Tomorrow: House Vote on Jobs Bill to Prevent Ambush Union Elections
Somewhere in the stack of more than 20 bipartisan, House-passed jobs bills stuck in the Democratic-controlled Senate is the Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act, which would protect jobs by preventing the federal government’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) from telling employers where they can and can’t create new jobs. The legislation came about in response to the NLRB’s lawsuit against Boeing, a controversy that revealed how one federal board’s overreach can destroy jobs and have a chilling effect on our economy.
Now the NLRB is at it again, readying new regulations that threaten American jobs. The board intends to speed up the process for union organizing elections, changing the rules to “heavily favor unions” at the expense of employers, who already face increased costs and disruptions from organizing elections. These rules, according to one former NLRB member, are “a transparent attempt to circumvent Congress” and a new source of uncertainty for employers and workers. A memo from Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) cited “ambush elections” as one of the “top 10 job-destroying regulations” that would be addressed by the House this year.
To that end, tomorrow the House will take up H.R. 3094, the Workforce Democracy & Fairness Act. According to the House Education & the Workforce Committee, the bill ensures – among other things – that “no union election will be held in less than 35 days,” giving workers “the ability to make a fully informed decision in a union election.” The committee’s chairman, Rep. John Kline (R-MN), who is also the bill’s sponsor, made the case for it in a recent Washington Times op-ed:
“This proposal is not revolutionary by any stretch of the imagination. It simply reaffirms protections workers and employers have received for decades – protections that are now under assault by an activist NLRB.
“Mr. Obama has had almost three years to introduce a responsible plan to help put Americans back to work Instead, he has called for more spending and temporary measures and has stood silent as unelected bureaucrats advance a partisan, job-destroying agenda. The president has failed to hold the NLRB accountable, but the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act ensures Congress will.”
Read the committee’s fact sheet to learn more about the Workforce Democracy & Fairness Act, which is one of three common-sense bills the House will vote on this week as part of Republicans’ Plan for America’s Job Creators. These measures, as well as the 20 bipartisan, House-passed jobs bills stuck in the Senate, are designed to remove the uncertainty facing America’s small businesses so they can get back to creating jobs. President Obama should put country before party and urge the Democratic-controlled Senate to vote on these common-sense jobs bills. Visit jobs.GOP.gov to learn more.