Introduced in both the House and Senate, The Employee Rights Act would guarantee workers the right to a secret-ballot election, when deciding if they wish to be represented by a union, and eliminate the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) proposed rules, which would allow union elections to take place in as few as ten days.


Congressman Tim Scott (R-SC) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) filed the new legislation, which would protect workers from coercion and harassment in the workplace. The Employee Rights Act would address ALFA’s recent concerns over NLRB’s proposed rules that would allow for “quickie” union elections. These “quickie” elections would deny workers the right to critical information and time to make an informed decision when deciding if they wish to be represented by a union. 

The Employee Rights Act also contains several other provisions designed to protect workers from coercion and intimidation and ensures that they have a voice in issues relating to labor relations and disputes.  Some of the key provisions include:

• Require that union representation be recertified via a secret ballot election every three years following initial certification
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• Allow employees to collect any lost wages or unlawfully collected union dues resulting from a union’s interference with their rights under the National Labor Relations Act, including the right to petition for union decertification
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• Impose a procedural penalty on unions that unlawfully interfere with an employee’s filing of a decertification petition.
• Conform and make equal the definition of an unfair labor practice on the part of union with that of an employer under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA)
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• Prevent a union from ordering a strike unless they first obtain the consent of a majority of the workforce via a secret ballot election.
  
• Allow all applicable employees, union members and non-members alike, to have the same rights as union members to vote to ratify a collective bargaining agreement or to engage in a work stoppage
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• Prevent an employee’s union dues or fees from being used for purposes unrelated to the union’s collective bargaining functions, such as political contributions and expenditures, without that employee’s written consent.

• Strengthen prohibitions against extortion and the use of force or violence or threat thereof for achieving objectives relating to union representation, compensation, or conditions of employment.

ALFA commends Congressman Scott and Senator Hatch for filing this legislation that protects the rights of employees and eliminates some of the onerous initiatives that would be established through the National Labor Relations Board’s and the Department of Labor’s recently proposed regulation.  ALFA will create a letter that you may use to write to your members of Congress to solicit their support for this important legislation in September, when Congress returns from their summer recess.



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