Employee Free Choice Act Qucikly Passed By House: Next To The Senate

March 2, 2007

Flooring the accelerator on the "Employee Free Choice Act" -- legislation that would fundamentally alter the balance of labor relations in the United States to favor unions -- the House of Representatives on March 1 passed the controversial measure (H.R. 800), with 241 members voting in favor of the bill and 185 opposing. Thirteen Republican representatives voted with the overwhelmingly Democratic majority. Attempts to weaken the bill through amendments offered by Republicans were defeated. The proposed Act had cleared the House Education and Labor Committee in late January.

Identical legislation is expected to be proposed by Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-MA) in the next few weeks. The AFL-CIO's Director of Legislation has stated he is optimistic that the bill will be introduced in the Senate with at least 50 cosponsors. However, to ensure passage in the upper house, 60 senators are needed to support the legislation. Business associations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are expected to engage in strong lobbying efforts to counter Senatorial support. One prominent feature of these lobbying efforts is sure to be a recent McLaughlin and Associates poll in which nearly 9 out of 10 persons surveyed agreed that workers should retain their right to secret ballot elections in deciding whether to unionize.

While the administration has previously signaled its opposition to the bill through statements by Vice-President Cheney and Labor Secretary Chao, the White House earlier this week issued a formal rebuke of the measure. "H.R. 800 would strip workers of the fundamental democratic right to a supervised private ballot election, interfere with the ability of workers and employers to bargain freely and come to agreement over working terms and conditions, and impose penalties for unfair labor practices only on employers--and not on union organizers--who intimidate workers," it said.

For more information regarding the substance of the Act, see Employee Free Choice Act Reintroduced In Congress: The Battle Begins.

Jackson Lewis will continue to keep clients apprized of the status of this legislation and efforts to oppose its passage.

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