The NLRA’s Section 8(f) allows employers engaged primarily in the building and construction industry to sign a union-security agreement with a union without the union being designated as the representative of its employees. The agreement can be made before any employees are hired for a project and it will apply to the employees when they are hired. As noted above, however, the union-security provisions of a collective bargaining contract in the building and construction industry may become effective with respect to new employees after seven full days. If the agreement is made while employees are on the job, it must allow existing employees the same seven-day grace period to comply.1

For such a union-security agreement to be valid, it must meet the following requirements:

The union must not have been assisted or controlled by the employer.
The union must be the majority representative of the employees in the appropriate collective-bargaining unit covered by such agreement when made.
The union’s authority to make such an agreement must not have been revoked within the previous 12 months by the employees in a board election.
The agreement must provide for the appropriate grace period.

Collective bargaining contracts in the building and construction industry can include the following additional provisions:

A provision that the union be notified about job openings.
A provision that gives the union an opportunity to refer qualified applicants for such jobs.
A provision that creates job-qualification standards based on training or experience.
A provision for priority in hiring based on length of service with the employer, in the industry or in the particular geographic area.

These four hiring provisions may lawfully be included in collective bargaining contracts that cover employees in other industries as well. Finally, pursuant to Section 14(b) of the NLRA, individual states may prohibit certain forms of union-security agreements, and some states have done so. These states are often referred to as right-to-work states.

1. 29 U.S.C. sec. 158(a)(3)

Construction Industry Pre-Hire Union-Security Agreements

Union Security Agreements