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

We have long known — and long documented — the heavy costs associated with the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act. These costs include the sacrifice of important principles, such as workers’ rights to choose in a free and fair election whether to join a union, and the right for employees to get a vote on their contract terms (rather than have a federal bureaucrat impose them on workers and small business).

But the costs are much more direct than that. We have long hosted the study by Dr. Anne Layne-Farrar, which found that the economic toll of EFCA would include job decreases ranging from 600,000-5 million. Now, the American Enterprise Institute has taken out its calculator and best estimates in a new study, which finds:

If the EFCA returns unionization rates to 1970s levels, it could reduce economy- wide employment and gross domestic product by close to 4 percent. This translates to about 4.5 million jobs lost and over $500 billion in lost output and income. Job loss resulting from EFCA will tend to fall disproportionately on workers with relatively low levels of education and skills. Ironically, these are the very workers the proposed legislation is intended to help.

The one thing worse than just killing jobs in this economy would be to attack the engine of job growth, which is small business. But lo and behold, AEI finds:

EFCA will be particularly costly to small businesses, which typically start out with small profit margins, face high initial failure rates, and are less likely to have specialized human resources staff to deal with labor disputes and union organization. Between 2003 and 2006, 84 percent of new union certification elections were held at companies with less than 100 employees.

The Congress has yet to officially kill EFCA and card check “compromises” are still floated routinely in the hallways and smallways of power. The longer these concepts are allowed to fester, the longer millions of jobs and small businesses are under threat.

Despite the positive signs that elected leaders right now have little appetite for card check and the Employee Free Choice Act, Investors Business Daily reminds readers:

The legislation, which failed in Congress in 2007, was a priority a year ago for the young administration. But the public didn’t like it, and neither did a few Democratic senators. It appeared to be dead.

In reality, though, it’s merely wounded. The unions want card check to be part of a federal jobs bill. Another reason to kill legislation that won’t create or save any meaningful private-sector jobs.

Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus once said of card check legislation: “This is how a civilization disappears.” He may be exaggerating a bit. But he’s not far off.

It would certainly be cynical to include jobs-killing language in jobs legislation.

It won’t, but that’s the very reasonable question from Rep. John Kline — readers of this blog will remember him well.

The setting for the question came at a House hearing at which Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis testified about her ongoing work. The Wall Street Journal had the Kline recap:

Meanwhile, Rep. John Kline (R., Minn.), the senior Republican on the House Education Committee, applauded the Obama administration for taking action to ease unemployment numbers, but criticized the controversial Employee Free Choice Act, which could make it easier for workers to join unions.

“I cannot help but question many of [the president's] proposed policies that seem to run contrary to the goal of job creation and economic certainty,” Mr. Kline said. He later added, “The question remains: how will ‘card check’ create and sustain jobs?”

Those who oppose EFCA have said the legislation could likely stump job growth, business activity and investments.

The truth, of course, is that EFCA will kill jobs and once again assault the free enterprise system. So long as jobs remain high on the administration’s agenda, EFCA should be at the bottom.

Come to think of it, EFCA should always be at the bottom of the agenda. That should simplify things nicely.

The “Mean Street” column from the Wall Street Journal’s Evan Newmark suggests that the president and his economic team have some tough decisions if they are to make jobs a top priority. As we’ve noted here many times, jobs and the Employee Free Choice Act’s card check provision simply don’t match.

Newmark:

If you pull the plug on the remaining billions of dollars in the stimulus, the nation

Keith Smith, one of uur colleagues at Shopfloor.org, writes:

Passing card check will not help fix the

See Katie Packer’s article. This has been a building issue (and, of course, is an issue for builders). More card check means fewer jobs.