MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Members of the Alabama House voted Tuesday to approve a bill designed to deter employers from voluntarily recognizing a unionization of their workforce.
Sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, but carried in the House by Majority Leader Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, Senate Bill 231 would make employers ineligible for state economic incentives if they voluntarily recognize a union without a vote of workers.
The bill’s supporters argue that employers should instead opt for secret ballot elections moderated by the National Labor Relations Board. That is an option when a majority of a workforce pledges support to unionize.
The bill comes amid the United Auto Workers’ union campaign to organize automakers in southern, right-to-work states. The effort on Sunday scored a decisive win at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee.
Workers at Alabama’s own Mercedes-Benz plant near Tuscaloosa are scheduled to hold an election on joining the UAW in mid-May, and workers at Hyundai Motor Manufacturing in Montgomery reached 30% support for joining the UAW back in February.
While Gov. Kay Ivey and leaders in the Alabama business community have been vocal in their opposition to union efforts in Alabama, Stadthagen voiced impartiality toward unions on the House floor, and argued that incentivizing employers to opt for an election would help combat what he considered to be intimidation tactics from labor organizers.
“Going back to Mercedes, we’ve all read the headlines of UAW talk; we look at what they’re doing on a national level and how they’re getting votes… they’re doing the card check, it’s not a private vote,” Stadthagen said, referencing the collection of union authorization cards that employers can use to voluntarily recognize a union instead of calling for an election.
“They come in and you vote right in front of them, or they’ll come to your house and get your vote. It’s not in private.”
Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Saraland, asked Stadthagen whether or not he was a supporter of unions, to which Stadthagen said it depended on the union.
“It depends on the union itself,” he said. “We’ve had some unions that have been a part of our state for a very long time, and they’ve worked very well.”
Bracy, who said he remained cautious of any legislation dealing with unions, stressed what he considered to be the best practice for employers who wish to avoid their workforce unionizing.
“We have to realize that something happened for unions to have to come into play in the first place, and it’s because of the bad actors,” Bracy said.
“It’s because of the people that don’t want to be good corporate citizens, it’s because of the people that look at greed over making sure that their employees have enough to take care of their families.”
Speaking on the House floor, Rep. Brett Easterbrook, R-Fruitdale, a supporter of the bill, championed the impact unions have had on improving working conditions in the past, but suggested that the modern labor market has outgrown their usefulness.
“Unions are the best thing that ever happened in this country to the workforce; it was at a time when there was a lot more labor available than there were jobs to have,” Easterbrook said.
“We’re no longer in that time, people are paying incentives to get people to come to work today. I’m not opposed to unions and I’m not for them. I like for people to be able to vote, but they should vote in private.”
The bill was changed on the House floor with several minor, largely inconsequential amendments, such as one from Rep. Tim Wadsworth, R-Arley, which established a requirement for the Alabama Department of Revenue to submit reports to the Legislature in cases of economic incentives being withheld from a corporation.
Lawmakers ultimately voted in favor of the bill in a vote of 72-30, with Democrats making up the majority of those voting against the measure. Republican Reps. Bryan Brinyark, R-Fayette, Tim Wadsworth, R-Arley and Matt Woods, R-Jasper, voted against it too.
“Where I come from, you never ask someone how they voted in an election,” said House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, after the bill’s passage.
“If a vote to unionize is going to happen, votes should be private, and employees shouldn’t have to weigh potential repercussions when making their decisions. I’m proud that the House voted to protect Alabamians from pressure and intimidation tactics like card-check, and I look forward to Governor Ivey signing this legislation into law.”
The amended bill now goes back to the Senate.
