The
Associated Builders and Contractors is stepping up its fight against the Employee Free Choice Act.
The Associated Builders and Contractors recently
sent a petition to Washington reiterating its opposition to a bill that would
make union organizing easier.
Signed by 3,000 construction firms, it says
Congress should vote down the Employee Free Choice Act “in all forms.”
“For ABC’s members,
this bill is a non-starter because it would rob workers of the fundamental
American right to a secret-ballot election and force both workers and employers
into a federal government imposed, two-year binding contract with terms they may
not agree with,” said 2009 ABC national chairman Jerry Gorski, president of
Gorski Engineering Inc. in Collegeville, Pa. “ABC is committed to fighting this
deceptively titled bill with all its resources in order to protect the rights
of the nation’s merit shop construction
workers.”
The bill,
likely to see Congressional debate this summer, would eliminate employers’
right to demand a secret-ballot election to recognize a union. Under the bill,
if a majority of workers sign cards saying they wish to be represented, the
employer would be required to accept the union.
ABC, which represents nonunion construction companies, says the bill will cost the U.S. economy
600,000 jobs in 2010.
“All workers, in
every industry, deserve the fundamental American right to a federally
supervised secret-ballot election and the right to vote on a contract of their
choice,” Gorski added. “Without the freedom to do both, democracy in the
workplace will be nothing more than a footnote in
history.”
The bill, long a priority of organized labor, is
expected to easily pass the U.S. House. The Senate vote is likely to be much
closer, and several GOP senators have threatened a filibuster.
