WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Restaurant Association expressed its opposition to bill H.R. 800, the employee Free Choice Act, as it came before the House Education and Labor's Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.
The NRA said the proposed legislation would take away an employee's right to a federally-supervised secret-ballot process when deciding whether or not to join a union. It would replace secret ballots with a card-check system that lets a union organize if a majority of workers simply sign a card. Under the system, workers' signatures would be made public to the employer, union organizers and co-workers.
"When a union is attempting to organize a workplace, employees sometimes face intimidation and pressure about how they should vote from the union or from management or both," said outgoing NRA president and chief executive officer Steven C. Anderson. "The only way to guarantee employee protection is through the continued use of a federally supervised secret-ballot so that personal decisions about whether to join a union remains private."
Federal courts have repeatedly ruled that federally-supervised secret-ballot elections are the fairest and most reliable method to determine whether a union has the support of a majority of employees.
"No one — employers or union organizers — should fear an election conducted by secret ballot. It is the only way to protect an individual's freedom to choose without subtle or overt coercion," Anderson said. "We appreciate that a hearing is being held today to hear both sides of this critical issue for restaurant and all small business employees. We strongly urge Congress to take a second look at this bill that severely restricts many of the nation's hard-working Americans' right to freely choose their own union representation."
