Limited Options for Unions When Labor Board Nixes Election Win

The International Association of Machinists is contemplating a lawsuit to appeal a recent National Labor Relations Board decision that nixed the union’s election win to represent a group of technicians at a Boeing Co. facility in South Carolina, the union’s top lawyer told Bloomberg Law.

To succeed, the Machinists would have to convince a court to apply a narrow exception that permits judicial review of the NLRB’s rulings in representation cases.

The case highlights an apparent structural disparity in federal labor law. Employers routinely follow a well-trod path to challenge union election victories in court. But unions have only ...