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

Some who closely follow labor policy know the story of Dana Corp, or at least as it relates to the debate over secret ballots for union elections vs. the union-demanded open process known as card check. But here is the employees’ side of the story:

“We’re here in a little town and we’re a plant of 50 some people — you know the last thing you need is to have the union coming to your door saying I want your name,” Oliver said.

The union’s relentless approach, she said, eventually wore her down.

“When they approach you every day — every day, every day,” she said, “after a while it’s like ‘Okay. Fine. I’ll sign the card.’”

The UAW collected the necessary signatures, but plant employees appealed to the National Labor Relations Board that ruled the employees could hold a secret election.

“When they held the election, there was no more union,” said Guest. “Although it was close.”

Now, employees say, the forced choice has turned friend into foe, causing some employees to be threatened by coworkers who had wanted the union.

One employee said she was threatened for her choice.

“I have my reasons for the way that I voted. That’s nobody else’s business, and had it not been for the card check, nobody would know if I was for or against,” said Beverly Musolf.

As we have warned before, the Employee Free Choice Act threatens to dramatically increase job loss. As a story from Wisconsin shows, that’s not just theory:

Proposed federal labor legislation has derailed a large Eau Claire County development, according to a local economic development official.

The project – for which no name or description was given – would have brought a $50 million investment to Eau Claire County in the next five years, along with creating up to 800 full-time jobs, Brian Doudna, executive director of the Eau Claire Area Economic Development Corp., said in a news release Wednesday evening. Construction was expected to begin this year. The first employees were to begin work in early 2010, with about 100 new jobs being created.

The project has been placed on hold indefinitely because of the Employee Free Choice Act, federal legislation that would require binding arbitration to resolve contract disputes and make it easier for workers to join unions. The bill has been introduced in the House and Senate.

The bill would require binding arbitration if management and a union cannot agree on a first contract. It also would allow a majority of employees at a company to organize by signing cards – a change from the current practice that allows employers to mandate secret-ballot elections – and boost penalties for retaliation against workers seeking to organize.

Doudna said if the bill is approved, the project will not occur – at least not in the U.S.

Wisconsin, not being known for its reactionary-right politics, offers a good (and specific) reminder that if EFCA passes it would create an untenable climate for large, complex building projects. It is also a good time to remember that EFCA is not dead, as some hope. It still is waiting to come back and threaten more jobs and more projects.

This morning, the Washington, D.C. Examiner carried an article from Bret Jacobson of the firm Maverick Strategies. Pointing to recent news in which one major union misquoted the Wall Street Journal to twist the paper’s words and in which union officials rejected any proposals to protect secret ballots for working Americans, Jacobson argues:

EFCA proponents’ outright rejections of any compromise that would assure rights for employees, combined with their outright dishonesty, may be taken as a good sign by some that the bill is facing long odds.

At the same time, it should serve as a reminder of just how far outside the mainstream labor leaders have become and how desperate they are for a rent-seeking infusion of money and power. That desperation, having not yet reached its zenith, will only get worse.

Katherine Fullerton Gerould said, “It is a poor cause which has to be lied for regularly.” EFCA is a poor cause indeed, though it is not yet, sadly, a fully lost cause.

Jacobson also highlights a recent ad from the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, of which Associated Builders and Contractors is a member. Make sure you see the ad here.

In this morning’s Washington Times, former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney wrote an article expressing deep concern over card check. In particular, he notes:

By tilting the playing field in favor of unions, card check not only robs workers of a secret ballot, it deprives management of the right to express its point of view. It will dramatically change the workplace as we know it, just as it’s beginning to do for charter schools in Massachusetts. Small businesses will have to hire labor lawyers and follow burdensome new rules. If the parties can’t agree on a contract, mandatory arbitration follows and employers that don’t yield to union demands will have contracts foisted on them.

All of this will raise costs, leading to more unemployment. The Labor Department reported that unemployment in February rose to 8.1 percent as American employers cut another 651,000 jobs. Unions are supposed to serve the interests of working people, yet in this case more power for the unions would help destroy many thousands of jobs throughout the economy.

Today, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania pledged to vote against a procedural move that would open the door for the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act, which would threaten employee rights, impose government into the free enterprise system, and jeopardize hundreds of thousands of jobs. Associated Builders and Contractors applauds Sen. Specter’s stand.

UPDATE: Video of Sen. Specter’s speech.

• Heritage Foundation: Cracking the Bedrock of Democracy: Destroying the Secret Ballot in Union Elections
• An editorial from The Oklahoman supports Democratic Congressman Dan Boren for opposing EFCA: “Boren is right to oppose this bad bill. We encourage him to stand his ground because the SEIU attack probably is just the first of many headed his way.”
• Jonah Goldberg: “Proposed legislation could ‘shanghai’ workers into joining unions”
• Hot Air: Card Check backers: For us, it