If an agreement can’t be reached in the 8-10 days after a union files for an election, there is a hearing conducted by an NLRB agent to determine eligibility and proceed to an election. The Board agent will go through the proposed list of eligible employees and work with the parties to determine the final list based on federal law and NLRB policies. After the hearing, the NLRB will direct an election to occur within a month. In our case, Hearst corporate forced a lengthy hearing process, during which they argued that we should be split into six unions, that certain employees are part of an existing “union” called the Hearst International Employees Association, that Best Products should not be eligible for our union, and that certain employees are supervisors.