
When union officials launch an organizing drive, their ultimate goal is to obtain exclusive monopoly bargaining status, a mandate from the federal government that an employer must bargain only with union officials over a contract covering all workers, even those opposed to unionization.
"Right-to-work" advocates have long opposed monopoly bargaining, and argue that unionization should be a voluntary decision for each worker. So far, Congress has rejected the vision of fully voluntary unionism. Federal labor law gives a monopoly over contract bargaining to unions that claim worker support, but what constitutes such support has always been a controversial political and legal question.