I thought we won the election–why are we having another one?

On July 17th, we, the workers of CIS, voted in favor of unionizing with AFSCME Local 1739. Unfortunately, the National Labor Relations Board made a clerical error, and CEO Susan Schonfeld is contesting the results of the election.

To be clear, the NLRB recognized the union’s win - it was only after Susan submitted a formal objection that the union’s win was called into question. We were faced with two options - go to court over this objection, which could take 8 months to a year, or run a re-election immediately. In order to avoid dragging out this process further for our coworkers and risk delaying bargaining for better working conditions, we agreed to a re-election. All this means is that we will receive ballots in the mail again, and vote once more.

The Board made an unfortunate mistake, but your voice will be heard. Management often takes every available opportunity to prevent a union. We will not let this stop us from unionizing. For information on when you’ll receive your ballots, as well as when and how to mail them, visit https://unitedcisworkers.wixsite.com/ciswu/election-guidelines .

As a reminder, whether or not to unionize is our decision to make - not Susan’s. Despite our requests for CIS to remain neutral, Susan continues to send “Vote No” emails on a daily basis and schedule meetings meant to confuse and intimidate employees in order to prevent a union. We continue to ask that she respect our request to remain neutral. Our decision is a federally protected right and may not be interfered with.

You can find the timeline of events in the election process, including the objection filed by CIS (“Employer”) on July 24th, here: https://www.nlrb.gov/case/04-RC-312207.