With democrats quickly approaching that
magic number 60 in the Senate, there’s been lots of talk about the Employee
Free Choice Act (EFCA) or card check, particularly surrounding whether Sen.
Specter will make good on his previous statements and vote against it. If passed, the EFCA would (1) eliminate the
secret ballot, (2) give the government power to manage the relationship between
unions and employers, and (3) increase membership in unions at the risk of
increasing job losses in the US. Card
check would have a profound effect on businesses in the US, so it’s
important to understand it and its potential consequences.
Under
the current system, there are two steps to forming a union: a petition process and a secret election. The petition phase requires 30% of employees
to publicly sign a petition card in favor of unionizing. The cards are submitted to the National Labor
Relations Board for review and approval, and upon approval, a secret election
is scheduled. The employees vote
privately, and if over 50% vote ‘yes’ to form a union, a union is formed. The two-step system operates under the
assumption that voting privately allows employees to vote without facing
pressure from co-workers or employers to vote a certain way.
If
passed, the Employee Free Choice Act would eliminate the secret election if
over 50% of employees sign the public petition cards. In other words, the petition would hold the
same weight as the ‘yes’ votes if a secret election were to be held. So, the EFCA legislation essentially turns
the secret election into a public one.
Card
check opponents point out that employees might vote ‘no’ in private but may be
less courageous if pressured in public.
In fact, union organizers are aware of this trend, and accordingly, they
delay calling for elections until they have 60% to 75% support for unionizing.
In
addition to eliminating the right to secret ballots, the EFCA legislation would
place a great deal of power in the hands of federal arbitrators. If unions and employers cannot reach
agreement as to wages, benefits, etc., within 120 days of the vote, a federal arbitrator decides for them and
binds both parties to those decisions for two years. This gives government great authority to step
in and take on a managing role in business.
Finally,
given the economic climate we face, an increase in union membership will certainly
be at the cost of losing jobs. One study puts the potential job losses for 2010 alone at 600,000.
What
is the intention behind eliminating the secret ballot -- if not to put pressure on employees to unionize? After all, secret
ballots are a basic political right in America, and the burden lies with card check supporters to provide a convincing argument as to why that presumption
should be overturned. They have yet to
do that.