That's not how it works. You need the signed cards to hold an election. Employers can, seeing a large majority publically willing to sign the cards before they have any solid protections, choose to forgo the election on the basis that a majority of employees were willing to sign.

If the only reason WMF had to request a formal election was to allow secret ballot, they would not be hiring union busting law firms. The point of such firms is to legally and illegally discourage union membership - the penalties for doing so illegally are comically small.

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jordanb a day ago | parent [-]

It's not that the company can forgo the election. The company must allege that the cards are improper in order to activate the NLRB secret balloting process.

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inigyou a day ago | parent [-]

Has any company ever not alleged it?

	▲	jordanb a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Some do, but if you hire a union busting law firm the first thing they have you do is read a statement alleging impropriety with the union cards, in order to initiate the NLRB process. Companies aren't required to present any evidence other than "we have reason to believe" so it's pretty much a ritual at this point.
	▲	cool_dude85 a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Yes, but it's uncommon enough that doing so is called "voluntary recognition" of the union, acknowledging that the expected process is to file the cards and then do the NLRB election.