When the House approved a bill Thursday that would make it easier for workers to form a union, Kathy Swan cringed. She owns seven stores in Missouri and Southern Illinois that sell Verizon cellular products and suddenly she had visions of labor leaders from Washington knocking on her workers' homes to persuade them to call for a union — and then telling her what to pay them.
"That's a frightening thought," said Swan, whose father started the business selling two-way radios in 1959. "How would they know what we could afford? We might even have to lay some off."
But the same congressional vote left Bob Soutier, president of the St. Louis Labor Council, exulting over prospects of an "level playing field between employers and employees."
"I was just elated," Soutier said. He promised that legislators who voted against the measure will be held accountable. "We are going to expose them for the anti-worker politicians they are," he said.
The bill, known as the Employee Free Choice Act, would allow workers to form a union at their job if more than half sign a card authorizing the union, a process known as card check. They would no longer have to hold a secret-ballot election, though that would still be an option. Currently, only the employer has the right to waive the election and accept a union based on card-check. The act also stiffens penalties for employers who improperly intimidate, harass or fire workers trying to form a union.
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