Isakson Condemns So-Called 'Employee Free Choice Act'

Card Check Legislation Would Remove Workers’ Rights to a Secret Ballot

Mar 10, 2009

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator and Senate candidate Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., rebuked claims made during a Senate hearing on that the ‘Employee Free Choice Act’ legislation would help the middle class.

Isakson, who vehemently opposes the bill, made the following statement in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.

“There is no evidence that forced unionization will do anything to assist the middle class and deliver economic security for workers. This legislation would eliminate the rights of workers to participate in a secret-ballot election in order to certify the creation of a union. The decision on whether to unionize is one of the most serious decisions in an employee’s life, and the current system, which allows employees to use a secret ballot in choosing whether they want a union to represenat them in the workplace works well because it neither advocates not discourages unionization.

“The misnomer the ‘Employee Free Choice Act’ in actuality removes the basic right of a secret ballot because it forces employees to make a public declaration of their preference in whether or not they want to unionize by allowing union organizers to bypass elections if a simple majority of employees sign cards authorizing a union. In addition, this legislation forces employers and employees into a binding two-year contract where they must accept a federal bureaucrat’s definition of a fair contract.

“Support for this legislation is based on the fear that, if left to their own devices in the privacy of a voting booth, some American workers might choose not to join a union. It creates a situation of worker intimidation and prohibits the ability of management and labor to work together in an increasingly dynamic economy.”