Price Introduces "Representation Fairness Restoration Act"

Statement

Congressman Tom Price, M.D. (GA-06), introduced the Representation Fairness Restoration Act today to encourage employee unity and restore a decades-old standard used by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to determine the composition of collective bargaining units for unionization in the workplace.

In August of 2011, the NLRB adopted a new standard that allows for organized labor to enter a workplace, recruit employees who wish to unionize and create a "micro-union" on their behalf. A vote of approval from the majority of workers is not necessary. Instead, micro-unions may be formed simply as a group of employees or a single department. This practice can result in several unions within a workplace, causing confusion and division among workers, barriers to advancement in their careers and added compliance costs for employers.

"Under the Obama Administration, the National Labor Relations Board has once again exchanged political activism for American jobs. In efforts to placate the administration's allies in organized labor, the NLRB has forfeited economic growth and forsaken the American worker," Congressman Price said. "The Representation Fairness Restoration Act would reverse this harmful practice and restore the rights of America's job creators and their employees."

"The growth of micro-unions, encouraged by the Obama Administration, also undermines the right-to-work laws governing 23 states," Congressman Price said. "Georgia is a right-to-work state because we understand the benefits of creating an environment that fosters job creation and economic growth. Without the Representation Fairness Restoration Act, Georgia and other right-to-work states would be punished by this sweeping federal regulation that seeks only to satiate the interests of organized labor without regard for the welfare of the worker or the rights of the business owner."

The Representation Fairness Restoration Act would restore the previous standard used by the NLRB to determine whether employees share a sufficient community of interest -- including wages, benefits, skills and similarity of job functions.

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