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The Secret Ballot Protection Act (SBPA) would protect the rights of an employee to a secret ballot during a union election.  The SBPA would amend the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to make it an unfair labor practice for an employer to recognize, or bargain collectively, with a union that has not been selected by a majority of the employees in a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).  In addition, it would be illegal for a union to cause or attempt to cause an employer to recognize or bargain collectively with a representative that has not been selected in such manner.

Currently, the NLRA requires a government-supervised secret ballot election to recognize a union as a collective bargaining unit once the union has collected authorization cards signed by 30% of the employees. An employer may also choose to recognize the union based on presentation of a majority of employee-signed union authorization cards. 

Voters in four states (Arizona, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Utah) have passed state constitutional amendments guaranteeing workers a secret ballot.  The NLRB initially threatened the four states with a lawsuit because it claimed the amendments conflicted with federal labor law and that federal law trumps the states on this issue.  The NLRB has now suing two of the states, Arizona and South Dakota, and has not ruled out future action against South Carolina and Utah.

Status of Legislation: The House (H.R. 972) version of the Secret Ballot Protection Act was introduced by Representative Phil Roe (R-TN) on March 9, 2011, and currently has 19 cosponsors.  The Senate (S. 217) version was introduced by Senator Jim DeMint on January 27, 2011, and currently has 23 cosponsors.

IEC Position:  IEC strongly supports H.R. 972 and S. 217 and any effort to guarantee employees the right to a secret ballot.

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