WASHINGTON -- A Las Vegas woman was put forward on Wednesday as a face behind a drive by Democrats to help labor unions organize workers and to hinder employers from fighting such efforts.

Aniysha Sanders, 34, a single mother of five, was brought to Washington by Laborers' International Union Local 702 of Las Vegas and was spotlighted at a news conference in which Democrats promoted the Employee Free Choice Act.

Sanders has worked for three years at All Pro Traffic Control, which supplies workers who wield flags and direct traffic through and around construction sites in the booming valley.

After growing frustrated with her $11 hourly pay rate and with what she described as irregular hours and working conditions, Sanders said, she began talking with co-workers, who are all women, on behalf of the union.

On Jan. 23, the union collected authorization cards from 17 of 23 workers and called on management to recognize the unit, said Ernie Ixtlahuac, president of the Las Vegas local.

The company refused and started an "intimidation" campaign against workers, Sanders and Ixtlahuac said.

Two workers were fired, they said, and others were verbally harassed.

Sanders said her hours were cut when supervisors learned she was organizing, and she was assigned to job sites in remote parts of the valley to isolate her from colleagues.

"I love my job," Sanders said. "But All-Pro does not love us."

Ixtlahuac said the union has postponed its bid for a formal election.

"I have lost the majority of my support because of intimidation," he said.

Julie Thomson, owner of All Pro Traffic Control, was in Washington on Wednesday and was unavailable, said a woman who answered the phone at the company in Las Vegas.

A message requesting an interview with any other representative of All Pro did not draw a response.

Also known as the "card check" bill, the measure would allow union organizers to bypass secret-ballot elections once they get a majority of workers to sign authorization cards.

The law allows employers to require a secret-ballot vote to confirm the union is backed by the workers.

But supporters of the new bill argue a drawn-out election process supervised by the National Labor Relations Board merely buys time for companies to pressure workers.

Labor unions have lobbied for the bill, which is viewed as a major test of their clout in the Democrat-majority Congress.

Businesses and their associations have organized against the bill, forming an umbrella called the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace.

They argue that taking away the secret ballot leaves workers vulnerable to union and peer pressure.

The House was scheduled to vote on the bill today, with a Democratic majority expected to move it to passage.

The Nevada delegation is split.

Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley has declared herself an enthusiastic supporter.

"These workers should be free from intimidation and free from illegal or unfair restrictions on their right to organize," Berkley said in a statement.

"The Employee Free Choice Act will help maintain the important ability for Nevadans to organize in their own workplace and to negotiate for higher wages and better benefits."

Republican Reps. Dean Heller and Jon Porter plan to vote against the bill.

Heller said he was troubled that the bill diminishes ballot rights.

"I spent the last 12 years as secretary of state protecting the rights of those casting their ballots so they could do it secretly," Heller said.

"I am not going to come to Congress to vote the other way."

Porter said he did not think the bill fixes the real problem: the lag times for supervised union elections.

"We want to make sure this is a fair and neutral process," Porter said. "There are complaints on both sides, by employers and by employees.

"I think we need to find a way to expedite the process, but this swings the pendulum way too far," Porter said.

"This is America, and our unions are built upon the secret ballot," he said.

"Most of the people I talk to with the exception of union leaders want people to be able to voice their opinion in privacy."