Legislative proposals such as the “Employee Free Choice Act,” “RESPECT Act,” “Arbitration Fairness Act” and others, while marketed as benefiting workers could ultimately disrupt productivity significantly in the American workplace. The membership of NPRA will oppose any legislation or regulatory issue that would cause discord within the industry workforce.  NPRA members support open and fair discussions between management and employees on issues mutually beneficial to both parties.

Employee Free Choice Act

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), also known as “Card Check,” would do away with the long-standing National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) policy of private, secret ballots for approval of a union at a worksite.

Arbitration Fairness Act

The Arbitration Fairness Act, introduced in the 110th Congress, would allow those who do not agree with the decision of an arbitrator to bring the case to court.

RESPECT Act

The RESPECT Act would make virtually all employees non-supervisors for NLRA purposes. This would allow unions to collect dues from supervisors, open the door to massive litigation, and harm businesses, which need supervisors without conflicting responsibilities in order to operate effectively.


Employee Free Choice Act

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), also known as “Card Check,” would do away with the long-standing National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) policy of private, secret ballots for approval of a union at a worksite. EFCA would enable union organizers to watch employees cast their votes, by having employees sign a card in front of the union organizers. This opens the door to the possibility of coercion and intimidation of employees by union organizers.

Currently, when 30 percent of workers at a company sign authorization cards, a secret ballot overseen by an impartial federal board is held to determine whether a union is formed. EFCA would eliminate that process, and instead, union organizers would simply have to gather the signatures of more than 50 percent of employees through a “card check” in order to unionize and enter into a mandated timeframe for collective bargaining and arbitration – bypassing the secret ballot altogether.

The passage of EFCA would not only do away with a fundamental right that all American workers deserve, but would declare “open season” on those same workers to be the targets of union coercion and intimidation.

For more information: Coalition for a Democratic Workplace

Arbitration Fairness Act

The Arbitration Fairness Act, introduced in the 110th Congress, would allow those who do not agree with the decision of an arbitrator to bring the case to court. Arbitration provisions in collective bargaining agreements would be exempt from this Act.

The Arbitration Fairness Act was originally designed to benefit consumers and franchise owners by allowing them another avenue for dispute resolution. However, this Act would also declare voluntary agreements to resolve differences through arbitration unenforceable, wiping out parts of hundreds of millions of existing consumer and employment contracts. Many consumer and employment contracts contain provisions requiring the parties to resolve conflicts by arbitration rather than filing a lawsuit.

Arbitration has proven to be a useful tool in providing a forum where grievances can be heard and a decision made in a timely and cost-effective manner for both the employee and the company.

The champions of this legislation are trial lawyers who envision employees who disagree with the ruling of an arbitrator hiring lawyers to take their case to trial. The dockets of America’s courts are already filled with frivolous, time-consuming and money-wasting lawsuits. The passage of the Arbitration Fairness Act would add countless more cases to these dockets.


RESPECT Act

The Re-empowerment of Skilled and Professional Employees and Construction Tradesworkers Act (“RESPECT Act”) was introduced in the 110th Congress. This Act would change the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) definition of a supervisor to specify that a supervisor must “hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, reward, or discipline other employees” for a “majority of the individual’s work time.” This would also allow a supervisor to become a member of a union.

Under the present NLRA definition, supervisors are considered a part of a company’s management team. Unions cannot organize management.

The RESPECT Act would dramatically limit which workers the NLRA classifies as supervisors. This legislation was proposed in reaction to a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruling that clarified the definition of a supervisor and slightly increased the number of workers considered supervisors. Although the ruling dealt specifically with the health-care industry, the ramifications of the RESPECT Act would affect all industries. The RESPECT Act would make virtually all employees non-supervisors for NLRA purposes. This would create conflicting responsibilities for supervisors and open the door to massive litigation, significantly disrupting workplace productivity in the process.  Businesses need supervisors without conflicting responsibilities in order to operate effectively.