McDowell County Aging Staff End Union Recognition, Commission Responds

Employees of the McDowell County Commission on Aging in Welch have secured a management withdrawal of recognition for SEIU Local 1199, according to a November 14, 2025 news release from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. The Foundation said the action followed a petition signed by a majority of employees asking management to stop recognizing the union, and that Commission management announced on November 4 that it had withdrawn recognition of SEIU.

The Foundation identified employee John Reeves as the leading figure in the effort and said its attorneys supported the employees. It traced the dispute back to a June 2024 decertification petition, noting subsequent procedural delays at the National Labor Relations Board and a period in which ballots were set aside following a settlement. The Foundation used its release to criticize NLRB procedures and called for reforms intended to make union decertification more straightforward. The release also noted that Reeves had pending appeals with the NLRB at the time of publication.

The Commission on Aging operates as a senior homecare nonprofit, and staffing stability is a central concern for residents and families who rely on in home services. Changes in recognition and representation can affect how employees negotiate wages, schedules, and workplace policies, and they can influence recruitment and retention in an already constrained labor market. For local taxpayers and oversight bodies, the episode underscores the intersection of federal labor procedures and county level service delivery.

Legally, the case illustrates competing pathways for workers to alter representation. The Foundation framed the November action as a resolution through a different process than the NLRB decertification route initiated in 2024. Because appeals with the NLRB remain pending, the situation could yet evolve through federal review, and local administrative decisions may be revisited if the board issues further rulings.

For McDowell County residents the immediate questions are practical. Will the change affect the quality and availability of homecare services, and how will management and employees address collective workplace concerns going forward? Those outcomes will depend on forthcoming negotiations, administrative choices by the Commission on Aging, and any determinations issued by the NLRB as pending appeals are resolved.

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation framed the episode as part of a broader critique of federal labor board procedures, while the Commission on Aging and SEIU Local 1199 were not quoted in the Foundation release. As the legal process proceeds, county leaders and service providers will need to balance compliance with federal labor rules, the operational needs of senior services, and the workforce expectations of frontline caregivers.