House Republicans Revive Anti-Union Bill

June 4, 2017 
By Steven Wishnia and Neal Tepel

Washington, DC – House Republicans reintroduced a bill May 25 that would seriously weaken labor unions’ ability to organize workplaces and continue to represent them.

The Employee Rights Act, sponsored by Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), would require unions to win a majority of all employees in a workplace, not just those who vote, before they could be certified as a collective-bargaining representative. It would also prohibit employers from recognizing unions by card check, require an outside monitor for strike-authorization votes, and, if more than half the workers on the job were hired after the union was originally voted in, force a new election on whether to stay union. “The rights of American workers were under attack during the Obama presidency, and it is time to restore those rights and work to foster a pro-growth, pro-employee environment,” Roe said in a statement. The right-wing Washington Examiner Web site called the bill “the most expansive reforms to federal labor law” since the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. The AFL-CIO said it “would subvert democracy and stifle working people’s voices,” noting that if people who didn’t vote were counted as “no” votes in political elections, “virtually no one” would be able to take office. Read more