Washington, D.C. – Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today sent a letter to members of the U.S. Congress, and President Barrack Obama, signed by more than 3,000 ABC member companies and construction-related firms that oppose the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R.1409 and S.560), or “card check” bill. The signatures were gathered during a two-week period in April. The letter states that “…there is no room for compromise on this piece of legislation. Our firms stand together in stating that there is nothing that can be done to make this legislation more palatable and that Congress should vote down this bill in all forms.”
“For ABC’s members, this bill is a non-starter because it would rob workers of the fundamental American right to a secret-ballot election and force both workers and employers into a federal government imposed, two-year binding contract with terms they may not agree with,” said 2009 ABC National Chairman Jerry Gorski, president of Gorski Engineering, Inc., Collegeville, Pa. “ABC is committed to fighting this deceptively titled bill with all its resources in order to protect the rights of the nation’s merit shop construction workers.”
ABC’s letter to Congress highlights a recent, nonpartisan study that concludes if the Employee Free Choice Act were signed into law it would cost the U.S. economy 600,000 lost jobs in the year 2010. Over the past year, more than 26,000 jobs have been lost in the construction industry, and over 1.3 million jobs lost since January 2007.
“All workers, in every industry, deserve the fundamental American right to a federally supervised secret-ballot election and the right to vote on a contract of their choice,” added Gorski. “Without the freedom to do both, democracy in the workplace will be nothing more than a footnote in history.”
About Associated Builders and Contractors
Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national association representing nearly 25,000 merit shop construction and construction-related firms in 79 chapters across the United States. Visit us at www.abc.org.