NRCC leans on Shea-Porter over EFCA

The NRCC has released a statement criticizing U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) because she is a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act.

Here is the NRCC statement:

Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) signed her name on the dotted line yesterday by co-sponsoring the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) – better known as “card-check.” In doing so, the New Hampshire Democrat signaled her support to strip workers of the right to a secret union ballot, a practice that leads to corruption and worker intimidation, not to mention its potential to kill jobs generated by small businesses. Shea-Porter's support of card-check is further proof that she has put the special interests of Big Labor that funded her campaign ahead of the needs of struggling working class families she regrettably misrepresents in Congress.

“By co-sponsoring card-check, Carol Shea-Porter has demonstrated her willingness to pay back union bosses at the expense of New Hampshire workers and their fundamental rights to a secret ballot,” said NRCC Communications Director Ken Spain. “Despite all of her rhetoric about wanting to create jobs for middle-class Americans, Shea-Porter is supporting this job-killing bill that threatens to make the workplace a site for corruption and coercion. Now, with unemployment continuing to climb, it’s time for Shea-Porter to explain why she has embraced the needs of the special interests that filled her campaign coffers at the expense of her own constituents.”

Group says EFCA would benefit Granite State

A New Hampshire health care group says that the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would help the state’s economy and workers.

“The bill could provide a major boost to the economy by helping workers share in the prosperity that they help create,” the group NH for Healthcare wrote in a press release. “A report released last month from the Center for American Progress showed that if even 5% more of New Hampshire’s workers joined unions, $82 million would be pumped into the state’s economy each year.”

According to the group, The Employee Free Choice Act “restores the option of ‘majority sign-up,’ in addition to elections, to ensure that workers, not employers decide how to form a union. That is, when a majority of workers sign cards saying they want to form a union, this legislation levels the playing field so they have a fair chance to do so. It creates meaningful penalties for employers who break the law to harass or fire workers. It ensures that workers have a fair chance at winning a contract guaranteeing their wages and benefits.”

In New Hampshire labor organizations such as the New Hampshire AFL-CIO, AFSCME, SEIU, and NEA, as well as community organizations – the New Hampshire Citizens Alliance, Sierra Club, Granite State Organizing Project, and Working Families Win are helping to push support for EFCA.