February 25, 2009, a group of over 100 House Republicans led by Congressman Jonathan Kline of Minnesota and 16 Senate Republicans led by Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina introduced the “Secret Ballot Protection Act of 2009″ (SBPA)

The bill would amend Section 8(a)(2) of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to guarantee that workers have the right to vote in a secret ballot election to determine whether they want labor union representation.

In addition, it would create a new unfair labor practice (i.e., a new Section 8(b)(8) of the NLRA) prohibiting a union from causing or attempting to cause an employer to bargain with a labor organization which had not been selected via a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). While the prospects for passing SBPA may not appear encouraging in light of even larger Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, the introduction of the bill will help frame the anticipated battle over EFCA.

Today, an employer can recognize a union, if the union presents signed authorization cards from a majority of the employees, BUT, an employer can insist upon a secret ballot election. The SBPA would prevent even voluntary employer recognition of a union based upon a method other than an NLRB-conducted secret ballot election.

Battle lines are being drawn. EFCA vs SBPA

In the end, I suspect SBPA will be used as a tool to alter EFCA in a way that is palatable Republicans and business leaders, while enabling the Democrats to claim they have paid their debt to union leaders.