A bill sponsored by Governor Brian Kemp to make it harder for unions to establish themselves in Georgia moved a step closer to passage by the Senate Insurance and Labor Committee on Wednesday with a 4-3 vote along party lines.
Senate Bill 362, by Republican Sen. Mike Hodges of Brunswick, would ban new businesses in Georgia from receiving state incentives if they recognize unions without first conducting a secret ballot rather than a card check, another method of organizing that generally makes it easier to form a union. It would make no difference to unions already established in Georgia.
“Under this law, a company that enters into a future agreement with the state to receive certain economic development incentives must agree not to grant its employees voluntary recognition rights based on identity card checks if the selection of a collective bargaining representative can instead be made by secret ballot,” Hodges said.
Hodges said the bill would not apply if a company has a collective bargaining agreement that requires future voting to be done by card check.
Labor attorney Nicolas Stanojevich argues that the bill requires states to assume the authority granted to the federal government in regulating the formation of worker organizations.
“When the federal government decides to step in and regulate an area through legislation, any efforts by other states to change the way that regulation works or the relationships between the parties under those laws are nipped in the bud because it defeats the entire purpose of the federal government and undermines the supremacy of federal law,” he said.
Hodges argued that the bill does not ignore government incentives because companies can choose to reject government incentives.
Senator Mike Hodges introduces his union bill, sponsored by Governor Brian Kemp, at a Senate committee hearing. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, union membership stagnated at about 10% in 2023 because there were more new nonunion jobs than unionized ones. At the same time, support for unions has risen in recent years, peaking at 71% in 2022, according to Gallup polls, the highest approval rating in Gallup data since 1965. In 2023, 67% of respondents told Gallup they favor unions, and 29% oppose them.
According to Pew Research, last year saw the most major labor disputes in more than two decades, with major strikes by Hollywood actors and writers, as well as auto and health care workers, making headlines across the country.
Last August, 61 percent of Gallup respondents said unions mostly benefit the economy in general, while 36 percent said they mostly harm it.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 5.4% of Georgia workers were unionized in 2022, down from 5.8% the year before. That's less than all but six other states.
At an event for business leaders last month, Governor Brian Kemp said he wanted to avoid major work stoppages in Georgia.
“Last year we saw how damaging anti-business measures are to workers and the economy,” he said. “The largest strikes of 2023, which lasted just six weeks, cost the American economy over $9 billion and more than 75,000 jobs.”
“The people orchestrating these actions are partisan activists who want nothing more than to see the free market grind to a halt, businesses large and small to failure, and economic growth and opportunity to be dictated by the heavy hand of government – not job creation,” he added.
Republicans on the committee agreed.
“It just says that if they want to use Georgia taxpayer money, they have to provide privacy in these elections,” said Republican Sen. Bill Cowsert of Athens. “And I'm amazed that labor representatives aren't clamoring for that. Because a secret ballot, just like in our elections, keeps companies from harassing people or firing or punishing people who want union representation.”
Union leaders in Georgia, however, called for the opposite, calling the bill a sign that the government was more concerned with making more money for owners than with helping workers make ends meet.
“This anti-union legislation is contrary to everything else the state has done,” said Sandra Williams, president of the Atlanta North Georgia Labor Council, citing issues such as education funding and Medicaid expansion. “They don't care about people like me, black people, brown people, people who don't make much money. They don't care about them. In this state, they're property.”
Federal data show that union membership is higher among black workers at 11.8% than among white workers at 9.8%.
James Clements, president of the Georgia State Council of Machinists, said Kemp was openly invited to attend the union's convention in Atlanta this month. He said the bill would likely cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars in lawsuits against the state and bring the government into disrepute in the public mind.
“The majority of Americans would join a union in a heartbeat if they could, and workers in every sector of the economy are organizing like never before,” he said. “The new era of the labor movement has dawned, and SB 362 is proof that Governor Kemp and Republican lawmakers are fighting to stop union growth from slowing.”
