The Truth About EFCA...
MAY 28TH UPDATE:
New AWF Press Release: 16 States Instruct Congressional Delegations: “Vote ‘NO’ on Employee Free Choice Act” (click link to view PDF)
AWF May 2009 Anti-EFCA State Grassroots Campaign Update
Above is the latest update on the AWF state anti-EFCA campaigns (click on image for printable PDF)
The so-called Employee Free Choice Act, aka “Card Check”, would take away numerous rights and protections currently afforded to workers employed at companies where unions are actively seeking to organize. The bill would remove workers’ rights to a federally supervised private ballot election. Instead, workers would be asked to sign cards in front of organizers and colleagues, potentially subjecting them to harassment or intimidation. Once a majority of employees have signed cards, the union is immediately recognized.
Too often, unions have resorted to petition-like “card check” campaigns which take the decision on union representation from the private voting booth to the front porch of workers. Reports have indicated that the public signing (or not) of these petitions leads to violence, bribery, and/or distorting the truth to workers. This bill, if passed, will encourage more of the abuses resulting from these “card check” petitions.
Besides risky “card check” schemes, EFCA has other components that hurt employers and ultimately their employees. It would require mandatory government arbitration in the event that unions stonewall contract negotiations. Employers would also be frozen out of the ability to make staff changes (including raises and promotions) in the event that a union wants to organize workers.
If card check sweeps the nation, as more companies in a given state become unionized, costs of operation for businesses will inevitably rise. This will lead to increased prices for that state’s consumers, and as these effects spread, they will lead to serious economic down-turns. In situations such as this, new businesses will be discouraged from opening operations even in right to work states.
It is true that state “right to work laws” protect the individual from being forced to pay union dues as a condition of employment. However, if local industries succumb to unionization as a result of EFCA, the entire state and all the employees in that state suffer.
AWF opposes The Employee Free Choice Act and all union "card check" schemes, and supports a working environment free of intimidation and bribery where workers are free to chose union membership using a private secret ballot.
Comments