How the Employee Free Choice Act Affects Workers
Introduction of the EFCA Gives Unions a Helping Hand
Dec 17, 2008
There are many reasons workers would choose to organize their workplace with a union. Living wages, health benefits, and better working conditions are just a few. However, there are significant pressures from businesses to restrict these efforts.
The Employee Free Choice Act will change the way unions are able to assist employees in organizing the workplace. President-elect Obama co-sponsored the bill while he was a Senator, and has reaffirmed that he will support it to become a Federal law, according to Sam Stein of the Huffington Post.
How Unions are Formed
Currently, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) requires a specific set of steps when a workplace is trying to organize. First, there's a process of signing “cards” or collecting the signatures of workers who want to have a union represent them in bargaining efforts. This is typically done confidentially by a union chosen by the employees. Employers are not notified of which workers have signed cards, only that an organizing effort is underway. The cards are counted privately by the NLRB. At least 30 percent of employees must sign cards in order for the NLRB to recognize organizing efforts.
When the employer becomes aware of organizing activities, they often fight the process aggressively, believing that union involvement is not in their own best interest. The employer can refuse to recognize the union as representative of the workers, in which case the employer can demand a “secret ballot election.” The AFL-CIO describes the secret ballot election as, “a management-controlled election process.” This process often includes harassment and termination of employees who are supporting organization. Mandatory meetings are held by management to discuss the elections, and are very often biased against the union.
New Union Legislation
The new legislation would limit the ability of employers to dispute the worker’s desires to organize. Employers would only be able to involve the courts if actions by the union that are considered illegal by the National Labor Relations Board are encountered. These would include fraud, coercion or bribery.
The bill also gives more teeth to the parts that bar employers from discriminating against workers who attempt to form a union. The Service Employees International Union claims that at least one quarter of employees that try to form a union are terminated as a result of the activities. The bill allows for double to triple lost wages for employees who have been discriminated against. Currently only wages lost, minus any amount the worker earns after termination from any source, can be recouped.
The new bill has already passed 241 to 185 in the House of Representatives and is up for debate in the Senate, which is expected to pass the legislation in the next session.
