card check
noun
1. The ability for workers to form an official, legally recognized union by simply telling everyone they’re a union (and signing cards that say as much)
Is this a new idea?
Nope! Card check, also called “majority sign-up” (because it requires a simple majority of the workers involved to agree to move forward), has been a thing since the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935. But as it currently stands in the United States, employers have the option to either recognize the newly formed union or force an additional step: a formal election. Those elections are put on by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB); both sides present a case, and then the workers vote. (Fun fact: In These Times editorial and development staff unionized via card check in 2014.)
Read more at In These Times.