Senate food service workers voted today not to join a Service Employees International Union-affiliated local.

The Workers United Mid-Atlantic Regional Joint Board — the SEIU-affiliated union under which the Senate employees would have been organized — reported to Roll Call that while it could not yet release an official tally, the number of votes needed to certify the union had clearly fallen short.

One hundred and sixteen eligible employees had from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. to vote by secret ballot in an office space carved out of the main cafeteria in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Teresa Engleman, secretary and treasurer of the Regional Joint Board, said the union would consider filing charges with the National Labor Relations Board alleging that Restaurant Associates, the corporation overseeing Senate dining services, engaged in unlawful activities in advance of the vote. The company said no labor law violations took place.

House dining service employees have been unionized almost as long as they have been privatized — since 1986.