Manufacturing Jewelers & Suppliers of America is urging members of the jewelry industry to contact U.S. senators to voice their opposition to a bill that’s working its way through Congress.

Called the Employee Free Choice Act of 2007, the bill is intended to “amend the National Labor Relations Act to establish an efficient system to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations; to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts; and for other purposes.”

The bill was passed by the House of Representatives March 1 and was introduced to the Senate. MJSA expects a Senate vote soon.

MJSA says the new bill would remove the private ballot system from under federal supervision and replace it with a system that would allow others to see how employees voted. MJSA writes: “The EFCA would take away an employee’s access to a federally supervised private ballot and replace the private ballot election with a ‘card check’ system. Under this system the employees’ signatures would be made public to the employer, the union organizers, and coworkers.”