Two notable decertification wins in March and April 2026 highlight a trend the NLRB itself acknowledges: decertification petition filings are up nearly 40% since 2020.
Windstream North Carolina (March 18). More than 120 Windstream telecommunications employees across 12 North Carolina locations voted out the Communications Workers of America. Worker Grant Diorio filed the petition in January, and the NLRB approved a three-day in-person voting period. The vote covered employees at facilities in Matthews, Marshville, Wadesboro, Waxhaw, Rockwell, Denton, Mooresville, Tryon, Rural Hall, Monroe, and Aberdeen. North Carolina is a Right to Work state, but even there, the CWA had exclusive representation power until the workers voted it out.
Windham Community Memorial Hospital (April 7). Approximately 300 Windham, Connecticut healthcare workers voted to decertify their American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 5099 chapter by a 168-70 margin. AFT initially filed objections seeking to overturn the vote, then dropped them. Connecticut is one of 24 states without Right to Work protections, so AFT had been collecting dues from the entire bargaining unit. The decertification effort was spearheaded by hospital employee Sara Doner with help from the National Right to Work Foundation.
What’s driving the decertification wave:
* Failure to deliver contract gains. When organizing campaigns produce elections but not improvements, workers’ patience eventually runs out.
* Pandemic-era organizing that may not match what current workers want. Many of the 2020-2023 elections happened in specific cultural moments that no longer reflect everyone’s priorities.
* Union political activity that workers don’t want to fund. As public-sector union dues fund increasingly visible political activity, some members object.
For employers facing the opposite scenario — an organizing campaign — three considerations:
1. Workers who voted yes once can vote no later. The election is not the end of the relationship. How the union performs during the first 12-24 months matters enormously.
2. Decertification petitions face procedural hurdles. The one-year certification bar, contract bar, blocking ULP charges — these protect existing relationships and slow the decertification process.
3. Don’t assist a decertification. The Phoenix Energy Management decision (March 2026) found an employer violated the Act by assisting an employee in circulating a decertification petition. If workers want out, let them initiate it on their own.
Is the decertification wave a healthy correction — or a sign of structural failure in current labor law?
Windstream North Carolina (March 18). More than 120 Windstream telecommunications employees across 12 North Carolina locations voted out the Communications Workers of America. Worker Grant Diorio filed the petition in January, and the NLRB approved a three-day in-person voting period. The vote covered employees at facilities in Matthews, Marshville, Wadesboro, Waxhaw, Rockwell, Denton, Mooresville, Tryon, Rural Hall, Monroe, and Aberdeen. North Carolina is a Right to Work state, but even there, the CWA had exclusive representation power until the workers voted it out.
Windham Community Memorial Hospital (April 7). Approximately 300 Windham, Connecticut healthcare workers voted to decertify their American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 5099 chapter by a 168-70 margin. AFT initially filed objections seeking to overturn the vote, then dropped them. Connecticut is one of 24 states without Right to Work protections, so AFT had been collecting dues from the entire bargaining unit. The decertification effort was spearheaded by hospital employee Sara Doner with help from the National Right to Work Foundation.
What’s driving the decertification wave:
* Failure to deliver contract gains. When organizing campaigns produce elections but not improvements, workers’ patience eventually runs out.
* Pandemic-era organizing that may not match what current workers want. Many of the 2020-2023 elections happened in specific cultural moments that no longer reflect everyone’s priorities.
* Union political activity that workers don’t want to fund. As public-sector union dues fund increasingly visible political activity, some members object.
For employers facing the opposite scenario — an organizing campaign — three considerations:
1. Workers who voted yes once can vote no later. The election is not the end of the relationship. How the union performs during the first 12-24 months matters enormously.
2. Decertification petitions face procedural hurdles. The one-year certification bar, contract bar, blocking ULP charges — these protect existing relationships and slow the decertification process.
3. Don’t assist a decertification. The Phoenix Energy Management decision (March 2026) found an employer violated the Act by assisting an employee in circulating a decertification petition. If workers want out, let them initiate it on their own.
Is the decertification wave a healthy correction — or a sign of structural failure in current labor law?