From our friends at Labor Union Report (go read them, like now)
Pass the Secret Ballot Protection Act [H.R. 972 and S. 217].
Introduced in the Senate back in January by Jim DeMint [R-SC] and the House in March by Rep. Phil Roe [R-TN], the Secret Ballot Protection Act would ensure that employees have a right to decide on the question of unionization through a secret ballot. More importantly, it would end, once and for all, the deceptive practice of card check which gives union organizers the ability to trick workers into signing their rights over to a union.
Given the current debate over the NLRB’s proposed rules to hold ambush elections, a simple sentence can be added to the bill that states: No election shall take place within 35 days following the filing of a petition, nor on a date to exceed 56 days following the filing of a petition.
By inserting a sentence into the Secret Ballot Protection Act that establishes specific timetables, this would negate management’s alleged stalling during certification elections, as well as negate union stalling during decertification elections.
If there were to be challenges to the specific bargaining unit, as is the case today, the parties would have ample time to state its position to the NLRB, as well as file appeals within that time frame.
As stated by one of the witnesses at the NLRB’s “open meeting” on Monday:
“It is patently unfair to make it virtually impossible for an employer to present the other side of the organizers’ pitch,” said Brett McMahon, a vice president of Miller and Long Construction, a large nonunion contractor in the Washington area. “What is to fear from a fully engaged presentation of the facts from the employer’s perspective?”
Even though they already win a vast majority of NLRB elections, unions would prefer to have no opposition. However, given unions’ dismal track record at driving businesses out of business, employers (and their employees) do have a stake in the outcome of union elections.
As a result, it doesn’t take partisanship to come up with something that is fair for employees and the Secret Ballot Protection Act, along with a simple sentence inserted, is the vehicle that can provide a bipartisan solution for all stakeholders.
