MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Gov. Kay Ivey recently held a ceremonial signing for a bill aimed at deterring employers from voluntarily recognizing unions, an event attended and championed by leaders of one of the largest construction industry trade associations in the nation.
The bill, Senate Bill 231, makes employers ineligible for state economic incentives were they to voluntarily recognize a union among their employees.
Instead of unions being voluntarily recognized, employees would have to hold a secret ballot election should they want to organize.
While the bill was sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, D-Decatur, the Alabama chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors, which represents 22,000 commercial contractors in the non-union construction industry, worked with Orr to ensure its passage.
“When the bill was introduced, we reviewed that bill with Sen. Orr, and certainly were very supportive and supported the language as submitted,” Jay Reed, ABC Alabama president, told Alabama Daily News Wednesday.
Reed had attended the ceremonial signing of the bill last week along with Orr, as well as Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, who carried the bill in the House, where it was met with considerable opposition from House Democrats.
At the signing, Orr championed the bill as a tool to prevent employees from being intimidated by labor organizers. He filed the bill in the midst of the United Auto Workers’ campaign to unionize two automakers in Alabama, Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai.
“This law simply requires that employers who receive state funds conduct unionization votes by secret ballot,” Orr said. “The purpose of the secret ballot is obvious: it prevents employees from being intimidated, ostracized or humiliated for making the decision they believe is in the best interest of them and their families.”
Orr had previously told ADN that the bill was modeled after a similar law in Georgia, a law that is currently being challenged by union leaders and Democrats as a violation of the 1935 National Labor Relations Act. That Georgia law is modeled after another similar law passed in Tennessee last year.
Reed argued that the SB231 would help protect the growth of Alabama’s auto industry, which has grown significantly in recent years to become among the top five states for vehicle production.
Automakers are drawn to the state in large part due to Alabama regulation around labor, which include its right-to-work laws, which prohibit union security agreements that allow unions to compel new employees to join their ranks.
Such laws have led to a lower-than-average unionization rate in the state, with Alabama’s unionization rate at 7.5% compared to the national rate of 10%. Unionized workers typically earn 10%-20% more than nonunion workers.
“Associated Builders and Contractors believe that industries are looking to southern states like Alabama because of secret ballot elections and right-to-work laws, and our support of this bill was to continue to protect that and be the magnet for these industries to create jobs in our state.”
The bill went into effect immediately upon its signing back in May. Employers would have to pay back incentives offered by the state in deals brokered after Jan. 1, 2025.