Regarding Duke’s Election Objections: An Open Letter to Duke & DUP Management

Dear Kyle Cavanaugh, Ed Balleisen, Sally Kornbluth, and Dean Smith,

We are concerned about recent developments in our union election. On Wednesday, we learned that you had petitioned the NLRB to invalidate the election results and have a new election held at an unspecified later date. Dean mischaracterized this to DUP staff as a request for “a careful review of the process”; yet the petition from Duke’s lawyers asks for no such thing. At no point does it request an examination or review; it instead asserts that a re-run election is “required.” After listing a few insubstantial objections (such as minor Zoom glitches), it states that “the Employer respectfully requests the Region to order a re-run election.” While the process was certainly less than ideal—none of us enjoyed having to mail our ballots twice—none of the things Duke’s lawyers are objecting to materially affected the proceedings or results.

Overall, 96% of eligible voters voted in the election, a turnout rate that is much higher than average. According to Bloomberg Law, over the past 5 years, turnout rates in union elections have averaged between 70 and 80 percent. That we had such an overwhelming number of workers make their voices heard is admirable, and it speaks to the passion we all have for the press.

In that light, we’re disappointed about your petition to overturn the election results based on insubstantial process problems. These objections were not raised until over a week after our vote count. This does not respect the democratic process or the will of the voters, which DUP management repeatedly promised to honor. If you say that the voice of 96 percent of the workers isn’t an adequate representation of where we stand, then maybe this isn’t really about the democratic process. What kind of message does it send for DUP management and Duke to be so opposed to the idea of workers having a voice that you would rather drag us all into a legal morass rather than accept the results of last month’s election? Is Duke that afraid of having to negotiate with its workers?

Enough is enough. We ask DUP management and Duke to drop these frivolous objections to the election results by Monday, respect the results like you said you would, and begin to negotiate with the union to make the press a better place. It’s time to accept the will of the workers without delay. Our doors are open and we’re available to talk at any time.

DUP Workers Union