Workers who win union elections wait an average of 465 days for a first contract — and a third never get one at all

After workers vote to unionize, their employer is legally required to bargain in good faith — but not required to actually reach an agreement. Bloomberg Law found the average time to ratify a first contract is now 465 days, up from 409 days previously. More than half of all newly unionized workplaces have no contract one year after winning their election. After two years, more than a third still have nothing. After three years, roughly 30% remain contractless. Starbucks Workers United won its first election in Buffalo in December 2021, and as of March 2026 — more than four years later — there is still no ratified contract covering any of the 535+ unionized stores. The human cost is staggering. Workers organize because they need better wages, safer conditions, or protection from arbitrary discipline. Every month without a contract is a month those problems persist. Worse, the organizing campaign itself often triggers employer hostility — schedule cuts, increased scrutiny, retaliatory discipline — that workers endure with no contractual grievance procedure to protect them. The longer negotiations drag on, the more turnover occurs among the original pro-union workforce, eroding the solidarity that won the election. Many workers eventually conclude the union cannot deliver and stop paying dues, which weakens the union further. This problem persists because U.S. labor law has no mechanism to force an agreement. The NLRA's 'good faith' bargaining requirement has no teeth: employers can propose unacceptable terms, refuse to move, demand information requests that take months to compile, and cycle through negotiators — all without technically violating the law. The NLRB can issue an unfair labor practice complaint for surface bargaining, but proving bad faith is difficult, the process takes years, and the remedy is simply an order to return to the table and try again. There is no first-contract arbitration provision, no financial penalty for delay, and no deadline. Anti-union employers openly treat post-election bargaining as a second chance to defeat the union through attrition.