ARLINGTON, VA — March 11, 2009 — The Food Marketing Institute (FMI) issued the following statement from Leslie G. Sarasin, president and CEO, following the introduction today of the Employee Free Choice Act in the House and Senate (H.R. 1409, S. 560). The measure would enable workers at a company to form a union if a majority signs a card, eliminating the right to vote by private ballot.

“Legislators who support the Employee Free Choice Act will detrimentally harm the most basic tenet of democracies such as ours — the right to a secret ballot — and will inflict further damage on the nation’s struggling economy. This bill would increase burdens and costs on job creators, invite intimidation and coercion into the workplace, devastate small businesses and result in the loss of millions of jobs.”

“America’s highest priority is job retention and the survival and growth of our small businesses, which create the most jobs in our country.”