IFPTE Endorses the Secure and Fair Elections (SAFE) for Workers Act
In urging House lawmakers to sponsor the bipartisan bill, authored by Representatives Andy Levin (D-MI) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), which allows for electronic voting in union elections, IFPTE wrote that, “Pandemic or not, workers should maintain the right to organize unions, and form them in as safe an environment as possible.”
The SAFE Workers Act, H.R. 308, requires the National Labor Relations Board to administer union elections remotely by:
Repealing a long standing appropriations rider that prohibits developing electronic voting infrastructure;
Directing the NLRB to create a system and procedures for electronic voting in union elections;
Requiring the NLRB to use their newly developed electronic voting system during the pandemic (or to use mail-ballots in the exceptional cases where electronic voting may be impractical);
Requiring use of the National Mediation Board’s existing system if the NLRB cannot stand their system up within 60 days; and
Dedicating $1,000,000 in funding for the NLRB to develop the appropriate system and procedures.