## Facts

- Lamons Gasket Co. operated a manufacturing facility in Houston, Texas.
- The employer voluntarily recognized the Steelworkers as exclusive representative of a unit based on a majority showing via authorization cards.
- Consistent with then-controlling precedent, the employer posted a notice advising employees of a 45-day period to file a decertification or rival-union petition.
- An employee timely filed a decertification (RD) petition supported by at least 30% of unit employees.
- While the petition was pending, the employer and union began bargaining and later reached a collective-bargaining agreement.
- The Regional Director directed a decertification election; the ballots were impounded pending Board review.
- The Board granted the union’s request for review to reconsider whether the Dana modification of the voluntary-recognition bar should be retained.

## Issues

1. Whether voluntary recognition based on a valid majority showing should bar decertification or rival-union petitions for a reasonable period, or whether the Dana 45-day post-recognition challenge window should continue to apply.
2. Whether the employee’s timely decertification petition filed after voluntary recognition should be processed to an election or dismissed as barred.

## Decision

- The Board overruled Dana Corp. and reinstated the traditional voluntary-recognition bar doctrine.
- The Board held that lawful voluntary recognition based on majority support bars decertification and rival-union petitions for a reasonable period to permit bargaining.
- The Board defined the reasonable period as generally no less than 6 months and no more than 1 year from the start of bargaining, assessed case-by-case.
- Applying the reinstated bar, the Board dismissed the decertification petition and did not count the impounded ballots.
- A dissent argued the change reduced employee free choice by removing a prompt, secret-ballot check on card-based recognition.

## Legal Principles

- Lawful voluntary recognition based on a demonstrated majority showing creates an immediate bar to processing decertification or rival-union petitions for a reasonable period.
- The reasonable period is generally 6 to 12 months from the onset of good-faith bargaining, with duration determined from bargaining-related facts (e.g., meeting frequency and progress toward agreement).
- The Board’s policy balances employee choice with stability in bargaining relationships; a temporary bar is treated as supporting effective collective bargaining.
- The bar does not protect recognition tainted by lack of majority support or unlawful conduct; unfair labor practice procedures remain available to challenge coercion or improper recognition.

## Conclusion

The Board rejected Dana’s notice-and-45-day election mechanism and restored a voluntary-recognition bar that temporarily blocks decertification and rival petitions after lawful, card-based recognition, dismissing the employee’s petition and leaving the parties’ bargaining relationship insulated for a reasonable bargaining period.


Lamons Gasket Co., 357 N.L.R.B. 739 (2011)