Another attempt by the House Majority to slash workers rights – National Consumers League

By Michell K. McIntyre, Project Director of NCL’s Special Project on Wage Theft 

Last week, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s Jobs Agenda, which he designed to end numerous regulations he termed “job killing,” pushed H.R. 3094, or the “Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act,” which passed the House Committee on Education and Workforce by a party line vote of 23 for the majority and 16 for the minority. Rep. John Kline admittedly designed H.R. 3094 to roll back decisions made by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) after they ruled against Boeing for its unfair treatment of union workers in Washington State.

H.R. 3094 would be better named the ‘Union Election Prevention Act’ as it seeks to delay and ultimately prevent union representation elections from happening, thus denying workers the opportunity to have a voice at work. The bill would interfere with the elections process and flood the NLRB with hundreds of appeals from companies designed to hold up elections.

In the mark-up session this week, the House majority continuously batted down any and all amendments offered by the minority, including a plan to create employment opportunities for Americans by investing in the crumbling infrastructure of America’s schools. This amendment, offered by Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA), would have meant immediate jobs for teachers, construction workers, electricians, and countless others across the country.

In a toxic environment, with one side not even willing to listen to the other, partisan rhetoric was deeply troubling. At this point, there is no way that this current committee will come together to create a bipartisan and meaningful jobs bill. H.R. 3094 will surely pass the House of Representatives with a party line vote and move on to the Senate. With any hope, the Senate will simply sit on this terrible bill and never let it become law.