Authorization Cards and Union Representation Election Outcome: An Empirical Assessment of the Assumption Underlying the Supreme Court\u27s Gissel Decision

The National Labor Relations Act created the National Labor Re- lations Board (NLRB) and vested the Board with two principal respon- sibilities. First, the NLRB is responsible for conducting secret ballot elections among employees to ascertain whether they desire a collective bargaining representative.\u27 Second, the NLRB is responsible for reme- dying unfair labor practices.2 These dual responsibilities, protection of employee free choice and remediation of unfair labor practices, may conflict when the Board is asked to provide a remedy for unfair labor practices that occur during the course of a union representation elec- tion campaign. The Board has been concerned that where an employer engages in serious and pervasive unfair labor practices during an elec- tion campaign, the employees may become so intimidated that a secret ballot election could not determine accurately the employees\u27 senti- ments regarding union representation.