Congressional Republicans on Thursday restarted their effort to make the most expansive reforms to federal labor law since the the 1940s.
Dubbed the Employee Rights Act, the legislation would eliminate many rules that benefit union-organizing efforts. Republicans argue the current law is tilted in favor of unions and denies rights to dissenting workers.
“The rights of American workers were under attack during the Obama presidency, and it is time to restore those rights and work to foster a pro-growth, pro-employee environment,” said Rep. Phil Roe, R-Tenn., lead author of the bill. “This legislation will ensure individuals’ rights are upheld when considering whether or not they wish to join a union. The Employee Rights Act isn’t pro- or anti-union; it’s a commonsense measure to ensure a transparent and fair workplace. I am proud to introduce this instrumental piece of legislation that will protect and promote the rights of America’s workers.”
The legislation would require that all workplace organizing elections be federally monitored secret ballot votes, even if the employer is not calling for that. That would rule out “card check” elections, in which the employer simply accepts the union’s claim to have majority worker support. Union leaders had unsuccessfully pressed Congress during the Obama administration to eliminate an employer’s ability to request that a monitor verify a union’s claim of majority support. Card check would have required all of the voting be done in public and provided no way to verify the union’s claims of support.
The Employee Rights Act would further require that unions win the backing of a majority of all workers, not just a majority of the votes cast in the election. Under current law, a union can win even if only a tiny fraction of workers participate so long as the union gets a majority of those people.
The legislation also would prohibit employers from giving away worker phone numbers and email addresses without their permission, criminalize threatening workers during an election and require two weeks’ notice before the National Labor Relations Board held a hearing on union’s request for recognition. Any disputes over issues such as what workers are eligible to vote would have to be resolved before any election, not after the fact, the current practice.
In addition, unions would be prohibited from using worker dues for items other than collective bargaining without the worker’s written consent. To ensure compliance, unions would have to submit to periodic audits and make the information available to members.
Any decision to go on strike would require a majority vote by the union members monitored by a “neutral, private organization chosen by agreement between the employer and the labor organization involved.”
Finally, once an organized workplace experiences more than 50 percent turnover in employees since its last union, the act would require the union to submit to a new election to ensure it still has majority support.
Many of the provisions are in response to moves by the National Labor Relations Board, the main labor law enforcement agency. Under former President Barack Obama, it changed several rules to benefit unions to make organizing easier.
Republican lawmakers introduced similar legislation in the three previous Congresses, but it got little traction each time because Obama would have been certain to defeat it. It is not clear where President Trump would stand on it, though he has expressed support for similar reforms such as right-to-work legislation. Trump’s campaign declined to respond to inquiries regarding the Employee Rights Act during the 2016 campaign.
Unions assailed the prior efforts as a thinly veiled attempt to undermine labor’s power. Republicans rejected that, saying the legislation was about letting individual workers make up their own minds.
“The Employee Rights Act is critical legislation that establishes clear protections for America’s workers — to protect employees from union coercion, to have a secret ballot, and, if they choose to join a union, to know how their dues are spent,” said Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina, a co-sponsor. Five other Republicans are also backing it: Rep. Doug LaMalfa of California, Rep. Jeff Duncan of South Carolina, Rep. Rob Woodall of Georgia, Rep. Gus Bilirakis of Florida, and Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina.
