Washington, DC – The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) today stated their opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act, saying passage would not only eliminate the accepted practice and protocol of allowing individual employees the right to express their free choice via a secret ballot in regard to joining a union, but would also force arbitration and strip employees of their rights to dictate their own working environments.
“This legislation is wrong on policy, wrong on principle, and presents a clear and present danger to every working American who wants to exercise free choice in joining a union,” stated Bruce Yarwood, President and CEO of AHCA. “The card check-off system promoted by the bill falls far short in protecting the rights of employees.”
The bill, Yarwood continued, would also force mandatory arbitration in developing a contract, abolishing the current ability of employees to vote for or against a contract that would dictate all aspects of their working environment, compensation, and benefits. Further, the legislation prohibits any opportunity for employees to opt out of the contract – regardless of whether or not they supported unionization.
Dave Kyllo, Executive Director of NCAL, said the bill would eliminate the voting privacy of all employees since the card check process will not provide privacy protections. “Under this bill, as soon as a majority of employees sign authorization cards – in lieu of a secret ballot – the union would immediately be certified and can begin negotiations on a contract,” Kyllo said. “This will eliminate the pre-election period currently used by and may promote an environment of employee harassment and intimidation by union organizers.”
The American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) represent nearly 11,000 non-profit and proprietary facilities dedicated to continuous improvement in the delivery of professional and compassionate care provided daily by millions of caring employees to 1.5 million of our nation's frail, elderly and disabled citizens who live in nursing facilities, assisted living residences, subacute centers and homes for persons with mental retardation and developmental disabilities. For more information, please visit www.ahca.org or www.ncal.org.