By Peggy Venable, Director, Americans for Prosperity-Texas

Texas believes in free enterprise, limited government and the ability for business owners to openly talk with their employees about the benefits and drawbacks of unionizing.

We support HCR 64 by Rep. Carl Isett which states that Texas would urge Congress to oppose any efforts to adopt the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act” or any similar legislation.

The Federal Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800, S. 1041), also referred to as Card Check, would destroy the democratic rights of business owners and take away their ability to have secret ballot elections. Eliminating these secret elections puts employees at risk for intimidation and harassment by unions;

Card Check would allow a union to be certified once it has proven to the National Labor Review Board that a majority of employees (50% plus one) have signed authorization cards, and those cards can be signed at work, at home, online or anywhere;

A business owner who finds his company organized by Card Check would be forced to recognize the first contract presented by a union within 90 days, or ultimately face a government-appointed arbitrator who would set wages and benefits for him;

A business owner found to be violating Card Check would be fined $20,000 per offense;

Many pro-business organizations, such as the National Federation of Independent Business and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Texas Association of Business are opposed to Card Check.

This is Texas! We oppose Card Check legislation and demand that Congress protect Texas business owners and workers.

Here is one of our AFP Watchdog’s perspective on Card Check.

Federal legislation erroneously titled the Employee Free Choice Act is dangerous to Texas’ economy, job creation and job retention in Texas.

As a small business owner, I will be personally affected by the passage of federal legislation also called the “Card Check” legislation. Not only will this affect my rights as a business owner, but it will also put my employees at risk of intimidation and harassment from labor unions.

I own a masonry business in Odessa, Texas, and stand in firm opposition against the Card Check legislation.

Several Texas legislators have filed resolutions against this federal legislation. Houston Sen. Dan Patrick, Lubbock Rep. Carl Isett and Waco Rep. Doc Anderson are leading opposition in Texas to this federal threat to Texas as a right-to-work state.

Card Check, would destroy the democratic rights of business owners and take away their ability to have secret ballot elections. Eliminating these secret elections puts employees at risk for intimidation and harassment by unions;

Card Check would allow a union to be certified once it has proven to the National Labor Review Board that a majority of employees (50% plus one) have signed authorization cards, and those cards can be signed at work, at home, online or anywhere;

A business owner who finds his company organized by Card Check would be forced to recognize the first contract presented by a union within 90 days, or ultimately face a government-appointed arbitrator who would set wages and benefits for him;

A business owner found to be violating Card Check would be fined $20,000 per offense;

Many pro-business organizations, such as the National Federation of Independent Business and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Texas Association of Business are opposed to Card Check.

And a recent McLaughlin poll found that 89 percent of the public prefer the current process to the card-check procedure, and a recent Zogby poll found that 78 percent of union members prefer the current process to one with less privacy protection.

Texas leads the nation in job creation and has more Fortune 500 companies than any other state. Our unemployment is far below the national average. Texas is doing thing right and we certainly don’t need Washington, D.C., stepping in and telling us what to do.

The rest of the nation should be following the model Texas has used. The state resolutions filed by these Texas leaders needs to be passed – and Washington, D.C., should take notice.

We don’t want Congress – or labor unions – to dictate what Texas business owners can do. And if Congress rigs the rules to force workers to accept unions they don’t want, union bosses will win and workers will lose.