The Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI) is an organization committed to educating workers, their employers and citizens in general on important issues affecting the workplace. We write in strong support of S. 1507, H.R. 2810, the Employee Rights Act (ERA).
This legislation protects employees in several important ways including the following: it guarantees a secret ballot for all union elections; it protects employees from having to pay for the union‟s political activities with which they may disagree; it remedies the Board‟s recently enacted “quickie” election rule; and it gives employees, many of whom are new to the employer and never voted in the union election, the right to consider whether they want continued union representation.
Protecting The Secret Ballot
The secret ballot and the workplace democracy it ensures is the cornerstone of American labor law. Historically, organized labor supported the secret ballot election. In recent years, however, with the continuing decline of unionization in the private sector, Big Labor has pushed for the passage of the Employee „Forced‟ Choice Act, which would have eliminated the secret ballot election in favor of card check. The reason is not hard to find. Union organizers win more elections by counting cards executed in public than they do by counting ballots executed in secret because card check can subject workers to peer pressure, even intimidation and coercion.
Protecting Employees’ Right To Oppose The Union
Under Section 8 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) employers face penalties if they “interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees” in exercising their rights to organize and support a union. Under that same section of the NLRA, labor organizers are punished only if they “restrain or coerce” employees who do not support or oppose the union. The standard for a union violation is far less stringent permitting labor bosses to interfere with employees who oppose the union or seek its decertification. Each side – management and labor – should be held to the same standard concerning the protection of employees.
Protecting Employees’ Right To Cast An Informed Vote
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has aggressively advanced a partisan union agenda. It recently promulgated a “quickie” or “ambush” election rule designed to allow labor bosses the time to tell their story to employees, but limiting the time an employer has to express his/her views on unionization. The rule deprives employees of their right to hear the other side of the union question and make an informed choice. It also stacks the deck in favor of a union outcome even when there is evidence that the vote was not the free and un-coerced choice of the employees.
Protecting Employees First Amendment Freedoms
In non-right to work states, labor bosses use forced union dues to elect politicians that will pay them back when they win election. Big Labor spent half a billion dollars to elect Barrack Obama and other favored politicians in 2008. While union bosses continue to spend record amounts of member dues on political campaigns, studies show a significant percentage of union members disagree with labor‟s political activities. And these expenses are being incurred while many union pension funds are underfunded, even insolvent. In 2010, only 62% of union pensions had the resources necessary to cover their obligations to participants. One of the country‟s largest unions, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has had its pension fund put into “critical status.” While union bosses claim their agenda is to help the working class, it is, in fact, to increase their power by buying a seat at the political table.
Conclusion
The Employee Rights Act is a needed piece of legislation and, in some respects, long overdue. We commend Senator Orrin Hatch and Congressman Tim Scott for sponsoring it. The bill responds to the union abuses that have developed under existing law, which are inconsistent with, and trample upon, employee rights and cause enormous damage to the economy and America‟s job creators and businesses. Unions have a role to play in our free enterprise system but, as with management, that role must at all times respect the principles of workplace democracy and employee choice.
WFI urges all Members of Congress who value workforce fairness to support this legislation. It places the authority where it belongs, with hardworking American employees.