AH&LA Urges Congress to Protect Workers' Right to Secret Ballot Elections
WASHINGTON, DC, December 11, 2006. A group of 47 organizations led by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) and the Associated Builders and Contractors sent a letter to all Members of Congress yesterday emphasizing the importance of protecting the right of employees to secret ballot elections in their workplaces.
Noting that the AFL-CIO has stated that secret ballot elections 'provide the surest means of avoiding decisions, which are the results of group pressures and not individual decisions,' the coalition stressed its adamant opposition to H.R. 1696, the legislation that would strip worker protections guaranteed by the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.
'Under the existing system-conducted by the National Labor Relations Board-secret ballot elections protect employees against intimidation from management and unions. Hard-working housekeepers, bell staff, and desk clerks deserve to have their voices heard through secret ballot voting, as we all do. It's their job. It's their life. It should be their choice,' said AH&LA President/CEO Joseph A. McInerney, CHA.
H.R. 1696, falsely named the 'Employee Free Choice Act,' would replace the privacy of election booths with the very public 'card check recognition' process through which employees vote on whether to be represented by a union by signing authorization cards in front of coworkers, employers, and organizers without giving them the benefit of voting their conscience in private.
'The right to vote for our representatives in secret ballot elections has been a cornerstone of our democracy since our founding-it is the American way and it should be protected,' said Marlene Colucci, AH&LA executive vice president for public policy. 'In our letter, we reminded Members of Congress that they recently participated in a secret ballot election to determine who would represent them within the leadership of their parties in their workplace-the United States Congress-and that their constituents deserve the same rights in their workplaces.'
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