Tim Walberg: “I, too, want to thank Chairman Cole for the good effort on this piece of legislation. I rise to offer an amendment to…”

“I, too, want to thank Chairman Cole for the good effort on this piece of legislation. I rise to offer an amendment to H.R. 3354 that would block the NLRB from enforcing the extreme and partisan ambush election rule. Under the ambush election rule, workers are being rushed into union elections before they have the opportunity to consider all the consequences. According to one report, since the ambush election rule took effect, union elections have been organized 38 percent faster. Before this rule took effect, the union election process typically took 38 days. Now, workers may have as few as 11 days to consider whether joining a union is the best decision for themselves. Eleven days is simply not enough time for workers to make an important decision that impacts their job and their paycheck. In addition to speeding up the process, the NLRB's rule greatly limits an employer's ability to communicate with its employees through the pre-election hearing process. To make matters worse, employers have as little as 7 days to find legal counsel and appear before an NLRB election officer--7 days. This is a taxing time constraint, especially on small businesses with limited resources and a lawyer team that is nonexistent. But workers are the ones who are really hurt the most. As a former union worker myself, I respect the right of workers to join a union, but they deserve a real choice in the matter and the opportunity to hear from both sides of the debate.…”