Under what circumstances can the validity of an authorization card be challenged?

Authorization cards have taken on much greater significance as unions have shifted the organizing tactics toward card-check recognition. However, the possession of signed authorization cards does not necessarily mean that a majority of employees truly desire union representation. The cards on which the union bases its claim may be invalid. Consider:

• The employees' signatures may have been forged;

• The signatures may have been obtained through coercion: Employees may have been threatened that unless they signed, they would be out of a job once the union got in;

• The cards may have been tainted by supervisory assistance;

• The cards may be ambiguous or dual-purpose cards that authorize a union to file a petition for an election or support a demand for recognition;

• The language on the cards may be clear and unambiguous, but it may have been superseded by the misleading talk of the organizer soliciting signatures;

• The cards may be stale, that is, invalid because of the passage of time. Generally, cards are valid for a period of one year;

• The cards may have been revoked.

These reasons should put an employer on guard against the hasty acceptance of a union's demand for recognition based on signed authorization cards.

Source: Employer's Guide to Union Organizing Campaigns, Jackson Lewis (Aspen Publishers).