(Updated) NLRB findings of intimidation could overturn Target store’s vote against union

The Brooklyn body of the National Labor Relations Board has gathered more evidence that Target intimidated workers by threatening to close a store if a union was approved in a vote this summer.

The new charges could be enough evidence for an administrative law judge to recommend that the election results be overturned, Alvin Blyer of the regional NLRB told the Minnesota Independent.

The union lost the June election at Valley Stream, N.Y., 137-85, but has filed a number of objections with the NLRB for intimidation and illegal firing of a union supporter, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

The NLRB has already filed one complaint of its investigation of Target. Blyer told the Minnesota Independent that the regional NLRB would likely file a second complaint documenting the agency’s findings next week.

If the administrative law judge agrees with the agency, it could lead to a new election. However unions are often unsuccessful in second elections. Blyer said it may be the case that some companies are willing to engage in unfair labor practices during the first union elections because they face no fines or other punishment—the worst that can happen in most cases is another election.

One of the objections filed by the union, although recently withdrawn, related to the firing of Target union organizer Tashawna Green at the Valley Stream facility, where Target faced its first union vote in 14 years. The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500 told Crain’s they planned to refile the complaint.

In a statement following the June vote, UFCW Local 1500 President Bruce Both complained that workers had been subject to a  “campaign of threats, intimidation and illegal acts by Target management.”

The union targeted a campaign at over two dozen Target stores earlier this year. The union didn’t immediately return a request for comment, but Crain’s reports that the union plans to continue to pursue unionization at Target, which currently has no unionized stores.