Federal Union Leader on Recently Introduced ‘Empower Employees Act’: “Union Busting in its Purest Form”
Monday, June 6, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Contact: Cory Bythrow,
Communications Director
Phone: (202)
216-4458
Washington,
D.C. – This
morning William R. Dougan, National President
of the National Federation of Federal
Employees, a national union representing
110,000 federal workers government-wide, issued
the following statement regarding Friday’s
introduction of the deceptively-named “Empower
Employees Act,” by Representative Tim Scott
(R-SC):
“The
deceptively-named ‘Empower Employees Act’ is
union busting in its purest form. The ‘Bust
Federal Workers’ Rights Act,’ as it should
rightfully be called, seeks to deprive federal
workers of their right to a union voice in the
workplace by stripping them of the ability to
have dues deducted from their paycheck.
It is
laughable that the Congressman would suggest
that this bill increases federal employees’
rights in the workplace. By law, all federal
union membership is completely voluntary. No
employee can pay union dues without proactively
approaching the union and submitting a form to
their agency expressing their will to do so.
Congressman Scott and his Republican colleagues
know this, but they’re not letting that get in
the way of busting federal
unions.
Let me
be clear: the sole intent of this proposal is
to make it as difficult as possible for federal
workers to form or join a union. This proposal
is straight out of the Scott Walker
union-busting handbook, and we will not stand
for it. When narrow-minded,
ideologically-driven partisan politics trump
workers’ rights, everybody
loses.”
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