Employee Rights Act

The Employee Rights Act (S.1774), or ERA, is a bill re-introduced to the 115th Congress in the United States Senate on September 7, 2017, by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch [R-UT] and 14 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. 2723) was re-introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives on May 25, 2017, by Rep. Phil Roe [R-TN] and six co-sponsors. ^[4] It received a hearing in the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce on June 14, 2017. ^[5]

In the 114th Congress, the ERA was co-sponsored by 170 members of Congress, including 33 U.S. senators.^{[ citation needed ]} In July 2017, The Wall Street Journal editorialized in favor of the ERA, saying "the bill would protect workers and employers from union intimidation." ^[6]

Legislation

The bill includes eight core provisions. ^{[7] [8] [9]} 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;
• criminalize union threats and violence.

References

1. "S.1774 - Employee Rights Act". Congress.gov. 7 September 2017.
2. Orrin, Hatch (2015-07-28). "Committees - S.1874 - 114th Congress (2015-2016): Employee Rights Act". www.congress.gov. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
3. "Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Tim Scott Introduce Legislation to Protect Workers' Rights - Press Releases - United States Senator Orrin Hatch". www.hatch.senate.gov. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
4. "Roe Statement on Introduction of the Employee Rights Act". Congressman Phil Roe Tennessees 1st District - About the District. 2017-05-25. Retrieved 2017-08-08.
5. ""Legislative Reforms to the National Labor Relations Act: H.R. 2776, Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act; H.R. 2775, Employee Privacy Protection Act; and, H.R. 2723, Employee Rights Act." | Education & the Workforce Committee". edworkforce.house.gov. Retrieved 2017-08-08.
6. The Editorial Board (21 July 2017). "The GOP's Labor Project". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2017-08-08.
7. Stverak, Jason (2014-02-18). "Labor board stacks the deck for unions". The Hill. Retrieved 2014-03-04.
8. Sherk, James; Jolevski, Filip (2013-11-13). "Employee Rights Act: Protecting Workers from Union Overreach". Heritage.org. Archived from the original on November 15, 2013. Retrieved 2014-03-04.
9. Hoist, Christine (2013-11-27). "Republicans introduce "Employee Rights Act" targeting NLRA". Lexology. Retrieved 2014-03-04.

External links

• EmployeeRightsAct.com - An anonymous advocacy page