The Employee Free Choice Act passed the House of Representatives on March 1. The controversial measure (H.R. 800), passed with 241 members voting in favor of the bill and 185 opposing. Thirteen Republican representatives voted with the overwhelmingly Democratic majority.

The "Employee Free Choice Act," would virtually end NLRB-supervised secret-ballot representation elections, require employers to recognize unions based on union authorization cards signed by employees, and give arbitrators authority to write first-time collective bargaining contracts when employers are unable to reach agreement with the employees' newly certified representative after 90 days.

The National Labor Relations Board would be required to certify a union when a majority of workers sign authorization cards designating the union as their bargaining representative. Unions usually conduct their card-signing unannounced and secretively, and employers often are unaware it is going on.