Georgia House sends bill to restrict union formation at state-subsidized firms heads to governor’s desk

Pro-labor protesters gather outside the Georgia Capitol Jan. 30, 2024. Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder

A bill seeking to restrict new labor unions is ready for Gov. Brian Kemp’s pen after the state House passed it Wednesday along party lines.

Senate Bill 362, sponsored by Brunswick Republican Sen. Mike Hodges, would prevent new companies moving to Georgia from accepting state incentives if they agree to allow workers to form a union without a secret ballot.The other commonly used path to unionization the bill attempts to avoid is called card check. It is less formal and involves collecting signatures from employees, usually on cards.

Only 5.4% of Georgia workers were represented by unions in 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, down from 5.8% the year before. That’s lower than all but six other states. The bill would not affect any of them, only new businesses moving to the state.

Rep. Soo Hong. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

Kemp pushed for the measure at the start of this year’s session, promising to “never cower to activists who seek to attack job creators and undermine the countless opportunities they create in communities across Georgia.”

Speaking on the House floor Wednesday, one of Kemp’s floor leaders, Lawrenceville Republican Rep. Soo Hong said the bill will not prevent workers from unionizing.

“This Bill is concerning the use of state economic development funds. It’s not a regulatory action,” she said. “So we’re stating what we are doing with our tax incentives. And we’re telling Georgians that when their tax dollars are going to support job creation and their neighbors are taking those jobs, then they have the right to make that choice to unionize or not, which is consistent with federal law.”

“We are ensuring that when the state invests state resources to drive job creation, that hardworking Georgians who hold those jobs have the agency to determine whether to be represented by a labor union,” she added.

Unions and supporters say secret ballots sound like a good idea, but card check is a fairer way to make the vote. That’s because they say secret ballots allow owners to put pressure on workers through tactics like spending big money on outside groups to host mandatory meetings in which they can talk about the drawbacks of unionization.

Rep. Long Tran Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

Dunwoody Democratic Rep. Long Tran said the bill would discourage unions like the one he said changed his family’s life after his parents emigrated from Vietnam.

My dad eventually got a job on the assembly line with GM. He became a union worker,” he said. “That gave him the ability to go to college, become a mechanical engineer, and rise through the ranks of General Motors, where he stayed for over 30 years. Without question, the middle class family lifestyle my family lived through that created a doctor out of my sister, an attorney out of my brother, and an accountant out of my other brother and coffee shop owner slash politician here today is because of the opportunities given by the American dream through the strength of the middle class.”

“We can’t ignore what created the middle-class here in America, that is unions,” he added. “And I can’t believe we are today having to debate whether or not government should be picking and choosing the winners of businesses. I as a small business owner should have the final decision in how I handle labor and workforce with my business.”

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