Employee Rights Act

The Employee Rights Act (S.1874), or ERA, is a bill re-introduced to the 114th Congress in the United States Senate on July 8, 2015 by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch [R-UT] and 16 co-sponsors.^[1] The bill was referred to the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.^[2] It is the successor to bills first introduced in the 112th Congress of the same name, also sponsored by Sen. Hatch and then-Rep. (now Senator) Tim Scott of South Carolina.^[3]

An identical Employee Rights Act bill (H.R. 3222) was re-introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives on July 27, 2015 by Rep. Tom Price [R-GA] and 30 co-sponsors.^[4] It was referred to the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce.^[5]

Legislation

The bill includes eight core provisions. It would require secret ballot elections to determine union representation; create union re-certification elections when half of the originally unionized employees have turned over; mandate opt-in rather than opt-out systems for voluntary contributions to union political operations, or "paycheck protection"; change the "win" bar for a union certification election to include the majority of all affected employees, not just those who voted; permit employees not to provide personal information to union organizers; provide protections from union coercion (including fines) blocking de-certification of an existing union; require secret ballot strike votes, eliminating the option to vote at union meetings following discussion; and criminalize union threats and violence.^[6][7][8]

References