Bush administration appointees on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) are exploring a new way to block workers from union representation.

In June, the three-member majority on the NLRB agreed to hear three cases involving objections to card-check recognition agreements. The majority members were appointed by President Bush.

Two of the organizing cases involve the United Auto Workers. Another case involves the Steelworkers.

The UAW cases stemmed from the union's negotiated agreements for card-check recognition with two auto component manufacturers. The majority of workers at Metaldyne in St. Marys, Pa., and Dana Corp. in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, signed cards designating the UAW as their representative.

Before the UAW could bargain first contracts, three workers represented by the anti-union National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation filed petitions with the NLRB to hold a decertification election.

Regional NLRB directors dismissed the RTW petitions based on the NLRB's long-standing policy and legal precedent that unions and employers, once representation rights are established, must be given time to bargain and develop a relationship without interference from an election.

The two dissenting Democrats on the board in Washington, D.C., cited this policy: "A bargaining relationship once rightfully established must be permitted to exist and function for a reasonable period of time in which it can be given a fair chance to succeed."

The NLRB majority said it would hear the RTW appeals of the cases "as they raise substantial issues regarding whether the employers' voluntary recognition of the union bars a decertification petition for a reasonable period of time under the circumstances of these cases."

UAW Pres. Ron Gettelfinger said the "temporary ban on decertification exists to prevent a minority of workers from exercising a veto over the decision made by a majority to elect union representation."

"Card-check elections are a fair and efficient procedure, recognized for decades by the National Labor Relations Board and the courts of the United States," said Gettelfinger. "Their use should be expanded – not curtailed."

"As even the majority of the board admits," Gettelfinger said, "no party to this case 'challenges the legality of voluntary recognition.'"

Labor and human rights groups have long criticized U.S. labor laws and their lack of enforcement for encouraging employer violations of the internationally recognized right of workers to join unions and bargain collectively.

For example, according to Kate Bronfenbrenner of Cornell University, more than 90 percent of private sector employers force workers to attend mandatory closed-door meetings against the union during organizing campaigns. Other studies have demonstrated that other forms of employer harassment, intimidation and threats are common during organizing campaigns.

Some 200 members of the House of Representatives and 30 members of the Senate – including leading Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (D-Mass.) – have endorsed the Employee Free Choice Act, H.R. 3619 and S. 1925.

The bills would allow card-check recognition as an alternative to traditional NLRB representation elections; provide mediation and arbitration for first contract disputes; and establish stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first contract negotiations.