Thousands of Workers Vote to Decertify Unions: Teamsters Most Targeted in Past Decade

Kira Junod never voted to join the Teamsters, but decades ago, her coworkers at the Lamb Weston plant in American Falls, Idaho—one of the world’s largest suppliers of frozen french fries and potato products—did. Since then, the local Teamsters union has been the sole entity negotiating wages and benefits on behalf of employees like Junod, even under Idaho’s right-to-work laws.

“There’s a lot of people that have been there 30, 40 years that are set in their ways and they’re union,” Junod says. “And I’m like, ‘Why are you in the union?’ And they’re like, ‘I don’t know.’”

Junod and her colleagues began questioning the arrangement after discovering better benefits at Lamb Weston’s nonunion plant in Twin Falls, including more paid sick leave, higher shift differentials, and quarterly bonuses. “That’s free money, even if it’s 20 bucks every quarter,” she says. “Why wouldn’t I want that?”

The obstacle? The local Teamsters union.

While high-profile unionization drives at companies like Amazon and Starbucks dominate headlines, a quieter but growing trend involves workers pushing back against unions they believe have failed to deliver on promises of better conditions. The process is difficult, as Junod would soon learn.

According to data from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), workers across the U.S. have filed 1,620 decertification petitions between 2016 and 2025, seeking to remove union representation. Of those, 373 targeted the Teamsters—more than twice the number filed against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the second most targeted union.

More than 60% of decertification elections against the Teamsters have been successful, reflecting widespread dissatisfaction with contracts and benefits.

Workers Cite Poor Contracts, Subpar Benefits as Key Issues

Ray Cotts, a driver at the Keurig Dr Pepper plant in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, described his frustrations with his Teamsters contract in 2024: “Poor vacation, poor pay, subpar benefits, no real job protections [and] our contract wages were way below standard for our industry.” His comments came shortly after three successful decertification elections at Keurig Dr Pepper plants in Wisconsin.

The high volume of decertification efforts against the Teamsters suggests deep-seated discontent among members over wages, benefits, and union representation. While some workers remain loyal to unions out of tradition, others are increasingly willing to challenge the status quo—even when it means navigating a complex and often contentious process.