Action Alert: Senate Vote Expected on Check Card
Urge Pennsylvania Senators to Protect Your Rights to a Democratic Workplace! Sign onto the opposition below.
On March 1, the House of Representatives passed HR 800, the "Employee Free Choice Act" (EFCA), by a 241-185 margin. Senator Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) introduced the Senate companion bill (S 1041) on March 29. Now is the time to take action a Senate vote is expected the week of June 18. Ccontact Senators Arlen Specter and Bob Casey to urge them to oppose this legislation that will strip away employees' access to private ballot elections when determining whether to join a union.
BACKGROUND: This legislation would take away a worker’s right to a federally supervised, private ballot process. The business community adamantly believes that secret ballots are the only way to protect an employee’s freedom to choose without coercion or intimidation. Workers should not have to reveal to anyone how they voted.
Citizens — from both union and non-union households — overwhelmingly oppose the bill’s assault on individual rights. Polling by the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace reveals that:
- 87 percent of voters agree that “every worker should continue to have the right to a federally supervised secret ballot election when deciding whether to organize a union”;
- Four out of five voters specifically oppose HR 800;
- 89 percent of voters believe organizing votes should remain confidential and not be made public; and
- 80 percent of union households oppose the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act.”
IMPORTANT HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MEASURE:
- Overturns 70 years of precedent established under the National Labor Relation Act of 1935.
- Eliminates private ballot and would make employee signatures public to the employer, the union organizers and co-workers.
- Tramples employees’ privacy. Secret ballots are the only way to protect an individual’s freedom to choose without subtle or overt coercion.
- Creates opportunity for coercion. NLRB case law is full of examples where the card check process has been challenged on the basis of coercion, misrepresentation, forgery, fraud, peer pressure and promised benefits.
- Imposes binding arbitration. The EFCA provides that, if an employer and a union are unable to agree on their first collective bargaining agreement within 90 days, either party may refer the dispute to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) for mediation. Should the FMCS fail to produce a mediated agreement within 30 days, then the dispute would proceed to arbitration.
BOTTOM LINE: The Employee Free Choice Act not only interferes with the democratic process, but also forces private enterprise to agree to contract terms or face government intervention and, ultimately, wages and benefit terms that are established by the government.
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUEST: Join the Pennsylvania’s business community by adding your company name to the growing list of employers who oppose this measure. By signing onto this opposition effort, your company’s name, the CEO/president of the company, and the number of employees will be listed in the signature line of the letter. Please review the sample letter and submit form below to join this effort.
Dear Senators Specter and Casey:
As an employer in Pennsylvania, I strongly urge you to oppose the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act", S 1041. Under S 1041 and the House companion bill HR 800, a union would be able to force an employer to recognize it based merely on a “card check.” More importantly, an employer like me could be forced to give away my employees’ access to a private ballot election.
During the “card check” process, employees are asked to sign cards that indicated support of a union in front of union organizers, their fellow employees and sometimes their employer. This is a process that invites coercion, intimidation and even threats in the workplace. My employees deserve privacy and freedom from outside influence when deciding whether they want to join a union.
The National labor Relations Board (NLRB) already has strict procedures to ensure fair private ballot elections, free of employer or union coercion. These existing procedures are not threat to unions; they lead to swift and fair elections. Most elections are held within 56 days, and labor unions prevail 55 percent of the time.
This legislation also would impose contract terms on private employers through a process of compulsory, binding arbitration, with government arbiters establishing binding wages and terms between the parties for two years. It would force me to submit to contract terms through compulsory arbitration. This is an unconstitutional infringement on my right as a private employer to freedom of contract.
I respectfully ask that you oppose this legislation. It not only interferes with the democratic process, but also forces private enterprise to agree to contract terms or face government intervention and, ultimately, wages and benefit terms that are established by the government.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
(Running list of Pennsylvania Employers)