Legislative Action Summit in Washington

Stopping Card Check and Protecting Business Travel Top Industry's Wish List

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

. March 14, 2009

MARCH 13, 2009 - Card check is back on Congress' to-do list after the Employee Free Choice Act was introduced in both houses of Congress this week. Attendees at this year's Legislative Action Summit (LAS) in Washington will be meeting with their members of Congress Tuesday, March 17, to educate them of the dire consequences card check poses to American jobs, inform them of the economic potential our industry possesses, and urge them to not approve any legislation that will cause corporations to reduce their business travel.

If you are not attending LAS, you can still help with the job of educating Congress.

Card check remains a threat to the industry. The versions of the "Employee Free Choice Act" (EFCA) introduced Tuesday in the House (H.R. 1409) and the Senate (S. 560) retain the same dangerous card check scheme, along with the mandatory arbitration by government bureaucrats, that will impose workplace conditions on hotel employers without any opportunity for appeal and hotel employees without their ability to vote on contract terms.

However, 18 Democratic Senators did not sign on as co-sponsors of the Senate bill, which is a good sign that our lobbying over the past year has been effective. These Senators are Sens. Baucus (MT), Bayh (IN), Bennet (CO), Bingaman (NM), Conrad (ND), Dorgan (ND), Feinstein (CA), Hagan (NC), Kohl (WI), Landrieu (LA), Lincoln (AR), McCaskill (MO), Nelson (NE), Pryor (AR), Tester (MT), Udall (CO), Warner (VA), and Webb (VA).

All AH&LA members-especially those conducting business in the states represented by the 13 Senators-must contact their House and Senate representatives immediately and urge them to vote against the "Employee Free Choice Act" in every instance when it comes up for a vote later this session.

We also need you to contact your lawmakers about the continued threat posed by lawmakers who believe business meetings and travel are unnecessary for economic growth. In recent political posturing, lawmakers have produced a caustic environment where companies are now scared to travel and hold meetings. Statements by our nation's leaders have caused millions of dollars worth of meetings to be cancelled because companies fear business travel is perceived as a luxury. As a result, our hoteliers are forced to cut back on staff for lack of business.

Meetings mean business, but they also mean job creation and economic growth for all the participants. It's important for you to remind your legislators about that simple fact.

This year's Legislative Action Summit (LAS), which starts Monday, could not be better timed. Participants will be well-armed with information for their legislative meetings on why card check and EFCA is a bad idea for America, and to remind lawmakers how the lodging industry and American business create jobs as a result of business travel. But we need you to join in this chorus of support.

If you are unable to participate in next week's summit, you can still be part of the action. AH&LA strongly urges you to contact your House and Senate members and tell them that the "Employee 'Forced' Choice Act" will only stop job creation and injure your business's growth. We've put together a sample letter on our hotelLOBBY Website that you can use to send via email to your lawmaker. Or you can print it out on your company's letterhead and fax it to their offices.

We've also placed a letter on hotelLOBBY that you can send to your members of Congress about the value of business travel. At LAS, members of each state's association will be presenting a joint letter signed by AH&LA members in that state asking lawmakers to be a supporter of the hotel and travel industries. We would like each AH&LA member to do the same and send a letter to their lawmakers reminding them of the jobs that our businesses create for their local economies.

Hoteliers can contact their House and Senate lawmakers through this link to AH&LA's hotelLOBBY grassroots Website, and urge them to oppose the "Employee Free Choice Act" (S. 560/H.R. 1409). You can also, through the same link, send a letter to your elected officials about the economic value business travel delivers to our nation.

For more information about these issues, you may contact AH&LA Senior Vice President for Governmental Affairs Shawn McBurney at (202) 289-3123 or [email protected].