Tell Senators to Support the Employee Free Choice Act

On March 10^th the United States Congress took the first step toward passing landmark legislation aimed directly at rebuilding a healthy middle-class in the United States. That step was the introduction of the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 1409, S. 560), sponsored by Congressman George Miller, and Senators Edward Kennedy and Tom Harkin.

This bill is needed now more than ever. After engaging in years of risky business practices with little government oversight, bank and corporate CEOs have single-handedly brought the US economy to a screeching halt, resulting in massive losses to the pension funds and 401K retirement savings of everyday working people. These are the very same corporate bosses that have opposed such things as a minimum wage hike for low wage workers, providing healthcare for our nation’s children, and are currently spreading misinformation on our air waves and on Capitol Hill about the Employee Free Choice Act. In other words, the very same corporate leaders that are willing to take our tax money to fix their negligent business behavior are working to kill the most important bill for working Americans: the Employee Free Choice Act.

IFPTE members have proudly joined forces with millions of workers across the nation asking Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. Given the all out push by corporations to deny American workers a fair shake at forming a union, now is the time to ramp up our efforts by informing our Senators to support the Employee Free Choice Act. It is critical that each of us let our Senators know that we expect this bill to pass and we are watching them closely to see whether or not they stand with us, the workers, or with the very corporations that have led to our economic downfall.

Write your Senators and House Member today.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: I Urge You to Support the Employee Free Choice Act

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

As a member of the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers (IFPTE), I am writing to ask that you cosponsor and vote in support of the Employee Free Choice Act (HR 1409, S 560) when it comes before you in Committee, and/or to the floor for full consideration. If you are already a cosponsor and supporter, thank you for supporting America's workers.

American workers by the millions want the union advantage of being able to bargain collectively and to have a voice in the very decisions that will have a lifelong impact on their working futures. According to a December 2006 survey conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, upwards of sixty million American workers would join a union if they had an opportunity. The Employee Free Choice Act is a long overdue bill that will give workers this ability by allowing them to form unions absent employer interference and intimidation.

The Employee Free Choice Act does the following:

1. It calls for card check neutrality, guaranteeing the creation of a union when 50% plus one of a prospective bargaining unit vote in support of union representation;

2. It stipulates that when employers and unions fail to come to an agreement on a first contract in a meaningful time span, the two sides must turn to an arbitrator to decide the final outcome on the initial contract agreement, and;

3. When employers break the law by holding captive audience meetings as well as engage in intimidation and illegal union busting tactics, the bill calls for stiff penalties to be imposed on guilty employers.

Unfortunately, there is an effort aimed at spreading inaccuracies both in the public and on Capitol Hill about the Employee Free Choice Act. For example, some claim that the card check neutrality called for in the Employee Free Choice Act takes away a worker's right to a secret ballot election. Nothing could be further from the truth. As the law currently stands, employers--not workers--have the right to decide whether or not to recognize a union through a majority sign-up method. However, the process called for in the Employee Free Choice Act will give employees the ability to make that decision. If a worker signs a card asking for a union under majority sign-up, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) keeps the identity of those signing cards strictly confidential. This is the democratic process that workers need in order to form unions without employer interference and intimidation.

The Employee Free Choice Act is much needed labor law reform for American workers. It will lead to the rebirth of our middle-class and I ask for your support.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
June 18, 2007

Background Information

EFCA will level the playing field for workers that want a union. Today employers routinely coerce employees not to choose union representation and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has become ineffective, at times even compliant, within this broken process. A study by Cornell University found that employers illegally fire employees for union activity in at least 25% of all organizing efforts. Even employees that aren’t actually fired fear losing their jobs if they support union representation. In one poll, 79% of workers agreed that they were likely to be fired for trying to form a union.

Management's new union busters carry a brief case and wear pin-striped suits. Hiring these well dressed thugs, breaking the law and paying fines is simply viewed by some employers as the cost of doing business. In 92% of organizing drives employees are forced to attend group anti-union presentations, and in 78% of all organizing efforts management forces employees to attend one-on-one anti-union meetings with their own supervisors, the very people that will decide their work assignment and pay.

At IFPTE our members have suffered through these anti-union campaigns. The union busters’ idea is to delay campaigns as long as possible, intimidate the employees, and try to show the union as being “ineffective”. Their position is simple--why have an election that you are going to lose. With the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, employees won't have to face the delays and intimidation just to get what’s supposed to be guaranteed to all workers by the National Labor Relations Act.

The Employee Free Choice Act would provide:

1. Stronger Penalties for Violations while Employees are attempting to Organize or Obtain a First Contract

The Employee Free Choice Act provides for civil fines up to $20,000 for violations of employees’ rights to join a union and bargain collectively that occur during the organizing efforts or during the period when employees are seeking to negotiate a first contract. Violations for which there are no effective remedies under current law include:

Threatening to close the facility or move overseas if employees choose to form a union;
Switching employees’ shifts, reducing their pay, demoting them or giving them inferior work assignments to discourage unionization;
Spying on employees that support forming a union;
Illegally firing employees to discourage unionization; and
Prohibiting employees from publicly showing their support for the union.

2. First Contract Mediation and Arbitration

If the employer and the union are engaged in bargaining for their first contract and unable to reach an agreement within 90 days, either party may refer the dispute to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) for mediation. If they are still unable to meet agreement after 30 days of mediation, the dispute will be referred to arbitration and the results will be binding on the parties for two years.

3. Certification on the Basis of Signed Authorizations

This will provide certification of the union as the bargaining representative if the majority of the employees has signed authorizations designating the union as its bargaining agent.