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After almost five months of organizing, Berkeley Bowl workers filed a formal request with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Friday, asking them to schedule a date for a union election. 

According to Tim Hamann, president of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Butcher's Union Local 120—the union helping the workers organize—the NLRB should schedule a secret ballot vote within four to six weeks, where all eligible employees will have a chance to cast votes to decide whether or not to allow the union to represent them in contract negotiations with the store. 

Workers who had originally proposed a card check agreement that management rejected said they have been left with no recourse but to move forward with an NLRB election.  

Workers had tried to avoid an election through the NLRB because they say it favors management, who will now have time to run what they expect will be a strong anti-union campaign. As a compromise, workers had advocated a card check followed by an NLRB election within a week that would be monitored by a neutral third party. 

Management has not released a statement concerning the filing.