EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT HOUSE FLOOR DEBATE: PROPOSED AMENDMENTS

In floor debate today, Republican Representatives attempted unsuccessfully to tie three amendments to the “Employee Free Choice Act” (H.R. 800).

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) attempted to include an “anti-Salting” amendment to the legislation. “Salting” refers to a union organizing tactic whereby professional union organizers seek or obtain employment with non-union companies solely in order to organize employees or bully the employer. Once hired, they organize co-workers, and/or attempt to coerce the employer’s acquiescence to unionization by sabotaging operations and generating legal claims against the employer. The amendment was voted down by a voice vote, and the requested recording of the vote was postponed. [UPDATE, 3:00 PM: 164 Yea, 264 Nay].

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) proposed to add a provision creating a “do not call” list for employees who wish to avoid solicitation by union organizers. Ironically, the proponents of the E.F.C.A. criticized this proposal as a limitation on the ability of employees to obtain information about unions – while failing to acknowledge how the E.F.C.A. itself takes employer “free speech” about unions out of the equation. The amendment was voted down by a voice vote, and the requested recording of the vote was postponed. [UPDATE, 3:09 PM: 173 Yea, 256 Nay].

Finally, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA) offered an amendment, originally proposed as separate legislation by the late Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-GA), the “Secret Ballot Protection Act.” The amendment was thus obviously designed to swallow the whole of the E.F.C.A., as it would guarantee the right of employees to a secret-ballot election when faced with union organizing drives. This proposed amendment garnered the most debate – with both sides bursting into applause at various times throughout. The amendment was voted down by the loudest voice vote to that point, and the requested voice vote was postponed.