Card Check Not Dead
Update on Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800)

In 2007, H.R. 800, the “Employee Free Choice Act”, commonly referred to as “card check,” was approved in the House by a vote of 241-185; it fell nine votes short of the 60 needed to move the legislation forward in the Senate. The votes were largely along party lines, with most Democrats supporting the legislation and most Republicans opposing it. Despite an initial defeat, labor leaders have not abandoned their push for passage, and they will be looking to Congress to take up the legislation again in 2008.

Enacted more than 70 years ago, the National Labor Relations Act, which H.R. 800 seeks to amend, established a system to allow employees to determine whether they wish to be represented by a union through an employee secret-ballot election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board.  Under the Employee Free Choice Act, the National Labor Relations Board will certify a union upon receiving a petition signed by a majority of a company’s workers.  This “card check” approach would deny workers the opportunity to express their decision for or against union representation in private – free from coercion and intimidation. By replacing private-ballot elections with “card-check” elections, the legislation would let unions organize a workplace if a simple majority of workers signed a card.

For a number of reasons, this legislation is harmful to all businesses, large or small.

First, it would expose employees to the potential of union intimidation. When a union tries to organize a workplace, workers sometimes face intimidation and pressure about how they should vote, from the union, management or both. The only way to protect employees from coercion is through the continued use of a federally supervised, private-ballot process.

Second, it would increase the number of unionized workplaces, particularly among small businesses, and transfer hundreds of millions of dollars from workers to union coffers through mandatory union dues. Card check would enable unions to organize large numbers of businesses that they had not pursued previously, such as hotels and restaurants.

Third, card check legislation would require employers to negotiate a union contract in just four months after a union is certified through card check or be forced into binding arbitration. It would also impose substantial new penalties on employers for even technical labor law violations.

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