ENZI VOWS TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS IN THE WORKPLACE, OPPOSES BILL THAT WOULD STRIP AWAY KEY WORKER PROTECTIONS

Washington, D.C. – As the Senate prepares to begin debate on a bill that would compromise a worker’s right to cast a government-supervised, private ballot when deciding whether to join a union, U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, pledged to oppose the bill he said would leave workers exposed to pressure, intimidation and coercion by co-workers and labor union leaders. “The right to a private ballot is one of the cornerstones of our democracy, and I will defend that right as the Senate debates this bill. We must work aggressively to defeat this proposal,” Enzi said. “Working Americans deserve to choose what’s right for them in the workplace without fear, coercion or pressure and without having to publicly disclose or defend their views to hostile coworkers or unions. It would be the height of hypocrisy and irresponsibility for members of Congress – all of whom were elected by private ballot – to strip away that fundamental right. The so-called “Employee Free Choice Act,” would not only require the imposition of a workplace union, based solely on signed authorization cards, it would radically alter the longstanding process of collective-bargaining and set aside proven and effective methods used to resolve differences between workers and employers. It also would end standards in place for over 70 years used to compensate parties who suffer a loss as a result of wrongful acts, by imposing unreasonable penalties on employers, while leaving penalties for union violations of employees’ rights at current levels – despite the fact that there are an average of nearly 6,000 charges of harassment, intimidation, and coercion against unions each year. “Americans get a private ballot when they choose their President, their Congressmen, their local councilmen, even their PTA leaders – why should they not have the same right in the workplace when they decide whether to form a union? Free, fair, and private elections are a fundamental principle of American democracy,” Enzi said. “By substituting an unsupervised and undemocratic Card Check system for a government-supervised private ballot process, we would be sending working families a conflicting message that voting rights end at the shop door, and that the interests of the lowest paid worker take a back seat to those of union bosses.” ####