AHLA: Contact your Member of Congress and Ask Them to Oppose "Employee Free Choice Act"

• 
  SAVE
• 
  SHARE
• 
  TEXT SIZE
• 
  PRINT
• 
  COMMENT
• 
  PDF

. December 12, 2008

DECEMBER 12, 2008. Congress is in session this week for just a few days until it returns next year for a new session. This week presents a perfect chance for you to let your Senators and Representative understand that the "Employee Free Choice Act" and card check is an assault on worker rights which will invite coercion, manipulation, and intimidation in the workplace.

Tell your lawmakers that you are demanding that they oppose all efforts to pass any provision in the "Employee Free Choice Act," a bill whose title deliberately misleads the American public into believing it is something worth considering.

In January 2009, the Obama Administration and the new Congress will consider a top legislative priority of organized labor, the "Employee Free Choice Act," otherwise known as "card check." This legislation poses not only an unfair assault on a person's right to privacy, but a direct threat to our nation's economic growth and job creation.

This bill's devastating consequences are caused by radically allowing increased unionization of almost every business in the country simply by taking away your employee's right to a secret ballot in their workplace elections.

In November, 125 million American voters went to their polling places to cast a private, secret ballot for President, their members of Congress, and other elected officials. A secret ballot is a basic American right-but now unions want to take that right away from U.S. employees. Their proposal replaces the right of a secret ballot with a process of unionization that uses a public "card check" scheme which union organizers supervise.

The bill also mandates that an interest mediator impose a contract on employers and workers if an employer does not agree the union's terms within 120 days, and eliminates a worker's right to review and approve the imposed contract.

Employees in right-to-work states will no longer be afforded the options they have enjoyed in choosing their workplace organization. In addition, small businesses will be directly targeted, with attempts to organize as few as 10 employees at a time.

AH&LA believes that the private ballot ensures a fair choice for its member's employees. By contrast, employees sometimes sign union organizing cards not because they support the union, but rather to stop harassment and intimidation from union organizers.

This legislation is simply not acceptable in a nation created to defend the rights of individuals. And this industry is fighting back. AH&LA is asking the membership to contact their Congressional lawmakers to stop this legislation from ever becoming law.

AH&LA's governmental affairs department has been a leader in opposing this attack on worker rights. Hoteliers can contact their Senators and Representatives through this link to AH&LA's hotelLOBBY grassroots Website and urge them to oppose "The Employee Free Choice Act." The hotelLOBBY Website is for AH&LA members only. Once you are on that Webpage, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the "Take Action" button. You will be directed to another Website where you can edit an email to your members of Congress. Click "Go," and your emails will be delivered directly to your Congressional representatives.