Union Bill Dies in Senate

 

Backed by the Chamber, the Senate dealt a major blow to the top legislative priority of labor unions by blocking a bill that would allow unions to organize workplaces without a secret ballot election. The Senate's 51-48 vote fell 9 votes short of the 60 needed to end debate and move the legislation forward.

 

"This is a major victory for the Chamber and businesses that are targeted by labor unions," says Randy Johnson, Chamber vice president of Labor, Immigration, and Employee Benefits. "We made this one of our top priorities this session, and we are pleased that the Senate has wisely chosen to uphold traditional American democratic ideals by preserving the right to the secret ballot process in the workplace."

 

The Chamber mobilized a massive, multifaceted grassroots lobbying campaign in opposition to the bill. Its successes included generating more than 40,000 grassroots contacts with congressional offices; running radio ads in 51 congressional districts; and co-chairing the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, a group of close to 500 organizations opposed to the bill. The Chamber also launched a Virtual March on Washington, with more than 6,000 business supporters adding their personalized images to a satellite image of the National Mall.

 

Though card check legislation passed the House in March, the Chamber's display of grassroots lobbying strength severely weakened the bill as it moved to the Senate for consideration.

 

H.R. 800, the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, would replace secret ballot elections overseen by the National Labor Relations Board with an open-ended card check process in which employees would be forced to make decisions on whether or not to recognize a union in front of union organizers and supporters.

 

The bill would also require mandatory arbitration by government-appointed arbitrators if the union and employer could not agree on terms of a first contract within 120 days. Finally, the bill would increase the penalties against employers for violations of labor laws during union organization campaigns but not increase penalties for unions that violate these laws.