The Employee Rights Act (S.1874), or ERA, is a bill re-introduced to the 114th Congress in the United States Senate on July 8, 2015 by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch [R-UT] and 16 co-sponsors. The bill was referred to the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. It is the successor to bills first introduced in the 112th Congress of the same name, also sponsored by Sen. Hatch and then-Rep. (now Senator) Tim Scott of South Carolina.
An identical Employee Rights Act bill (H.R. 3222) was re-introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives on July 27, 2015 by Rep. Tom Price [R-GA] and 30 co-sponsors. It was referred to the United States House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Legislation
The bill includes eight core provisions. It would require secret ballot elections to determine union representation; create union re-certification elections when half of the originally unionized employees have turned over; mandate opt-in rather than opt-out systems for voluntary contributions to union political operations, or "paycheck protection"; change the "win" bar for a union certification election to include the majority of all affected employees, not just those who voted; permit employees not to provide personal information to union organizers; provide protections from union coercion (including fines) blocking de-certification of an existing union; require secret ballot strike votes, eliminating the option to vote at union meetings following discussion; and criminalize union threats and violence.