Last week, while many (including myself) were vacationing, the NLRB set a date for a hearing on the objections raised by Foxwoods. I last updated the status in this post.  You can find all the posts about the election here.   

As to the hearing, The Day reports,

A recent decision by the NLRB found that Foxwoods’ claims that the board did not have jurisdiction over the casino and that the ballot failed to list the union’s full name were without merit and were overruled.

But 10 of the 12 objections Foxwoods filed regarding the election remain unresolved, so on Jan. 15 the NLRB will hear testimony from both the United Auto Workers union, which petitioned for the election and right to represent the casino’s roughly 3,000 dealers, and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, which owns Foxwoods.

The hearing will focus on the conduct of UAW representatives leading up to the vote, including what Foxwoods claims was the harassment and intimidation of eligible voters who did not support unionization. The NLRB also will examine whether ballots should have been multilingual.

If the NLRB affirms the tribe’s allegation of misconduct, it would force a new election.

Overturning the results of the election are never easy but without evaluating the evidence presented by Foxwoods, it is impossible to evaluate Foxwoods’ likelihood of success.  Perhaps the UAW engaged in some egregious behavior before the election; if so, the results of the election would be set aside, perhaps even on just one valid objection (of the 10 remaining). 

But that’s still a long way off. There will be a hearing, followed by a hearing officer decision and ultimately, a likely appeal to the entire Board.  That process could still take many months (or even over a year given the turmoil at the NLRB itself).  As stated in previous posts, this battle will continue for some time.