Employee No Choice Act
According to the Chief Executive:
Now that Barack Obama has won the presidency and Democrats control both houses of Congress, a major sea change in labor relations law is afoot. Thus far the Employer Free Choice Act (EFCA) has sailed under the radar of CEOs, whose agenda includes taxation, energy, free trade, health care and the nagging worries over the ever widening bailout. But unless the Republican minority is able to bottle up EFCA in the Senate, the landscape in labor law will change, decidedly for the worse.
To date, most of the controversy has swirled around the Act’s card-check provision. But CEOs and public analysts have overlooked its greater threat—interest arbitration. That key provision authorizes a panel of arbitrators to dictate a “first contract” lasting two years that will govern all aspects of the employment relationship. The arbitrators set terms not only for wages and work conditions but also for the hot-button issues of job security and outsourcing, and much more.
These two provisions dovetail with each other in dangerous ways. Under EFCA, an employer is duty bound to recognize one—or many—unions that have obtained authorization cards from 50 percent plus one of the workers in any given bargaining unit. At no point will the National Labor Relations Board organize and oversee any election to determine whether they want union representation. Opponents and the employers would have no chance to present their case before the union is installed. Indeed, EFCA would not allow workers who signed cards early in the process to withdraw them if they changed their minds. Only forged cards are discarded...click to continue.
