Senators Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN), introduced S. 1874, a bill to provide protections for workers with respect to their right to select or refrain from selecting representations by a labor organization. The bill, the Employee Rights Act, has 16 Republican co-sponsors, and would require that in representation elections conducted by secret ballot, a majority of all employees in a proposed bargaining unit would need to vote in favor of representation for a union to be recognized. The bill would also require that unions be recertified at least every three years.
According to Bloomberg News, Hatch and Alexander, who are both members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, announced the legislation July 27 while flanked by a group of Republican House members, including Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) who introduced a companion bill in the House. “This legislation represents the kind of reform American workers and businesses need to succeed in today’s global economy,” Hatch said. “The Employee Rights Act champions workers’ rights and strengthens our economy. This is not a partisan action nor is it a Republican or a Democrat issue. It is a matter of basic worker rights.”
The legislation also would undo the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) so-called “ambush” election rule. Opponents contend that the amended rule allows for representation elections to be held as early as 11 days after the filing of a petition and it impedes employee privacy rights by requiring employers to provide workers’ personal e-mail addresses and cell phone numbers as well as job, schedule and other information.
“From its decision to move ahead with the ambush election rule to its attempt to undermine state right-to-work laws, recent actions from the NLRB have not only been some of the most partisan we’ve seen, they’ve also been the most damaging to the rights of employees,” Alexander said. “This bill will restore workers’ rights, by, among other things, ending harmful ambush elections—which force a union election before most employees have a chance to figure out what’s going on—and ensuring employees are free to vote their conscience in secret ballot elections.”
The measure would also require that in representation elections conducted by secret ballot, a majority of all employees in a proposed bargaining unit, rather than a majority of employees voting in the election, would need to vote in favor of representation for a union to be recognized. ‘‘Every employee in a bargaining unit represented by a labor organization, regardless of membership status in the labor organization, shall have the same right as members to vote by secret ballot regarding whether to ratify a collective bargaining agreement with, or to engage in, a strike or refusal to work of any kind against their employer,” according to the proposal.
The legislation also would require an NLRB secret ballot election for recertification of unions every three years, Hatch said. Alexander said the recertification is necessary, citing research showing a low percentage of current union membership actually voted for union representation.
The measure also would require a recertification election when the bargaining unit “experiences turnover, expansion, or alteration by merger of unit represented employees exceeding 50 percent of the bargaining unit,” according to the bill.
The legislation also would affect how union dues or fees are used. Such payments couldn’t be used “for any purpose not directly related to the labor organization’s collective bargaining or contract administration functions on behalf of the represented unit employee unless the employee member, or nonmember required to make such payments as a condition of employment, authorizes such expenditure in writing, after a notice period of not less than 35 days,” according to the bill.
The cosponsors of S. 1874 are: Dan Coats – (R-IN), Thad Cochran – (R-MS), John Cornyn – (R-TX), Ted Cruz – (R-TX), Mike Enzi – (R-WY), Cory Gardner – (R-CO), Johnny Isakson – (R-GA), Ron Johnson – (R-WI), James Lankford – (R-OK), John McCain – (R- AZ), Mitch McConnell – (R-KY), David Perdue – (R-GA), James Risch – (R-ID), Pat Roberts – (R-KS), and Roger Wicker – (R-MS).
