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

There’s a strong argument that one of the primary motivations for union officials to push the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act because it would usher in enough new dues-paying employees to prop up failing union pension funds (which are one of the main selling points for the unions’ service).

Therefore it is good news that there are some great new websites popping up to help union members figure out whether their retirement will consist of caviar or cat food. As we’ve noted before, it’s extremely tough to get that information and it (unfortunately) appears to be headed in exactly the wrong direction on union disclosure, so outside efforts are critical.

In that vein, check out websites focusing on SEIU and UFCW. And check out more here.

Is “card check” just a boogeyman the “big scary” businesses want everyone to worry about? Not by a long shot. The latest evidence comes from a man (who happens to have the pretty cool last name of Ferrari) who tells the Wall Street Journal that the looming threat of the Employee Free Choice Act, among other things, keeps him spooked about the prospects of his retirement future:

Despite the business being on more stable footing, Ferrari says he isn’t convinced that his business or investors at large are out of the woods. “Here we are well over a year after this huge once-in-a-one-hundred-year event and we still don’t know what the rules are,” he says. “What is my tax rate going to be for me and my business? Will card check legislation go through? Will cap and trade regulations affect utilities prices?” he asks. Because of this uncertainty, Ferrari has decided to push off closing up shop. “At the start of retirement, I want to have full peace of mind,” he says.

Wow. That says a lot.

It also begs one big question: what would card check do to the assets in already-troubled union pension funds? While EFCA would help get new members to add dollars, the assets those dollars would buy would face a shaky future.

For more on pension problems, visit our page dedicated to the subject.

The Free Enterprise Alliance is running a new billboard in Pittsburgh, where top AFL-CIO leaders are meeting this week. The simple question relates to underfunded union pensions and asks new federation president Richard Trumka: “What’s Your Plan?”

Click here to see the entire billboard graphic.

Also, check out our new page explaining the link between failing union pensions and the desperate drive to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

That’s the answer to Diana Furchtgott-Roth’s question, “Who’s Looking After the Workers?” She points to a recent case and offers an important warning:

With the release of the Securities and Exchange Commission report on the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme, regulators are trying to determine why the SEC staff, which was tipped off repeatedly, didn’t catch the fraud earlier.

Another fraud is about to be perpetuated on America’s most vulnerable workers by permitting their retirement contributions to be invested in pension schemes that are underfunded. It should be stopped.

Don’t forget to check out our new page on the link between the Employee Free Choice Act and union pensions, and see our collection of past posts on pensions.

You might not know it (but probably have an inkling) that the Teamsters have some pensions that are so bad there are companies willing to pay billions of dollars just to get out of the plans and then still pay their obligations to retired employees. Talk about a ringing non-endorsement.

Anywho, it’s worth remembering when you read that the Teamsters are trying to use the Employee Free Choice Act to temporarily fix their broken plans at the expense of workers’ rights, private ballots, and a healthy free enterprise system.

We have received a message from a longtime union member — a carpenter with the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters for more than two decades — who says the Employee Free Choice Act “would be a big mistake.” The writer, whose name we have withheld, writes:

Currently there are about 43,000 members in the CRC, down from a high of 48,000 two years ago. Thats a drop of about 5,000 members in two years. Those 5,000 members who have dropped out were contributing to the pension fund, now at about $7.50 an hour. The bulk of the members who drop out are not vested in the union, and their money disappears in the pension fund. If the union is able to freely sign on new members, without providing stable employment, they will be able to increase the amount of cash flow going into the pension fund, the new member will stick around for a year or two and realize there is no steady work and move on. This also hurts the members who have been around for along time, because they also can not find steady work. Its like the purpose of the union is to keep letting herds of new members in while the majority of the existing members struggle to find work. The CRC just got a $3.50 an hour raise, a union carpenter lucky enough to have a job now earns $40.77 an hour[1 $ an hour increase], 2$ going in to the pension[now7.50$ an hour], and .67 in to health insurance[ now at $9.50 an hour]. The members did not vote on this raise, just like the members do not vote on any decisions in the union. The CRC currently has $100,660,342 in assets, while the bulk of the members who are jobless, struggling to put food on their tables are not reaping any of the benefits of belonging to a union. If one checks the dol[department of labor web page] one can view how the union is squandering away millions of dollars on the self serving union leaders. goto: http//erds.dol-esa.gov/query/getOrgQry.do use file # 001-949. Some numbers of interest from the web page; $198,000 apprentice graduation party, another $130,000 for office catering.

The CRC spends millions of dollars promoting national and local elections, encouraging members to vote. But then when they have their own election with in the union the rules change. Members are deliberately not informed about the elections. The union officials use undemocratic tactics to stay in power. All one has to do is view the records, almost all of their elections are won by acclimation [members do not participate]. [redacted to remove personally identifiable information] The union has become part of the problem, they could create more jobs if they were not charging so much money, supply and demand, but the union charges more money so more members will have to drop out and new members can be brought on board. EFCA will be a disaster for the future of the CRC, it will enable the union to get richer, while the union gets weaker.

Truly troubling stuff.