be provided. And even if the vote passes, the group doesn’t automatically get added to the contract. The union and company have to negotiate a separate, temporary agreement until the next bargaining cycle. Only then does it all roll into one deal.
They're More Common Than They Used to Be
You're not imagining it. Armour-Globe elections have become more common in recent years. There are several factors behind that trend:
- Increased union organizing efforts in sectors like healthcare, logistics operations and tech, where employees tend to be similar, but different.
- Union strategy: As mentioned above, rather than trying to organize a brand-new group from scratch, unions can start small, then add more workers little by little.
- Pro-union policy shifts under the Biden-era NLRB, which has generally favored broader interpretations of employee rights under the NLRA.
The Board has seen a noticeable uptick in petitions for Armour-Globe elections.
Really?
Yes, this actually happens. I know it seems obscure. Here are some examples.
A recent Armour-Globe election happened at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu. The Hawai’i Nurses' Association asked to add Respiratory Therapists to an existing group of unionized Radiation Therapists. The employer disagreed, saying the Respiratory Therapists were too different and didn’t belong in the same group. But the NLRB Regional Director decided the Respiratory Therapists were a clear, separate group and had enough in common with the Radiation Therapists to vote on joining them. The Director also said this would not create too many separate groups, which is something the Board tries to avoid in hospitals.
Another example comes from Clean Harbors Environmental Services. The union there wanted to add Drivers to a group of Mechanics who were already unionized. The NLRB Regional Director agreed the Drivers were a distinct group and had enough in common with the Mechanics, so an election was allowed to let the Drivers vote on joining the existing unit.
Cases to Watch
I also found a few pending Armour-Globe elections (as of today's date).
One example involves Wheatland Electric Cooperative. A union wanted to add a Vehicle Maintenance Coordinator, three Warehousemen, and a Warehouse Supervisor to a group of electrical workers. The NLRB Director said only the Coordinator had enough in common with the current unit. So only that position will vote in a self-determination election. The other two are out, for now.
Another case is at Precision Strategies, where the union petitioned to add 14 Associate Vice Presidents to an existing group. The NLRB found that these AVPs were not supervisors and had enough in common with the unit, so they will vote on whether to join.
Is it just me, or should anyone with "Vice President" in their title automatically qualify as a supervisor? That, of course, is meant in half-jest. Admittedly, I don't know the details of this case.
A third example comes from Aspirus St. Luke’s Hospital. The union there wanted to add patient placement nurses to a unit of registered nurses. The NLRB said they were a distinct group and shared common interests, so an election was approved.
These recent and pending cases show how Armour-Globe elections are used across different industries to let employees vote on joining existing union groups when it makes sense to do so.
Good Strategy?
So yes, Armour-Globe elections are real, they’re getting more common, and no, they’re not just some obscure corner of labor law trivia. Whether you’re in HR, labor, law, or just like obscure corners of things, what do you think? Smart unionization strategy, or slippery slope? Best to be left to situations where the bargaining unit has genuinely changed, or just good old-fashioned democracy at work?
Drop your thoughts here. I’m genuinely curious.