Few things sting as much for an employer as losing a union election. If a union wins certification in a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), then a company has a legal obligation to bargain in good faith with the union over a labor agreement that governs virtually all the terms and conditions of employment for the represented workforce. But how long does that process take? Thanks to a recent analysis by Bloomberg Law, we now have a clearer sense of this:

“It takes 461 days on average for a bargaining unit to get its first contract ratified, according to Bloomberg Law data compiled from 553 first contracts from 2005-2025.”

Why does it take so long? For anyone who hasn’t been through the collective bargaining process, negotiations generally entail both sides putting on competing proposals covering the spectrum of labor and employment issues. From wages to benefits to vacations to overtime procedures to job bidding to work rules, there is a lot of ground to cover. In situations where the parties are working towards a first contract, that often means they are building the contract from the ground up and have no foundation to work from.

Another notable item here is that under current labor law, a union enjoys a “certification bar” for up to one year after being certified post-election. That means employees cannot file a decertification petition to oust the union during that time, even if the workers are dissatisfied. Often, when negotiations drag on for more than a year and employees do not perceive they are getting value from their representation, they file a petition with the NLRB to remove the union before a labor contract is finalized. This is an interesting data point to consider when evaluating the 461-day average.

Some members of Congress apparently are displeased with these statistics and have introduced the Faster Labor Contracts Act. If it became law, the legislation could require unions and employers to go through mediation and ultimately binding arbitration in the event their negotiations stall. The impact of such legislation — if passed — cannot be overstated. While the chances of the act passing seem dim, at least for now, the 461-day average is a good statistic for companies to keep in mind when preparing to negotiate a first union contract.