GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS 

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The ABC Sierra Nevada Chapter Government Affairs Committee meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at noon in the ABC Conference Room. The Committee helps to arm merit contractors against issues such as the Employee Free Choice Act, Prevailing Wage, Project Labor Agreements, and Union Labor Disputes.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 19, 2009

 

NEVADA BUSINESS GROUPS JOIN TOGETHER TO OPPOSE THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT

 

Reno, Nev. – Nevada business associations announced Wednesday the creation of the Nevada Coalition for a Democratic Workplace to help inform local businesses and elected officials of the devastating consequences the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) will have on Nevada Businesses. The Coalition open to all business groups who wish to fight EFCA and educate everyone who works and lives in Nevada about this devastating legislation. 

 

Coalition members: 
ABC, Sierra Nevada Chapter
ABC, Las Vegas Chapter
Builders Association of Northern Nevada
Carson City Chamber of Commerce
Citizen Outreach
Nevada Association of Employers
Nevada Hospital Association
Nevada Hotel & Lodging Association
Nevada Independent Insurance Agents
Nevada Manufactures Association
Nevada Motor Transport Association
Nevada Prosperity Project
Reno Sparks Chamber of Commerce
Western Alliance Fund

The Employee Free Choice Act, aka Card Check, was introduced in Congress on March 10, 2009 and would take away numerous rights and protections currently afforded workers employed at companies where unions are actively seeking to organize. The bill would remove workers’ rights to a federally supervised private-ballot election. Instead, workers would be pressured to sign cards in front of organizers and colleagues, potentially subjecting them to harassment or intimidation. Once a majority of employees have signed cards, the union is immediately recognized.

“This proposal undercuts basic worker rights and protections,” said Clara Andriola, President of the Sierra Nevada Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors. “ABC and many others stand firmly against this radical and unnecessary legislation.”

In addition, the proposal undermines collective bargaining by forcing negotiations rapidly into federally binding arbitration. Arbitrators, with little or no prior knowledge of the business, would be free to impose wage, benefit and work terms irrespective of union or management bargaining offers. Under this proposal, employees would lose the right to ratify or decline their contracts; instead, the determination of federal arbitrators would be final.

“Managers and employees would be cut out of the process, leaving the process entirely in the hands of bureaucrats in Washington. With the announcement of union-only project labor agreements on federal projects over $25 million and the passage of the stimulus package, the whiplash effect of this economic jolt denies work for more than 80 percent of the construction workers in Nevada. Excluding the fundamental civil liberties and rights of employment for the majority of workers in the construction industry is unconscionable,” added Andriola.

The bill failed to pass the 110th Congress in 2007 but was reintroduced in both houses on March 10th of the 111th Congress. 

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