FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 19, 2017
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Ryan Williams 202-677-7060

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Congress Starts To Roll Back Damage Done By Unions Under Obama

Heather Greenaway
July 18, 2017
The Washington Examiner

The National Labor Relations Board saw many victories in its crusade against employee and employer rights under the Obama administration. Big Labor bosses shortened the timeframe for a union election to an unprecedented 11 days, while also forcing businesses to hand over troves of their workers’ personal information. This senseless condensed organizing election timeline and data collection effort has led to employee harassment at the hands of union organizers.

While there is hope the NLRB’s campaign against employees and employers will cease now that President Trump has named his nominees to the board, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce has taken major steps to roll back the agency’s misguided actions.

By approving the Employee Privacy Protection Act (H.R. 2775) and the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act (H.R. 2776), introduced by Reps. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., and Tim Walberg, R-Mich., respectively, workers’ rights to protect their privacy and freedom to cast informed votes in union elections will be restored once again.

The NLRB’s decision to shorten the timeframe for union elections has had significant effects on employees and employers alike. This rule has allowed union organizers to quietly garner support for unionization, then ambush businesses with elections shortly thereafter. This gives employers a mere 11 days to prepare their arguments and inform employees about the consequences of unionization. With businesses having such little time to prepare, workers are unable to hear both sides of the story which affects their ability to make a decision on a matter that will have a dramatic impact on their day-to-day lives.

In addition to weaponizing the union election process under Obama, the NLRB also decided to force employers to hand over vast amounts of workers’ personal information. The mandate forces businesses to turn over information that workers disclosed assuming it would not be shared with the government, but used in the event of an emergency. Now, Big Labor bosses gain access to the data without a hint of employee approval and use it to intimidate workers into forming collective bargaining units.

Although it seems hard to believe that the government would force employers to disclose employees’ personal information, the decision has real-life, practical implications, including union organizers using employee contact information to ambush workers at their homes and coerce them into signing union authorization cards.

It is clear the NLRB has operated as an outside arm of labor bosses seeking to advance their agenda while stripping away the rights of workers and businesses. Thankfully, the Employee Privacy Protection Act and the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act have been approved in committee and are on their way to a full vote in the House. H.R. 2775 would restore workers’ rights to control what personal information about them is shared during union organizing efforts, and H.R. 2776 would ensure a reasonable timeframe for labor elections of 35 days is maintained, allowing all parties involved to gain information and make an informed decision.

Big Labor’s expansion of power and influence under the Obama administration is now being reversed on two fronts: new board members whose nominations will soon receive votes in the Senate so they can get to work, and Congress enacting — starting with H.R. 2775 and 2776 — important steps toward restoring the balance of power in America’s workplaces, placing power back in the hands of workers and job creators.

Heather Greenaway is a spokesperson for the Workforce Fairness Institute.

To access the op-ed, click here.

The Workforce Fairness Institute is an organization committed to educating voters, employers, employees and citizens about issues affecting the workplace.  To learn more, please visit: https://www.workforcefairness.com.

To schedule an interview with a Workforce Fairness Institute representative, please contact Ryan Williams at (202) 677-7060.

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Featured Blog

AZ Daily Sun--Coconino Voices: PRO Act legislation would hurt local businesses

— 05.13.2021 —
By: Julie Pastrik Arizona businesses and workers have had an incredibly challenging year given the economic slowdown that followed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. However, local businesses and industries across the state are resilient and on the road to a strong recovery that will mean more jobs for Arizona workers and increased economic development to strengthen our communities. That is, as long as Congress does not move forward with potentially devastating legislation that would hurt local employers and employees alike while impeding our state’s economic recovery. Unfortunately, some members of Congress seem determined to do just that by pushing through the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. As harmless as the name may sound, the PRO Act would have serious repercussions for local businesses, particularly smaller ones, while undermining long-standing rights for employees and threatening the growing gig economy that has helped provide much-needed income for so many during this time. Arizona is fortunate to have leaders like Senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema, who have both refrained from joining the vast majority of their Democratic colleagues in cosponsoring the PRO Act. In a slap in the face to Arizona workers, the PRO Act removes one of the most fundamental rights a worker has when it comes to voting in elections to determine whether to unionize: the secret ballot. Instead, workers could be forced to sign union authorization cards in front of other employees, their employer, or union organizers. This bill would also destroy workers’ right to privacy by allowing unions access to personal information, including their home address and personal phone number. If that doesn’t open the door to union intimidation and harassment, I don’t know what does. As if that was not bad enough, the PRO Act would create major new challenges for Arizona businesses, making it harder for them to create jobs, expand in their communities, and even keep their doors open. It would redefine what it means to be a “joint employer” under national labor law, greatly complicating existing relationships between franchisors and franchisees as well as between business owners, contractors, subcontractors, and vendors and suppliers. At the same time, it would interfere with attorney-client confidentiality and make it much more difficult for small businesses to secure a legal advice on labor issues. Particularly harmful during these times, the PRO Act would apply a failed policy from California to national labor law by using the “ABC” test to determine whether a worker is an independent contractor or employee. This makes it much harder to qualify as an independent contractor, threatening the freedom and flexibility that tens of thousands of Arizonans find in independent contracting and gig economy work. Ultimately, the PRO Act is bad public policy that only works for union leaders to inflate their falling ranks while threatening workers’ rights, undermining small businesses, and jeopardizing a growing part of our economy. This is not a good solution for Arizona, and Senators Sinema and Kelly should stay firm and not cosponsor this misguided legislation.
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