Catherwood LibraryILR School

Republican members of the House of Representatives have introduced a bill which, as a part of greater Conservative efforts to broaden right-to-work laws and similar legislation, aims to emphasize individual rights in the workplace and undermine union control. The Current Employee Representation Act proposes that every time there is 50% or greater turnover in union membership in a workplace, workers have the right to call for a union recertification election. The bill also grants employers the right to request a union decertification vote. In a similar vein, Republican congressmen have also proposed the Employee Rights Act, which goes further than the Current Employee Representation Act in that it makes decertification votes mandatory when membership turnover is higher than 50%. Under the ERA, when the 50% turnover condition is met, employers also have the right to initiate a union decertification vote. While the GOP maintains that these measures would promote greater accountability of union officials for the needs and wants of the rank-and-file, critics feel that this is an attempt to further weaken unions through debilitating their membership and funding.