House of Representatives Passes ‘Free Choice Act’

The so-called “Employee Free Choice Act” passed in the House of Representatives via a 241-185 vote. Three Republican-offered amendments were considered on the floor, but all three failed.

As mentioned last month, the legislation would take away workers’ rights to a federally supervised secret ballot election, when deciding whether or not to join a union. The fear is this would leave workers open to strong-arm tactics during union organizing drives.

The PIA issued a “key industry vote card” to every U.S. Representative in advance of the vote, sending the message that the industry would be watching the vote tally of what is considered to be the most important labor issue vote since the ergonomics issue. While passage was expected, PIA worked diligently to prevent a number of Republican defections to the “yes” column.

As the Senate introduces its version of H.R. 800, the PIA’s objective is to block proponents from securing a super-majority of “yes” votes (60 votes).