This one came off the wire yesterday. After the Louisville Trader Joe's won its union election in January of this year, the company filed a dispute to contest the win on six grounds, including "[unlawful interference] with the conduct of the election" and "[unlawful intimidation and coercion of] eligible voters". They alleged, among other things, that:
The Union, through its agents, officers, and representatives, interfered and restrained employees in the exercise of their Section 7 rights and tainted the results of the election through additional unlawful conduct that created an atmosphere of fear and coercion and interfered with the laboratory conditions necessary to conduct a free and fair election and/or created a general atmosphere of fear and reprisal that rendered a free election
impossible.
Unfortunately for this would-be union busting company, the NLRB does not appear to have any sympathy for these arguments. Yesterday Hearing Officer Tamilyn A. Moore overruled all six objections in their entirety, finding them to be generally lacking in merit overall. Although I think Trader Joe's is still technically able to appeal the decision, it seems pretty clear that the official certification of the Louisville location cannot be stopped at this point.
You can read the full ruling here, in any case. Congratulations to Louisville Trader Joe's United on their win in this dispute!