"Yesterday in Washington, the motion to proceed on the Employee Free Choice Act failed in the Senate stopping Card Check legislation during this session of Congress. MEMA is pleased that Card Check has been stopped and wishes to thank its many friends in the Senate who opposed this bill," said Bob McKenna, president and CEO of MEMA. "We also wish to thank our many member companies from across the country who contacted their elected representatives opposing Card Check. The secret ballot in the workplace has been protected – for now. Card Check will be an issue again in 2008 and we must be prepared to make our case against it," he added.

H.R. 800, the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as card check, would have stripped away a worker’s right to a federally supervised, private ballot election during union organizing drives and make their vote public. It also contained a provision that mandates binding arbitration on the employer and the employees as part the collective bargaining process if an agreement cannot be reached within the first 120 days of negotiations. The provision would have a government official impose the terms of a labor contract that are binding upon both parties, even if one or both parties find those terms unacceptable.

With the bill’s defeat, the current laws and regulations providing votes by secret ballot conducted under Federal supervision by the National Labor Relations Board remain intact.