Employee Rights Act

The Employee Rights Act (S.1774), or ERA, is a bill re-introduced to the 115th Congress in the United States Senate on September 7, 2017, by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch [R-UT] and 14 co-sponsors.^[1] The bill was referred to the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.^[2] It is the successor to bills first introduced in the 112th Congress of the same name, also sponsored by Sen. Hatch and then-Rep. (now Senator) Tim Scott of South Carolina.^[3]

An identical Employee Rights Act bill (H.R. 2723) was re-introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives on May 25, 2017, by Rep. Phil Roe [R-TN] and six co-sponsors.^[4] It received a hearing in the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce on June 14, 2017.^[5]

In the 114th Congress, the ERA was co-sponsored by 170 members of Congress, including 33 U.S. senators.^{[citation needed]} In July 2017, The Wall Street Journal editorialized in favor of the ERA, saying "the bill would protect workers and employers from union intimidation."^[6]

The bill includes eight core provisions.^[7][8][9] It would:

• require secret ballot elections to determine union representation;
• create union re-certification elections when half of the originally unionized employees have turned over;
• mandate opt-in rather than opt-out systems for voluntary contributions to union political operations, or "paycheck protection";
• change the "win" bar for a union certification election to include the majority of all affected employees, not just those who voted;
• permit employees not to provide personal information to union organizers;
• provide protections from union coercion (including fines) blocking de-certification of an existing union;
• require secret ballot strike votes, eliminating the option to vote at union meetings following discussion;
• criminalize union threats and violence.

• EmployeeRightsAct.com - An anonymous advocacy page