The EFCA Will Bleed Your Rights Away

The other day I told a Republican legislator "Stop right there, I don't need to listen to you anymore". It seems every time a Republican starts talking these days they say Democrat and Massive deficit in the same sentence. I told him that after Ronnie, and three terms of Bushwhackers I could stop listening for reality when they used those two words together. In small words and easy cartoon colors I tried to explain:
Clinton=Surplus Republican=Deficit. We know how we got here, we know who did it. Now the the Rs, Wal-Mart and the Chamber of commerce want you to believe they are here to stop the bleeding away of your rights by opposing the Employee Free Choice Act.

The GOP puts a tourniquet on the EFCA nosebleed!

Finally real Americans may get some help. The EFCA could end the rape of the middle class. Maybe workers will get a chance to share in the profits.

Corporations, millionaires and billionaires are screaming “Mine, mine, mine, don’t touch mine!” while spitting hate. Bank of America hosted a conference call for corporate executives to strategize about how to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).

If EFCA passes, Employees get to choose if they want a Union and get to form one free of fear from being fired or locked out. Employers would also be subject to penalties for when they violate workers' right to organize. President Obama said he would sign EFCA into law.

"[EFCA] is the demise of civilization," Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus said. "This is how a civilization disappears." During the 2008 elections, Marcus declared that corporate executives "should be shot" if they didn't do their part to re-elect at-risk Republican senators who could filibuster and prevent EFCA's passage.

EFCA's enemies have amassed as much as $200 million according to some estimates. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has already spent $10 million on its vicious anti-EFCA campaign.
McDonald's directed all franchise owners to lobby Congress against EFCA.
Wal-Mart has joined the battle. In August 2008, Federal Election Commission complaints were filed, alleging the company illegally instructed employees to vote Republican and against Barack Obama in order to stop EFCA.

Republicans are mindlessly repeating leader Limbaugh's talking while corporate special forces infiltrate Congress disguised as bags of money.

The opposition tells you they are fighting the EFCA for you, out of high ideals and support for the worker. ------The check is in the mail.

False front organizations are using names intended to make them sound popular. Names out of a 1950’s “big lie” propaganda manual. The Heritage Foundation, Americans for Job Security, the Employee Freedom Action Committee, and of course the anti-labor Center for Union Facts are all waging a no quarter given attack on the EFCA and the truth.

Union Facts is run by D.C. lobbyist Richard Berman, who once ran a campaign that could be said to be in support of drunk driving. Berman’s anti EFCA ads were on the airwaves during the presidential campaign in an attempt to defeat Obama.

The so-sweetly named Coalition for a Democratic Workplace is a self described "coalition of workers, employers, associations and organizations" opposed to EFCA. If a membership made up of 500 employer and business organizations including the American Beverage Association, National Association of Manufacturers, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Meat Institute and Mississippi Manufacturers Association is a group of “Freedom Fighters” I have a summer home for sale on Mt. Washington. The anti-EFCA blitz based on their lack of respect for the public's thinking ability is supposed to convince us if they keep repeating the lies. After all, you are stupid, if you were smart you would be getting trillions and refusing to say how you spent it. A Mulder said, " the truth is out there" and "I want to believe" that we are not going to get fooled again. The internet has become a real force and once we have the facts, the lies can not stand.

Lie Number 1:

A majority of workers oppose EFCA.

The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace released a "poll" claiming that 73 percent of Obama voters opposed EFCA.

Wrong:
Nearly four in five adults (78 percent) favor legislation that “makes it easier for workers to bargain with their employers for better wages, benefits and working conditions,” according to new opinion research conducted by one of the country’s most respected polling firms, and 73 percent specifically support the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that would give workers the freedom to bargain collectively for a better life.

The survey of 1007 adults conducted by Hart Research Associates from Dec. 4 to 10 and commissioned by the AFL-CIO, shows overwhelming support for the Employee Free Choice Act and its three main provisions. http://www.aflcio.org/mediacenter/prsptm/pr010809a.cfm

Lie #2:

EFCA would abolish workers' right to a secret ballot in forming a union.

MYTH: The Employee Free Choice Act abolishes the National Labor Relations Board's "secret ballot" election process.

FACT: The Employee Free Choice Act does not abolish the NLRB election process. That process would still be available under the Employee Free Choice Act. The legislation simply gives workers the choice of forming their union through an election or through majority sign-up. The majority sign-up process has been a widely used path to union representation since 1935, but workers may only use the majority sign-up process currently if their employer agrees. The Employee Free Choice Act puts that choice in the hands of employees rather than their employer.

Lie #3:

EFCA will expose workers to intimidation by unions.

MYTH: The Employee Free Choice Act will encourage intimidation and harassment by labor unions against workers.

FACT: Coercion and pressure drops when workers form a union through a majority sign-up process. Workers report much less pressure from all sides during majority sign-up campaigns than with NLRB elections. But, harassment by unions is not the problem. Unlike employers, a union organizer can’t fire you, cut your pay, or deny you a promotion. If you’re an employee actively trying to organize your coworkers, you have a one in five chance of getting fired by your employer for simply exercising your rights.

Who is intimidating who?
The House Committee on Education and Labor reported that in 2005, more than 30,000 workers were receiving back pay from employers that had illegally persecuted them for union activity.

Lie # 4:

EFCA is, in the words of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a "job killer."

MYTH: Union wages and benefits have resulted in the auto-industry collapse and are irrelevant to today’s economy.

FACT: Workers and their unions are not responsible for the auto industry’s troubles. Labor costs amount to only a tenth of the cost of building a car. All ten of the most efficient auto plants in North America are union plants. Setting aside their legacy costs, the Big 3’s wages are on par with the Japanese auto makers. The American auto industry has made some bad business choices but agreeing to provide middle class jobs was not one of them.

Employer opposition to EFCA is partially an honest response to competition. I can hear my Union friends hissing a booing already!

Companies must compete. If only a few have Unions then the companies that can squash the employee and lower their pay to poverty levels has an unfair advantage. By leveling the playing field companies will compete fairly with or without Unions as a non-Union company will be forced to pay good wages to keep a Union out, in the same way the foreign auto makers were forced to pay good wages even when they moved to right to work for less states.

Lie #5

Only a Secret ballot protects workers rights..

MYTH: The National Labor Relations Board’s “secret ballot” election protects workers’ democratic rights.

FACT: Secret ballots alone do not guarantee fair elections. Under an NLRB election, employees have no right to free speech, no protection against intimidation from supervisors, and are regularly forced to attend anti-union meetings. They are also typically forced to attend one-on-one interviews with their managers to reveal their electoral preferences. In contrast, union organizers are not allowed to set foot on the property, the one place where all the “voters” can be found.

The worry started in 2007 and continued in 2008 with national Union membership rising by over 400,000 workers. The first increase in nearly 30 years.

The economy has soured and put hundreds of thousands, maybe millions, of union jobs are at risk. Public sector unions, a stronghold of Unionization is being hit by budget cuts, lay offs, and attacks by the right meant to distract from their own failed policies.

The U.S.A. is not a center right country and has moved decisively to the left. The EFCA is gaining support. The shift to the left has opened up new opportunities and acceptance for pro-union legislation. Almost all of the Democratic-majority in Congress is on record supporting the EFCA, and President Barack Obama has probably issued more pro-union statements than Roosevelt. Passage of EFCA is possible, but is not a done deal.

We can win. Some politicians were thinking of bailing on Obama's pick for Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, because of her support for EFCA but when tens of thousand of calls and emails arrived they had a change of heart.

The AFL-CIO and Change to Win are gearing up for the fight. Members are calling their Congress Critters and sending a clear message of support for the worker not the CEO.

The story made the rounds that the United Auto Workers, once the gold standard of Union jobs gave up its right to strike in support of the government auto bailout, but it is untrue. They did agree to work on problems longer but they kept the right to strike if problems could not be resolved. Did anyone really believe that Unions would destroy the company they work for? They will work to rebuild the American auto industry and rebuild the UAW on the grounds of sharing profit.

MYTH: The National Labor Relations Board’s “secret ballot” election protects workers’ democratic rights.

FACT: Secret ballots alone do not guarantee fair elections. Under an NLRB election, employees have no right to free speech, no protection against intimidation from supervisors, and are regularly forced to attend anti-union meetings. They are also typically forced to attend one-on-one interviews with their managers to reveal their electoral preferences. In contrast, union organizers are not allowed to set foot on the property, the one place where all the “voters” can be found.

MYTH: The Employee Free Choice Act would require public union card signings.

FACT: Under current law, employees already must sign cards or petitions saying they support a union in order to obtain an election. And, when an employer agrees to a majority sign-up process, employees must sign cards to show the union's majority status. The union authorization card under the Employee Free Choice Act is treated no differently than a petition for election or a card under a majority sign-up agreement under current law. As with petitions for an election, under the Employee Free Choice Act, the NLRB, not the employer, would receive the cards and determine their validity.

MYTH: The Employee Free Choice Act would require a secret ballot election for workers to get rid of a union.

FACT: Under current law, no election is necessary to disband a union. The Employee Free Choice Act would not change this. Under current law, if an employer has evidence, such as cards or a petition, that a majority of workers no longer supports the union, then, without an election, the employer is required by law to withdraw recognition of the union and stop bargaining.

MYTH: Given the economic crisis, now is not the time to enact the Employee Free Choice Act.

FACT: The economy is broken, we need to fix it. The Employee Free Choice Act is needed to address underlying economic problems that helped create the current crisis and to ensure that the recovery is fair and sustainable. Dozens of prominent economists, including three Nobel Prize laureates, recently signed a statement in support of enacting the Employee Free Choice Act, as “a critically important step in rebuilding our economy.”

MYTH: The Employee Free Choice Act requires mandatory arbitration that may force businesses to be uncompetitive.

FACT: No reasonable arbitrator would force conditions onto businesses that would force them out of business and no arbitrator would want a reputation of being unfair as it could end their career.

Even though workers may choose to form a union, employers often stall when it comes time to negotiate a first contract, and current law provides no incentives for the parties to come to an agreement. Under the bill, employers or employees may request mediation from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service if no agreement on a first contract has been reached after 90 days. If an agreement cannot be mediated, the dispute would be referred to binding arbitration. All of the time frames can be extended by mutual agreement. Experience shows that having an arbitration option available brings parties closer together, and, as a result, the parties resolve their negotiations on their own terms and in good faith.

To see your government at work and to get more of the facts quoted in this post go to http://edlabor.house.gov/employee-free-choice-act-myth-vs-fact/index.shtml

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