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House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted:	February 27, 2013 02:19 PM
From:	Representative Gordon Denlinger
To:	All House members
Subject:	Co-Sponsorship of Bill Requiring Secret Ballot for Strike Authorization Vote

I plan to introduce legislation requiring school employees to make a strike authorization vote through a secret ballot. This legislation would amend Section 1131-A of the Public School Code of 1949 to also require that a strike authorization vote be conducted at a meeting of the labor organization where a majority of the members of the organization are present and that such a vote may not be conducted more than 72 hours prior to the commencement of a strike. Under current law, labor organizations often conduct strike authorization votes by asking members to raise their hands for or against authorization or through another means in which members must vote publically. Such tactics play to the forces of peer pressure and have the potential to coerce members into voting for a strike. Requiring the strike authorization vote to be conducted via secret ballot eliminates the potential for peer pressure and intimidation and allows members of the labor organization to feel comfortable voting based on what they believe is the best course of action. Additionally, current law allows labor organizations to obtain or solicit proxies from members to either establish the presence of a majority of members for the purposes of taking a strike authorization vote or for establishing a majority on a strike authorization vote. Allowing proxies for these purposes undermines the importance and validity of a strike authorization vote. Eliminating the use of proxies to both establish a majority to conduct a strike authorization vote and to establish a majority in the vote itself diminishes the power that a labor organization can wield over its members. I believe my legislation makes some necessary and beneficial changes that will have the impact of minimizing the number of strikes in school districts across the Commonwealth. Reducing the tactics that can be used by a labor organization to influence members to authorize a strike ensures that the individual members of the labor organization and not the organization itself that have the power when considering these issues.

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