A Labor Day Resolution: Let’s Support Employee Free Choice

[Omaha Steve]

http://afscmeblog.org/?p=42

A Labor Day Resolution: Let’s Support Employee Free Choice

Labor Day is here, Election Day is fast approaching and there could not be a better time to think about the challenges facing the union movement.

Enter the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), the most comprehensive attempt to reform labor law in decades and a potential harbinger of better days for unions after six years of blistering attacks.
What makes the EFCA so outstanding?

* It promises to streamline an obstacle-filled organizing process by making it a simple matter of getting a majority of employees to sign union cards. Under the EFCA, a union can be certified as a bargaining representative if the National Relations Board (NLRB) determines a majority of workers in a unit signed the corresponding authorizations.
* Grants provisions to stop employers from stalling negotiations once workers have selected a union. If 90 days pass without a contract, either party can refer the dispute to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FCMS) for mediation. If after 30 days the parties don’t reach an agreement, the dispute will be referred to arbitration and its results will be binding on the parties for two years.
* Mandates stronger penalties for violations while employees are trying to organize or obtain a first contract. The NLRB will have to seek a federal court injunction against an employer whenever there is reasonable cause to believe an employee has been discharged, discriminated against or his rights have been violated while organizing or seeking a first contract.

This bipartisan legislation, which was introduced by Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Peter King (R-N.Y.), already has 215 co-sponsors in the House, making it three votes shy of a majority. In the Senate, prospects are also favorable as it boasts 43 co-sponsors, eight short of a majority.

When Labor Day finds our nation at a tipping point where people work more and yet they make considerably less, it is time to think hard about what we can do for America’s working families. When Labor Day comes and an approximate 57 million Americans (http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/Support_EFCA) say they want to join a union but cannot do so because our laws are too weak to protect their rights as employees, the EFCA seems a timely initiative that can help stem an anti-worker tide that for too long has afflicted this nation.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 1st, 2006 at 4:14 pm and is filed under Organizing.

[bleever]

1. K&R.

Labor is historically America's prime virtue. Not capital.

Happy Labor Day.