Life With Card Check
If you’ve been in a cave for the past couple of months, you may not be aware of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) that is now being proposed in the U.S. House and Senate. One sources says, “if enacted, EFCA would require the NLRB to certify the union as the bargaining representative without directing an election if a majority of the bargaining unit employees signed cards; however, employees may still request a secret ballot election if 30% of employees petition for one. The EFCA would ‘allow the employees, rather than the employer, to decide whether to hold a secret-ballot election.’”
Perhaps The Wall Street Journal defines it better as “Labor’s European Model.”
If passed, the bill would enable either side to request binding arbitration if they can’t come to terms on a contract within 120 days after a union is formed
Writes one FEMA member who has plants in both the U.S. and Canada, “…I can tell you that even with all the scary stuff happening in Washington right now, this bill is probably the most dangerous thing the Dem(ocrats) are proposing.” He goes on to write, “Canada has had legislation exactly like this in place for many years, and it puts Canadians at a significant strategic disadvantage.” Civil penalties for violating the law can go as high as $20,000 per violation.
Bob Sonntag, GM of member company Rem Enterprises Inc., in Swift Current, Saskatchewan further writes, “If they can get enough of your guys to sign up, the Union then becomes their representative automatically. There is no need for a vote of all your staff, and there is no secret ballot. It is possible that your day shift shows up Monday morning to find out that they are represented by the union and they have never even been contacted.”
If you don’t believe that this bill is important to labor unions, just Google “efca bill” and see how many non-partisan informational hits you get versus a very partisan labor union take on the bill.
The International Association of Machinists writes, “One of the most important bills for working families in years — the Employee Free Choice Act would enable workers to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions by restoring their rights to form unions. For too long, workers have had to deal with employers who routinely fire, threaten and coerce employees in efforts to keep workers unorganized.” Sounds good, doesn’t it?
Kris Dunn, Vice President of Human Resources with
SourceMedical writes in Workforce Management, “1. HR managers will be required to manage according to the union contract, if a union takes effect. 2. The EFCA would foster a ‘you’re with us or against us’ mentality among employees. Also, those who sign a secret (from HR and company leadership) card indicating interest in forming a union have no way to back out later. 3. Inability to ‘tell employees why [leadership believes] a union isn’t necessary’ before it is voted in.”
Privately-owned farm equipment manufacturers will be surprised to learn that any company with two or more employees can be legally targeted by Union organizers. This means firms who were never considered as union targets can now become prey. Unions win over half of government-supervised elections today. With the new card-check agreements, however, some sources believe that unions can easily get into the company more than 80% of the time. This spells big trouble for employers. They no longer have to organize a whole company to get in. Today, the average company size in which organized unions are present is just 28 employees and half of all elections today happen in work groups with just a few employees.
While the FEMA Board has not yet had the opportunity to either formally endorse or oppose this bill, to this editor it seems like an under-handed way for unions to get what they want without having to go through the rigors of a secret election.
No matter which way you individually feel about EFCA, it’s important that you contact either your U.S. Senator or Representative to express your opinion. It appears likely that the bill will sail through the House. If you oppose EFCA, however, it is important, to contact your senator and ask him or her to vote against cloture or limiting debate.
Although they support the passage of EFCA, senators on the “bubble” of either favoring or opposing cloture include Mark Pryor (D-AR) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Kent Conrad (D-ND) and Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Ben Nelson (D-NE).