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When workers come together to form a union, they’re making a choice to build collective power and win the pay, benefits and workplace standards they deserve. The road to unionization is, far too often, a tough one. But as employees at Dallas-area contractor Stratus Systems demonstrated, solidarity on the job can help workers overcome the challenges in their path.

From 2023 through 2026, workers at Stratus Systems worked with SMART Local 68 members and organizers to build an organizing campaign through sustained outreach, relationship building and the determination of trusted worker leaders.

Organizer Yadriel Carrasquillo and Local 67 Production Organizer Ralph Gomez

Workers fight for their union

The campaign began years ago — and originally met what could have been a devastating setback.

Following worker-to-worker outreach in early 2023 that quickly turned into an organizing campaign by the end of the year, workers filed for an election to join Local 68 with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). When the election took place in January 2024, union supporters lost. But that wasn’t the end of the road. The organizing team rebuilt support by strengthening worker engagement, forming an internal organizing committee and expanding worker-led communication. The result? Out of 168 workers at the company, 96 signed cards signaling their intent to join Local 68.

Then, another setback: The United States government shut down, including the NLRB, significantly delaying the workers’ efforts.

Again, the workers refused to give up. In early 2026, organizers secured a rerun NLRB election, then executed an intensive campaign featuring daily strategy meetings, rapid response jobsite outreach, worker-to-worker messaging and strong support from volunteer leaders.

“Everyone was feeling excited because we knew that the workers knew the union had their backs by the workers’ smiles, honks and waves,” said Organizer Yadriel Carrasquillo, who had previously worked as a journeyperson on a jobsite alongside many Stratus employees.

Production Organizer Ralph Gomez, Stratus worker Modesto, Yadriel Carrasquillo, SMART Local 67 Marketing Rep. George Plane
Plane and International Organizer Rico Sanchez after giving handbills to workers

And on May 1, 2026, workers voted in favor of union representation, making SMART Local 68 the certified representative of Stratus Systems employees.

The campaign demonstrated the importance of persistence, worker leadership and coordinated organizing in overcoming setbacks and achieving a successful union election.

Welcome, brothers and sisters!

Worker leaders, pictured above, started the campaign and kept driving it forward

In May 2026, the employees of Energy Services in Naperville, Illinois, demonstrated the power of solidarity when they voted 17-3 to join SMART Local 265. The National Labor Relations Board election itself was decisive; it was also the culmination of months of organizing and years of relationships built among coworkers who viewed one another as more than just fellow employees.

For many of the workers at Energy Services, a residential service company in the greater Chicago area, the company was a second home. A significant portion of the workforce had spent between 8 and 12 years building the business and serving customers together. They celebrated milestones, supported one another through difficult times and developed a level of trust that can only come from years of working side-by-side.

That trust became the foundation of a successful organizing campaign.

Organizing for change

The catalyst for change came in late 2025 and early 2026, following a private equity acquisition. As new ownership took control, workers began seeing changes that raised concerns about the future of the company and their livelihoods.

Compensation structures employees had relied upon for years began changing. Workers experienced reductions in pay while increased emphasis was placed on commission-based sales opportunities. Employees who had built careers around providing quality service found themselves questioning the company’s direction and what those changes would mean for both workers and customers.

Across many industries, private equity acquisitions often bring promises of efficiency and growth. Workers, however, frequently bear the burden: They experience pressure to increase profits, reduce labor costs and prioritize short-term financial returns. The employees at Energy Services worried that the workplace culture they had spent years building was beginning to erode.

Those concerns extended beyond long-time employees. Veterans of the company felt a responsibility to protect newer coworkers from further reductions in pay, benefits or workplace stability. What began as conversations among trusted coworkers quickly grew into something larger.

Workers spoke openly about the challenges they faced and the future they wanted to create. Rather than focusing solely on individual concerns, discussions centered on how, by acting collectively, they could provide stability, fairness and a meaningful voice in workplace decisions.

Worker-to-worker organizing builds workplace power

SMART Local 265 Organizers Jay Jones, Joel Orozco and Mike Powers worked alongside the employees throughout the campaign, providing guidance, resources and organizational support. Behind the scenes, the effort included countless evening phone calls, organizing committee meetings and weekend strategy sessions. The goal was never to speak for the workers, but to help workers build the confidence and structure to help them speak for themselves.

The organizing committee became the engine that drove the campaign forward. Workers routinely dedicated evenings and weekends to planning outreach, discussing concerns raised by coworkers and preparing for the next phase of the campaign. Committee members took ownership of the effort, ensuring every Energy Services worker had the chance to ask questions, share concerns and make an informed decision about representation.

The campaign was built through worker-to-worker organizing.

Employees identified natural leaders within the company and focused on one-on-one conversations. Coworkers listened to concerns, answered questions and shared their experiences. Through those discussions, workers discovered that many of the frustrations they believed were personal were shared throughout the workforce.

As support continued to grow, employees signed authorization cards and built a strong organizing committee. The campaign was grounded in a shared belief that workers deserved a seat at the table when decisions affecting their lives were being made.

Management responded with an extensive anti-union campaign.

Employees attended “voluntary” meetings and participated in one-on-one discussions designed to discourage support for union representation. Week after week, workers were presented with reasons why they should reject their union.

By that point, however, the campaign had become about something more than any meeting or presentation.

Years of shared experience had created bonds that could not easily be broken. Employees continued discussing the campaign after meetings, comparing information, and keeping their focus on the issues that had inspired them to organize in the first place.

Throughout the campaign, workers demonstrated remarkable courage. A union campaign is never easy, particularly when management actively opposes it. Yet employees remained focused on securing collective power and protecting the workplace they had helped build.

On May 6, 2026, those efforts paid off.

A worker win in Naperville

When the ballots were counted, the workers voted overwhelmingly in favor of representation by SMART Local 265. The final tally of 17-3 reflected not only support for union representation, but also the strength of the relationships that had fueled the campaign from the beginning.

The Energy Services victory serves as a reminder that successful organizing campaigns are built on solidarity, commitment and workers looking out for one another.

This campaign was not simply about wages, commissions or workplace policies. It was about a group of employees who refused to stand by while decisions affecting their futures were made without them. It was about long-time coworkers protecting one another and ensuring that newer employees would have the same opportunities and stability they had worked for years to create.

Most importantly, it demonstrated a simple truth: When workers stand together, they can shape their own future.

SMART Local 20’s Youth-to-Youth program paid dividends in Indianapolis, Ind., in early December 2024, where members and officers worked to highlight alleged anti-union behavior and win hundreds of thousands in backpay from Performance Mechanical Contracting, Inc (PMC). After the local filed four unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, the NLRB secured a settlement agreement with the contractor that saw PMC pay $459,758 to fired Local 20 workers.  

The campaign began when PMC started hiring sheet metal workers. As part of Local 20’s organizing efforts, Local 20 Business Manager Trent Todd explained, eight members in the local’s Youth-to-Youth program applied to work at the company — and declared their union affiliation ahead of time. Those workers were not hired by the company. However, Todd added, two members that did not announce their Local 20 membership were hired. After starting at PMC, the members stated their union affiliation, and they were fired.

Local 20 acted swiftly, filing a complaint that, according to the NLRB, “alleged that the employer unlawfully refused to hire or consider for hire eight applicants and fired two employees because they engaged in union activities, interrogated employees and promulgated an unlawful rule.”

And in December, the NLRB announced the settlement. Along with backpay, PMC agreed to cease and desist from unlawful conduct and to post, read and email a notice of employee rights to its workers.

“Every worker in this country has the right to organize a union, and we at Local 20 will always fight to defend that right,” Todd said. “I am proud of the work our organizing department performed on this campaign. PMC illegally refused to hire qualified applicants because of their union affiliation. This settlement is evidence that rank-and-file organizing has a direct impact on our industry.”

“It is unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire applicants — or fire workers — because of their support for a union,” said [NLRB] Region 25 Regional Director Patricia Nachand in the NLRB’s press release. “I’m proud of Region 25 staff for securing this strong settlement that makes whole the victims of the unfair labor practices.”

SMART Local 20’s Youth-to-Youth program paid dividends in Indianapolis, Ind., in early December 2024, where members and officers worked to highlight alleged anti-union behavior and win hundreds of thousands in backpay from Performance Mechanical Contracting, Inc (PMC). After the local filed four unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, the NLRB secured a settlement agreement with the contractor that saw PMC pay $459,758 to fired Local 20 workers.  

The campaign began when PMC started hiring sheet metal workers. As part of Local 20’s organizing efforts, Local 20 Business Manager Trent Todd explained, eight members in the local’s Youth-to-Youth program applied to work at the company — and declared their union affiliation ahead of time. Those workers were not hired by the company. However, Todd added, two members that did not announce their Local 20 membership were hired. After starting at PMC, the members stated their union affiliation, and they were fired.

Local 20 acted swiftly, filing a complaint that, according to the NLRB, “alleged that the employer unlawfully refused to hire or consider for hire eight applicants and fired two employees because they engaged in union activities, interrogated employees and promulgated an unlawful rule.”

And in December, the NLRB announced the settlement. Along with backpay, PMC agreed to cease and desist from unlawful conduct and to post, read and email a notice of employee rights to its workers.

“Every worker in this country has the right to organize a union, and we at Local 20 will always fight to defend that right,” Todd said. “I am proud of the work our organizing department performed on this campaign. PMC illegally refused to hire qualified applicants because of their union affiliation. This settlement is evidence that rank-and-file organizing has a direct impact on our industry.”

“It is unlawful for an employer to refuse to hire applicants — or fire workers — because of their support for a union,” said [NLRB] Region 25 Regional Director Patricia Nachand in the NLRB’s press release. “I’m proud of Region 25 staff for securing this strong settlement that makes whole the victims of the unfair labor practices.”

In response to an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) to protect workers from coronavirus that was issued earlier this month by OSHA, National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo issued a memo to all field offices concerning COVID vaccine mandates and collectively bargained worker protections. As General Counsel, Abruzzo is responsible for enforcing the National Labor Relations Act’s provisions.

In the memo, General Counsel Abruzzo indicated that while situations on work properties vary on a case-by-case basis, “employers covered under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) have decisional bargaining obligations regarding aspects of the ETS that affect terms and conditions of employment-to the extent the ETS provides employers with choices regarding implementation.”

OSHA’s ETS, implemented Nov. 5, ordered employers of 100 or more employees to “develop, implement, and enforce a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, with an exception for employers that adopt a policy requiring employees to either get vaccinated or elect to undergo regular COVID-19 testing and wear a face covering at work in lieu of vaccination.”

A U.S Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit has since issued a temporary stay on the ETS, asking for further briefing by the parties. The General Counsel’s memo indicates that she favors a nuanced and bargained approach between labor and employers in implementing COVID policies rather than a unilateral approach on the part of employers.

“The employer also has an obligation to bargain over the effects of this policy,” Abruzzo said in the memo.

The memo’s guidance would mainly affect TD members on bus and some transit properties.

Below is a press release from the NLRB General Counsel and a link to the memo that was released.

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November 12, 2021

In a memo issued on November 10th, Acting Associate General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board Joan Sullivan provided information to all field offices on the recent Department of Labor Emergency Temporary Standard to Protect Workers from Coronavirus (ETS).

The memo explains that although General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo does not offer advisory opinions and each case stands on its own facts, the General Counsel’s position is that employers covered by the National Labor Relations Act have decisional bargaining obligations regarding aspects of the ETS that affect terms and conditions of employment—to the extent the ETS provides employers with choices regarding implementation.

Although an employer is not obligated to bargain where a specific change in terms and conditions of employment is statutorily mandated, the employer may not act unilaterally when it has some discretion in implementing those requirements. To the extent elements of the ETS do not give covered employers discretion, leaving aside decisional bargaining obligations, the employer is nonetheless obligated to bargain about the effects of the decision.

“The ETS clearly affects terms and conditions of employment—including the potential to affect the continued employment of workers who become subject to it—and gives covered employers discretion in implementing certain of its requirements. In those circumstances, a decisional bargaining obligation is required. The employer also has an obligation to bargain over the effects of this policy,” said General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo. “While our country recovers from COVID-19, workers should know they have the right to a safe workplace and to have their voices heard.”

Wilma Liebman, a former chief of the National Labor Relations Board for three terms and a member of the board for more than a decade, described what she termed “a stacked deck” against American workers that has been assembled by the current presidential administration in an op-ed column published by The Morning Consult.
The term of the lone Democrat on the NLRB expired in December, and there currently are three Republicans on the board.
“There is no one still inside the board with power to defend the statute that protects the right of American workers to improve working conditions by joining together,” Liebman wrote.
Under President Donald Trump’s administration, Liebman describes a board that has reversed decades of precedent, been ignorant of ethics rules, put aside the advice of experienced staffers and has been hostile to the expansion of workers’ rights in favor of big business.
“If the past predicts the future, then even worse things are coming for workers and their unions,” Liebman wrote.
Read the full column at The Morning Consult.

Miscimarra

Washington – Philip A. Miscimarra has been named chairman of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by President Donald J. Trump.  

“It is a great honor to be named NLRB Chairman by the President,” Miscimarra said. “The Board has the important responsibility of applying the National Labor Relations Act in an even-handed manner that serves the interests of employees, employers and unions throughout the country. I remain committed to these efforts.”

President Trump designated Miscimarra NLRB chairman, April 24, 2017, after the White House announced the President’s intent to name Miscimarra Chairman April 21.  Miscimarra had been previously designated Acting Chairman by President Trump January 23, 2017, and served as a Board Member since August 7, 2013. Miscimarra was nominated April 9, 2013, to serve on the Board, and was approved unanimously by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions May 22, 2013. He was confirmed by the Senate July 30, 2013, and his current term expires December 16, 2017. 

The NLRB also consists of NLRB Member Mark Gaston Pearce (previously NLRB Chairman), whose term expires August 27, 2018; and NLRB Member Lauren McFerran, whose term expires December 16, 2019. Two Board member seats are currently vacant. 

Before joining the Board, Chairman Miscimarra was a Senior Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School in the Wharton Center for Human Resources, and a labor and employment law partner with Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP in Chicago. He also previously worked as a labor and employment attorney with Seyfarth Shaw LLP; Murphy Smith & Polk PC (now the Chicago office of Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, PC); and Reed Smith Shaw & McClay (now Reed Smith LLP). 

Miscimarra received his Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School; a Master of Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Business School; and a Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, from Duquesne University.

NLRB Logo; National Labor Relations BoardIn the 80 years since the National Labor Relations Act was enacted, the workplace has changed in ways that President Roosevelt never could have imagined when he declared that the goal of the law was “common justice and economic advance” for all. Yet his signature so long ago guaranteed that one thing would and has remained the same — democracy has a rightful place in the workplace.

Enacted in midst of the Great Depression, the National Labor Relations Act gave workers an avenue to join together to improve their wages and working conditions. The ability to organize and bargain collectively put more money in the pockets of workers while helping build – and maintain – the middle-class.  

Through good times and bad, the Act has offered workers a voice in their workplace and promoted industrial peace. Our country and workplaces have changed over the last eight decades, but the need for the Act has remained a constant.

Today, the law continues to protect employees who seek to improve their working conditions by joining together, with or without a labor union. It protects the union member seeking to improve conditions at their plant just the same as it does the single-mom in a non-union workplace working the night shift who speaks with coworkers about their pay and work hours. And through collective bargaining, unions and employers can resolve their differences and devise solutions to meet the challenges of our ever-changing economy.

While there is little doubt that the workplace will bear little resemblance in 80 years to what we know today, there is even less doubt that workers will deserve and demand a voice in it.  As long as there is the NLRA, that voice will be protected.  

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act on July 5, 1935, which among other things established a new independent agency tasked with enforcing the Act, the National Labor Relations Board. 

whitehouselogoPresident Obama March 31 vetoed a Republican effort to overturn controversial union voting rules.

Congress passed a resolution of disapproval this month on a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling that sped up union elections.

Read the complete story at The Hill.