Briefing: Employee Free Choice Act
A once-in-a-generation showdown over the reform of federal labor law is shaping up in Congress. Unions and their supporters are fighting for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Employers are backing multi-million-dollar lobbying campaign to defeat it. The Employee Free Choice passed in Congress in the House in 2007, but in the Senate supporters lacked enough votes to prevent a filibuster. If it passes both houses this year, it will give President Obama the opportunity to put his signature on a law that will put a stop to some of the worst union-busting tactics of employers. The Employee Free Choice Act will allow employees to form a union when a majority of the workers in a unit sign cards calling for a union. The law will greatly increase the penalties for an employer who is found guilty of trying to intimidate workers who support unionization. It will also require employers and unions to negotiate a first contract within a year of unionization or face binding arbitration. More than half of all U.S. workers who are not in a union say they would join one if they had the opportunity. Passage of the Employee Free Choice Act will go a long way toward giving them that opportunity. That’s why anti-union employers and their organizations are pulling out all the stops to prevent the bill’s passage. Employee Free Choice will benefit both union members and workers who want to be union members. The law will make all unions stronger and give them greater opportunity to expand into unorganized bargaining units at partially-unionized employers and to organize non-union employers. Select sources of information about the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act.
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