Informing Workers of the Right to Workplace Representation: Reasonably Moving from the Middle of the Highway to the Information Superhighway

The National Labor Relations Act gives American workers the right to workplace representation, yet many workers do not exercise this right because they lack the information necessary to make an informed decision during a union\u27s organizing campaign and subsequent election. The rules of union access to employer property prevent organizers from reaching workers with meaningful information. In an effort to balance a union\u27s access to workers, unions are given the names and addresses of the workers they seek to organize. Although achieving balance was a goal of introducing home visits to the representation campaign, unions are nonetheless still at a clear disadvantage in reaching workers with information. This Article recommends technology as a partial remedy to the imbalance in representation campaigns through the use of e-mail and Internet web sites. It recommends that employers provide un- ions with e-mail addresses of workers who have access to e-mail and it suggests that employers post notices of union Internet web sites. Through the use of technology more employees can receive the information necessary to effectuate their right to organize in the workplace