Opposition to HR 800

OPPOSITION TO H.R. 800

Mr. WALBERG. Madam Speaker, it is clearly and cleverly entitled the ``Employee Free Choice Act,' but we are about to consider a bill that strips away the very tool that protects the sanctity of a free and open society, the private ballot.

Private ballots ensure workers have elections without fraudulent interference, coercion, or intimidation. Confidence will be lost with a system that forces workers to publicly declare their intentions. The AFL-CIO recognized this hypocrisy by expressing support for secret ballots when workers are presented the opportunity to decertify a union. They have argued that private ballot elections ``provide the surest means for avoiding decisions which are the result of group pressures and not individual decisions.'

As a former union steelworker, I believe in the merits of unionization, when appropriate. I also believe that every American worker should have the right to choose freely and privately. Congress has a duty to defeat legislation that strips workers of this important right, and I urge my colleagues to vote ``no' on H.R. 800.

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