thetruthaboutefca.com | The Truth About The Employee Free Choice Act & Card Check

The Employee Free Choice Act is a bill in the U.S. Congress first introduced in 2003 by California Rep. George Miller. In March 2007, the House passed EFCA for the first time. The Senate did not collect the sufficient 60 votes for “cloture” to move the bill to an up or down vote.

On February 3, 2009 University of Chicago law school professor Richard A. Epstein published an in-depth monograph exploring the history of union organizing law and the effects of EFCA. The abstract for that publication reads: “EFCA would fundamentally alter the current labor law in three ways.” He explains:

• The first of these is to allow unions to opt for recognition through a card check instead of the secret ballot currently required under the National Labor Relations Act.
• The second would institute a regime, if the parties do not reach an agreement within 130 days after the union is recognized, of compulsory arbitration and arbitrator-imposed requirements and restrictions, binding for a two-year period.
• The third would increase the current sanctions for unfair labor practices committed by employers during an organizational campaign.

Epstein’s study examined all three issues and led him to conclude:

My major thesis is that all of these changes are unwise deviations from the status quo that will introduce unwise dislocations in labor markets that are not justified by the current union claim that the decline of unionization in the private sector is largely attributable to improper employer intransigence. The better explanations focus on structural changes in ordinary labor markets in an increasingly globalized economy, which shows similar downturns in union representation in developed nations, often operating under different legal regimes.

Click here to read the study, which was financially supported by the Alliance to Save Main Street Jobs.

THE PUBLIC (INCLUDING UNION MEMBERS) DO NOT SUPPORT EFCA

The public still lacks information about EFCA, but what it does understand it does not like. In January 2009, Wilson Research Strategies conducted a poll testing the public’s knowledge and perceptions of the bill. WRS found:

• Respondents were asked if they have “seen, read or heard anything about the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as the Card Check Bill, that is a proposal in Congress to change how labor unions are formed in the United States.” Just 5% say they have seen, read or heard “a lot,” and only 14% indicate they have only been exposed to “just some” information about the Employee Free Choice Act.
• Of the 19% who have seen, read or heard something about the Employee Free Choice Act, almost half (49%) say they oppose the measure, while just one in three (33%) support it. Almost one in five (18%) say they are undecided.
• Surprisingly, opinion among union members is split, as 39% say they support the Act while 42% indicate they oppose it.
• Voters still oppose the Employee Free Choice Act after being read supporting statements for both sides of the debate.

A poll from McLaughlin and Associates, released in February 2009, confirmed that union members do not support EFCA’s core provisions:

• 85% of union households favor having a federally supervised election as a means to “protect the individual rights of workers” and clearly see secret ballot elections as a basic right.
• 65% of union members would be less likely to vote for a member of Congress who voted to take away the secret ballot.
• Further exemplifying union worker distaste for the Employee Free Choice Act, 72% agreed that the binding arbitration provision in the legislation is “unwise” and “risky”.

RESOURCES FROM THE FREE ENTERPRISE ALLIANCE AND ASSOCIATED BUILDERS AND CONTRACTORS

• The Facts About EFCA
• Arm yourself with talking points and knowledge
• Read and share this one-page handout
• What the Nation’s Editorial Pages are saying about the So-Called “Employee Free Choice Act”
• ABC op-ed: It’s More Aptly Called The Employee Coercion and Intimidation Act

MORE INFO FROM THE COALITION FOR A DEMOCRATIC WORKPLACE

Click here to learn more about:

• The Facts About The Employee Free Choice Act
• The Basics of Binding Arbitration
• Why You Should Oppose The Employee Free Choice Act
• Communicating With Your Legislators on “Card Check”: Fact vs. Fiction
• Employee Free Choice Act Bill Summary
• EFCA’s Mandatory Arbitration Provisions Deny Workers the Right to Participate in the Bargaining Process
• Government Would Impose Wages and Union Contract Terms Without an Employee Vote Under

EFCA