Card check

Card check, also called majority sign-up, is a method for employees to organize into a labor union, in which a majority of employees in a bargaining unit sign authorization forms, or "cards", stating they wish to be represented by the union. Based on this evidence that the majority of eligible employees want a union, the employees can request their employer to voluntarily recognize the union. In the United States, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) enables voluntary recognition based on majority support an alternative to the National Labor Relations Board's (NLRB) election procedures.

As of 2025, card check allows for unionization without an election in five of Canada's ten provinces when a majority of employees indicate support via authorization cards. In Canada, card check was recognized nationwide prior to the 1980s, when six provinces mandated union elections, after which the country's union density declined by 7% from 1984 to 1998.

United States

Current law

Section 9(a) of NLRA (29 U.S.C. § 159) states that a union may be "designated or selected for the purposes of collective bargaining by the majority of the employees". There are three ways for workers to form a union in a particular workplace in the United States:

A petition or an authorization card with the signatures of at least 30% of the employees requesting a union is submitted to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), then the NLRB orders and oversees a secret ballot election using NLRB election procedures.

As an alternative, if a majority (over 50%) of the employees sign authorization cards requesting a union, the employees can present the evidence to the employer that a majority of employees want a union, and the employer can voluntarily choose to waive the secret ballot election process and recognize the union. The employees may work with a neutral third party to validate signed cards; validating signed cards with an arbitrator can protect the privacy of employees who signed cards or not. Based on the 2023 Cemex decision, if the employer does not choose to voluntarily recognize a union after presentation of majority support, the employer needs to file a petition with the NLRB to initiate a secret ballot election.