- Employees at Smith Power Products in Salt Lake City voted to decertify their union.
- Decertification process was initiated by employee Bryce Runia's petition.
- NLRB certified decertification after the vote passed 35 to 15.
Employees of Smith Power Products Inc recently voted to decertify and break free from their union, officials confirmed.
Earlier this month, the group of 58 workers held a secret ballot election administered by the National Labor Relations Board and voted to decertify the Operating Engineers Local Union No. 3.
The decertification process was led by Smith Power Products employee Bryce Runia, who filed a petition with the NLRB in November. The group received legal aid from National Right to Work Foundation’s staff attorneys to help with the process.
“This case serves as another reminder that, in addition to the vast majority of workers who polls show are happily non-union, there are numerous other employees in Utah and across America who are currently trapped in a union against their will,” said Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens.
The NLRB is a federal agency responsible for enforcing federal labor law. This includes administering votes to install or remove unions in workplaces. Seventy percent of the workers voted to decertify the union.
Last week’s election took place among all the full-time employees in the Parts and Service Department of the Smith Power Products in Salt Lake City. Utah is one of the 26 states with Right to Work protections which make union affiliation and dues payment strictly voluntary.
The petition to decertify the union was delayed because of the government shutdown.
After workers vote to decertify a union, any parties can raise objections or challenges, but in this case, that didn’t happen, so NLRB has certified that these workers are no longer under the Operating Engineers local union.
The union has been in place over these workers for around 30 years, according to an NLRB release. Because the union had been in place for decades, many of the current employees didn’t actually vote to put the union in place.
“My understanding is there was a feeling like the union wasn’t really doing much for them anymore, not a lot of communication, not a lot of results. And so they decided to re-evaluate the situation,” Semmens said.
When employees want to decertify a union, the employer isn’t allowed to assist them in the process, and so that’s why the National Right to Work Foundation helps with the legal process. The workers do have to campaign and decide to vote on their own.
“Our role is to make sure that they get the vote they requested, and then if there are any like I kind of referenced earlier objections or challenges to the vote to help them get through that part,” Semmens said.
Since 2000, there has been an increase in the number of unions getting decertified by employees, according to NLRB.