The Right To Withdraw Recognition Is Under Attack

For over 65 years, an employer has had a legal right to withdraw recognition from an incumbent union based on the union's lack of majority status. In 1951, in Celanese, the NLRB permitted withdrawal based on the employer's "good faith belief" for the lack of majority status. In 2001, in Levitz Furniture, the standard was changed to require "objective evidence" to exercise the right to withdraw.

Often overlooked by the holding in Levitz Furniture was the fact that the then General Counsel sought to eliminate the right to withdraw recognition unless there was an RM or RD election to determine majority status. That dramatic change in the long-standing precedent was rejected by the NLRB in Levitz Furniture.