Congressman Onder Introduces the Worker Enfranchisement Act

Today, Congressman Bob Onder introduced the Worker Enfranchisement Act, to protect employees from becoming unionized based upon an unfair voting structure. Current law states that the certification process is initiated by 30% of workers in a particular workplace signing authorization forms stating they wish to be represented by a union. Then the National Labor Relations Board must verify the forms and order a secret ballot election. These elections are then decided based on the number of votes cast, no matter how many eligible workers participate in the election.

Allowing the election to be decided regardless of the number of votes cast has led to many cases of workers becoming forced into union representation, when that unionization effort was grossly unpopular. An example is the Washington, D.C. security firm Securemedy, Inc. In August of 2024 only one out of seven eligible workers voted, allowing a union exclusive representation of all the workers simply due to the low turnout. Too many times, union organizers have taken advantage of a system designed in their favor. The Worker Enfranchisement Act seeks to correct this injustice and improve workplace democracy by mandating a two-thirds quorum of eligible employees to be present in unionization elections for the election results to be deemed valid.

“Our current laws provide an unfair avenue for union organizers to entrap employees into unpopular unionization based upon low participation elections,” said Congressman Onder.

“The Worker Enfranchisement Act will put the control of union representation back into the hands of employees rather than union organizers looking for an easy target.”

“The Worker Enfranchisement Act is pro-worker legislation would require the participation of a two-thirds quorum of eligible employees in unionization elections, guaranteeing that a strong majority of workers’ voices are heard. It also closes a long-standing loophole that lets unions ignore the views of many and even most workers. It is a common-sense reform that would ensure that unionization elections are strongly democratic,” said Education and Workforce Chairman Walberg.

This bill has received strong support from Americans for Tax Reform and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The bill is also cosponsored by Rep. Mark Messner (R-IN-08).

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