by James Parks, Apr 8, 2006

New York Republican Rep. James Walsh is the latest member of Congress to sign onto a bill that would level the playing field when workers try to form a union.

Walsh’s support for the Employee Free Choice Act brings the number of co-sponsors to 213 in the U.S. House, only five short of a majority. There are 42 co-sponsors in the U.S. Senate, nine fewer than needed for passage.

Even though some 57 million workers say they would join a union, according to research by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, employers use the federal union elections process to coerce workers to vote against the union. Cornell University professor Kate Bronfenbrenner, who surveyed 400 National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election campaigns in 1998 and 1999, found that 36 percent of private-sector workers who voted against union representation said their vote was a response to employer pressure.

In April 2005, a bipartisan coalition reintroduced the Employee Free Choice Act. The act would strengthen workers’ rights to choose representation by requiring employers to recognize a union after a majority of employes sign authorization cards. It also would provide for mediation and arbitration of first-contract disputes and authorize stronger penalties for violation of labor law when workers seek to form a union.

Despite support from 255 members of Congress, Republican leaders refuse to bring a bill to the floor that would make the process of choosing a union fairer. Now, employers routinely harass, intimidate and fire workers who seek a union.

The Bush administration’s NLRB, which is charged with protecting workers’ right to form a union, has systematically been reducing the coverage of federal labor law, ruling recently that the law does not apply to college graduate assistants, among others.

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