ABC Praises Bill Protecting Workers’ Rights to a Secret Ballot Election

When the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) raises it voice, we here at Compact Equipment tend to listen. They do represent 23,000 merit shop construction and construction-related firms with nearly two million employees. Last Friday, ABC praised the introduction of the Secret Ballot Protection Act (H.R. 972) in the U.S. House of Representatives by Congressman Phil Roe (R-Tenn.). The legislation would protect a worker’s right to a secret ballot election when deciding whether to join a union and would ensure that workers have a say in their representation even if employers voluntarily allow the formation of a union.

“All workers deserve the fundamental democratic right to a secret ballot election when deciding whether or not to join a union,” said 2011 ABC national chairman Michael J. Uremovich, president of Great Lakes Energy Consultants, LLC, Manhattan, Ill. “This bill will prevent any backdoor attempt by the National Labor Relations Board to take that right away.

“Today, 87 percent of the construction workers in this country choose not to belong to a union,” said Uremovich. “It’s this freedom to choose that the Secret Ballot Protection Act will protect.”

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) introduced a similar bill with the same title (S. 217) on Jan. 27, 2011. The measures are a response to the Employee Free Choice Act, which was introduced in the 111th Congress. The legislation would have removed the secret ballot election and replaced it with a “card check” process. Under the card check system, union organizers would only have to gather signed authorization cards from a majority of the workers to claim union representation.