Employee Free Choice Act

POSITION:
The Pennsylvania Tourism & Lodging Association opposes federal legislation that would eliminate workers' rights to provide ballot elections in determining their workplace representation.

CURRENT BILLS:
H.R. 800 (the so-called Employee Free Choice Act sponsored by Rep. George Miller (D-CA)

SUMMARY:
H.R. 800 is the AFL-CIO's highest priority. It targets every worker and employer in America for unionization. Organized labor has told Members of Congress they need to support this legislation in order to continue to receive their support. The bill is a radical assault on established labor law in three major ways: (1) It eliminates a worker's right to vote in a federally-supervised private ballot election and replaces it with a union-supervised public card check scheme to determine unionization; (2) It mandates that an interest mediator impose a contract on employers and workers if an employer does not agree the union's terms within 90 days, and (3) It eliminates a worker's right to review and approve the imposed contract.

DISCUSSION:
Employees are currently protected from coercion and intimidation through the secret ballot process under the National Labor Relations Act. H.R. 800 would change years of employee protections in order to make it easier for union leaders to organize. Even employees in right to work states will no longer be protected. Moreover, since small businesses are being directly targeted (unions are attempting to organize shops with as few as 10 employees), their employees are also at risk.

On March 2, the U.S. House passed H.R. 800 “The Employee Free Choice Act.” by a vote of 241 to 145. AH&LA and PT&LA are members of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace comprised of more than 300 associations and organizations from every state across the nation. The Coalition plans to fight this legislation every step of the way as it moves to the Senate.

A draft letter is available at AH&LA's grassroots website at www.ahla.com/grassroots. Additional information and talking points can be found at the Coalition for A Democratic Workplace website, www.myprivateballot.com, which is co-chaired by AH&LA.

03.13.07 - Approved by Board of Directors
Employees are currently protected from coercion and intimidation through the secret ballot process under the National Labor Relations Act. H.R. 800 would change years of employee protections in order to make it easier for union leaders to organize. Even employees in right to work states will no longer be protected. Moreover, since small businesses are being directly targeted (unions are attempting to organize shops with as few as 10 employees), their employees are also at risk.