Preserve the Secret Ballot Election for Union Representation and Prevent Government-Appointed Arbitrators from Imposing Contract Terms

"The union-backed Employee Free Choice Act would hurt not only independent contractors but union workers as well, the chief executive officer of the Associated General Contractors of America said Monday."

Background:

• Current law allows an employer to voluntarily recognize a union if the union demonstrates that a majority of the relevant employees supports representation through signed authorization cards or other means. However, if the employer questions the validity of the showing of support, it can refuse to grant voluntary recognition, and the union must petition the National Labor Relations Board to conduct a secret-ballot election among the employees.
• The Employee Free Choice Act would take away the workers' right to a secret ballot. It would also impose mandatory mediation and arbitration in first-contract negotiations between the employer and union if settlement is not reached within a short time frame. The legislation is opposed by the majority of business groups across the country and by some individual employee rights advocates.

AGC Message:

• Preserve the Status Quo. The present system supports the overarching objectives of the Act: the promotion and protection of employee free choice and labor relations stability. Legislation that mandates certification of a union based solely on a showing of signed union authorization cards would eliminate the safeguards currently provided in the Act, stripping employees of their right to freely and anonymously choose a representative. Allowing both card-check recognition and secret ballot elections is the most fair and reliable way to determine the desire of employees to be represented by a union.
• Protect Workers’ Privacy. This legislation takes away a basic tenet of voting, which is the right to privacy. By removing the ability to cast a private ballot, employees would be forced to vote in a public manner that may not reflect their true opinion of whether or not they would like to be represented by a union.
• Keep Government Out of Contract Negotiations. The bill imposes unrealistic deadlines for labor and management to meet and negotiate a first contract before mandating interference by government-appointed mediators and arbitrators. It would allow a third party to dictate wages, hours, and terms and conditions of employment, which constitutes excessive government interference into business relationships and contradicts the express purpose of the National Labor Relations Act.
• Current Union Contractors' Pre-Hire Agreements in Jeopardy. Historically, both union contractors and building trade unions have benefitted from the ease, convenience, and flexibility of 8(f), or pre-hire, agreements unique to the construction industry. Passage of EFCA would likely result in unions converting their 8(f) relationships to 9(a) relationships in order to restrain a union contractor's flexibility to terminate the relationship or to restrain a rival union from taking over its jurisdiction. In addition, a rival union might use the card-check process to take jurisdiction from a union with an 8(f) relationship.

AGC Opposed Legislation:

• H.R. 1409 - Employee Free Choice Act of 2009
  • The bill would create a fundamental shift in labor policy by approving legislation that would rely solely on "card check" rather than a secret ballot election to decide representation when organizing a union and also imposes mandatory mediation and binding arbitration.
  • Introduced in House March 10, 2009 (AGC is tracking and opposes members from cosponsoring)
• S. 560 - Employee Free Choice Act of 2009
  • The bill would create a fundamental shift in labor policy by approving legislation that would rely solely on "card check" rather than a secret ballot election to decide representation when organizing a union and also imposes mandatory mediation and binding arbitration.
  • Introduced in Senate March 10, 2009 (AGC is tracking and opposes members from cosponsoring)

Additional Information:

• Press Release: 03/10/2009 - Proposed Card Check Legislation is Unfair to Workers, Disrupts Collective Bargaining, Nation's Largest Builders' Group Says
• Letter: 03/04/2009 - AGC sent a letter to Congress in opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act
• Letter: 03/01/2007 - AGC Key Vote letter to Congress in opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act
• Coalition: AGC is a member of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace.