FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Isakson Votes Against Legislation to Eliminate Workers’ Rights to Secret Ballot in Choosing Whether to Unionize
‘Workers Must Have the Protection of the Secret Ballot’

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) today praised the Senate’s refusal to cut off debate on legislation that would strip workers of their right to a secret ballot when deciding whether to unionize. The procedural vote failed 51 to 48. Senate rules required 60 votes to proceed.                                                                     

“We must continue to see to it that workers have a free choice and have a private choice to work in a country with the greatest worker protections of any nation in the world,” Isakson said. “Today, we have preserved a system that protects workers. Ours is a neutral system, a level playing field for those who wished to be organized and those who wished for organization not to take place.”                    

The so-called Employee Free Choice Act, H.R.800, would have eliminated the rights of workers to participate in a secret-ballot election in order to certify the creation of a union. Instead, the legislation would have forced employees to make a public declaration of their preference by allowing union organizers to bypass elections if a majority of employees sign cards authorizing a union.

Isakson believes the current system, which allows employees to use a secret ballot in choosing whether they want a union to become their exclusive representative in the workplace, has worked well because it neither advocates nor discourages unionization.

Isakson blamed declining union membership as the motive behind the legislation, which was endorsed by the Communist Party. Union membership among private sector employees is at its lowest level in decades.

“This legislation would have created a situation of intimidation all for the sake of trying to save a movement that won't save itself. Management will continue to have the same rights as the workers and the workers will continue to have the protection of the secret ballot,” Isakson said.

The legislation would have also required a federal mediator to write the first contract for a newly unionized workplace. The current system requires the parties who must live by the contract to make the contract. Isakson argued that the government should not intrude on the private negotiations between an employer and local union leaders.

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