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Washington, DC -- U.S. Representative Yvette D. Clarke (NY-11), issued the following statement in support of the Committee on Education and Labor’s Employee Free Choice Act (HR 800). The Employee Free Choice Act passed the House last week, 241 -185 votes.
“As a member of the Committee on Education and Labor, my vote in support of the Employee Free Choice Act was significant. It represents millions of workers who for far too long have had no vote, no voice, no choice, in getting their fair share of our nation’s economic growth.”
“This legislation lifts the middle class and helps working people everywhere get ahead by monetarily penalizing employers for illegally discriminating against employees who attempt to organize a union or bargain a first contract. Employers who violate this legislation would feel the pain in their pockets just as working families have for years.”
The current National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) established in 1935, allows workers to organize via majority sign-up only where the employer agrees to it. The Employee Free Choice Act mends the union election process so that employers are no longer empowered to influence a worker’s ability to form a union. Under the legislation, when a majority of workers in a workplace sign cards authorizing a union, they will get a union. A recent study indicates that union workers earn 30 percent more, on average, than do non-union workers, and union workers are much more likely to have healthcare, pensions, and more generous paid time off.
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