What Members of Congress Think About Neutrality

Some members of Congress are taking notice of the movement toward Neutrality Agreements — and the National Labor Relations Board's reluctance to deal with them. They're not happy.

In a February 20, 2004 letter to the General Counsel of the NLRB, Charles W. Norwood, Member of Congress from Georgia's 9th District, Jim DeMint, Member of Congress from South Carolina's 4th District, and Marilyn Musgrave, Member of Congress from Colorado's 4th District say:

"We are concerned about the rapidly growing use of so-called 'neutrality' and 'card check' agreements. In their most common form, these private agreements discard the secret ballot, appear to ride roughshod over employee free choice, and severely limit Board oversight of behavior occurring during the so-called 'critical period'...

"Meanwhile, we are receiving complaints from constituents and other concerned citizens throughout the country about the trampling of employee freedom of choice through the use of these private 'neutrality' and 'card check' agreements, the terms of which are often kept secret from the targeted employees. These complaints have highlighted such tactics as the use of mandatory 'captive audience' speeches by employer and union officials; threatened job losses unless union cards are signed; unwanted 'home visits' by teams of union organizers; and particularly, the lack of a Board-supervised secret ballot election. These actions appear to subvert the primary policy of the Act: worker freedom of choice."

See the entire Norwood/DeMint/Musgrave letter (pdf)

In another letter dated February 17, Ernest J. Istook, Jr., Member of Congress from Oklahoma's 5th District, adds:

"Presumably the precipitous drop in representation cases is a direct result of the rapidly growing trend of employer-union arrangements known as 'neutrality and card check agreements.' As you know, these arrangements sidestep the traditional NLRB-supervised secret ballot election process and replace it with a private, often secret, process that denies employees the opportunity to determine their union status in a secret ballot election and in an environment relatively free of coercion...

"Union organizers have been having an increasingly difficult time persuading employees to vote for union representation in NLRB secret ballot elections. Therefore, all indications are that this use of outside-of-NLRB process will continue to increase...

"At the same time I was alarmed to learn that the General Counsel has so far not chosen to file complaints when confronted with several unfair labor practice charges filed by employees who have had this card-check recognition process foisted upon them and who have reported various types of abuse of their Section 7 right to refrain, including the widespread use of threats, bribery, and other coercion intended to compel them to sign the union cards...

See the entire Istook letter (pdf)