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

The reading pile is large these days as Labor Day has provided plenty of opportunity for taking stock of where organized labor stands. A couple more items:

• The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editorializes on the “false choice” of the Employee Free Choice Act
• An important reminder on motivation: Union Pension Funds Lag
• Meanwhile, the National Labor Relations Board is caught up in politics

Meanwhile, Keith Smith at Shopfloor has another entire round-up that tackles Gallup polling, the Washington Post, and the annual Labor Day report from the National Association of Manufacturers.

While some discuss “compromise” on an uncompromisingly bad bill, Rep. John Kline and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers are putting for a Republican alternative to the Employee Free Choice Act:

Our alternative — the Secret Ballot Protection Act, H.R. 1176 — permanently eliminates the uncertainty surrounding the union election process. It assures workers that no one — not a union organizer, not management

Michael Hicks writes in Indiana’s Star Press:

Card check is a haunting piece of legislation. It forces union representation through a simple majority petition, not a secret ballot. This is why I prefer the acronym: PLIAVA (or Parking Lot Intimidation and Violence Act). It is as undemocratic as any legislation before Congress in my lifetime. It is also a very significant job killer, but that is minor issue when compared to the basic tenets of democracy.

What’s your favorite acronym for card check? EFCA? PLIAVA? Something else? Drop us a note in the comments.

There’s lots of news floating around:

• The New York Times reports that current AFL-CIO president John Sweeney has said he could live without the card check provision of the Employee Free Choice Act — as long as it were replaced with an equally unworkable ambush election scheme
• … but a good reminder: Employers, unions still debating Employee Free Choice Act
• Congressional candidate runs on anti-EFCA platform
• Unions Must Stop Supporting Legislation That Kills Jobs
• In California, business groups react to
  

We’ve discussed at length an under-reported motivation for union officials pushing the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act: trying to save failing union pension plans. Now Irwin Stelzer over at the Washington Examiner has more:

Among plans covering more than 100 workers, only 17 percent of union plans were fully funded, compared with twice that figure for non-union plans. Perhaps more significant is the comparison of union and non-union plans’ ability to meet the test laid out in the Pension Protection Act of 2006.

That Act defines pension funds that have less than 80% of assets they will need to meet their obligations as “endangered.” Only 14% of non-union funds are in the endangered category, while 41% of union funds have been so tagged.

And on TV, expert Diana Furchtgott-Roth took her explanation to cable viewers:

We’re proud to point out a great op-ed from Rick Slagle, a longtime member of Associated Builders and Contractors, on the job losses that Indianans could expect — and dread — if Congress passes the devastatingly misnamed Employee Free Choice Act. Addressing Sen. Evan Bayh, Slagle writes:

Every day this bill has life, employers are delaying investment and hiring decisions. Bayh has the power to stop the next big blow to the Indiana economy that would come with S.560. We hope he will stand up for Hoosier jobs.

Click over for the entire article.

As always, we are happy to point out the ongoing efforts and leadership from ABC members on this critical issue.