Employee Free Choice Act

EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT -- (House of Representatives - March 01, 2007)

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Mr. ANDREWS. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding and thank her for her great work in shepherding this bill along.

I deeply respect the ranking member of the full committee, and I know his intentions are very sincere, but I think the Members of the House deserve a record that is accurate. Let me review the five points that he made and set forth what the bill actually says.

The gentleman says that the bill does away with secret ballots. That is not the case.

If those choosing to organize a union wish to have a secret ballot, they can follow the same procedure that is in the law now: get 30 percent-plus to sign a petition for a secret ballot, and have one.

The gentleman says that the bill legalizes coercion by unions. That is not the case.

Coercion by a union against a worker is and still will be an unfair labor practice. The bill says if a signature is acquired by coercion and is involuntary, it is not presumably going to be a valid signature and therefore does not count.

The gentleman says that the bill takes away the right of privacy from workers. Not so.

The same process essentially by which people sign petitions under the present law, they would sign cards under the new bill. Perhaps the gentleman should be more concerned about the loss of privacy of workers during campaigns by employers to coerce and intimidate people to vote against the union.

The gentleman says the bill takes away the right to vote on contracts. Absolutely not so.

What the bill says is if there is not an agreement for a contract between management and labor, after negotiation, after mediation, then and only then there would be arbitration. It does not take away the right to vote on contracts.

Finally, the gentleman says that penalties are somehow out of balance, but I think the gentleman respectfully misunderstands.

If in a union-organizing drive the unions are found to have coerced people into signing cards, the cards are invalid and it is the death penalty for the union because they lose the organizing drive. That is the most significant penalty there can be.

We are all entitled to our own opinion; we are not entitled to our own facts.

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