Share |

Association for Retail Technology Standards
National Council of Chain Restaurants
Loss Prevention (LPInformation.com)
Retail Advertising and Marketing Association
Community of Online and Multichannel Retailers
STORES Media, Knowledge Series, and more
NRF Foundation Research & Education
Forum for International Retail Association Executives

News

Public Policy Image: Text decoration - bullet

March 26, 2007 - Check

Retailers Urge Senators to Reject Union ‘Card-Check’ Bill

For Immediate Release
Contact: J. Craig Shearman
(202) 626-8134
shearmanc@nrf.com

Retailers Urge Senators to Reject Union ‘Card-Check’ Bill

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 26, 2007 – The National Retail Federation today strongly urged a Senate committee to reject legislation that would take away the right to secret ballots in union elections.

As American workers find out more about the details included in this bill, they will understand how it will take away their rights,” NRF Vice President for Government and Political Affairs Rob Green said. “The changes to federal labor law proposed by this legislation are too important for the committee to rush to judgment. We urge the committee to hold additional hearings on this measure so that the American people can learn more about this misguided legislation.”

The secret ballot election is the fairest way to guarantee the rights of employees to freely choose whether or not to be represented by a union,” Green said.It allows for a private, confidential vote by employees based on the principle of the American system of democracy.

Green cited a recent McLaughlin and Associates national poll that found that 89 percent of those surveyed believed a worker’s vote in a union election should remain private.

Green’s comments came in a letter to members of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The panel is scheduled to hold a hearing Tuesday on the Employee Free Choice Act.

Committee Chairman Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., has not yet introduced the Senate version of the bill, but the House passed its version on March 1. The measure would require the National Labor Relations Board to certify a union if presented with signed authorization cards from a majority of employees the union is seeking to organize, eliminating the long-standing National Labor Relations Act requirement for federally supervised secret ballots in union elections. The legislation also includes other anti-employer provisions such as compulsory arbitration of first contracts and enhanced penalties.

NRF is leading the retail industry’s fight against the card-check proposal. Among other activities, NRF is a founding member of the management committee of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, a broad-based business group formed to oppose the legislation, and co-chairs the group’s lobbying committee.

The National Retail Federation is the world's largest retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, independent stores, chain restaurants, drug stores and grocery stores as well as the industry's key trading partners of retail goods and services. NRF represents an industry with more than 1.6 million U.S. retail establishments, more than 24 million employees - about one in five American workers - and 2006 sales of $4.7 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100 state, national and international retail associations.

Email to Friend | Printer Friendly

Subscribe to the NRF News Feed