Why We're Proud to Support the Employee Free Choice Act
The Politics
Thursday, June 26 is the anniversary of the Senate filibuster that blocked the Employee Free Choice Act. One year ago, Barack Obama voted for the legislation, siding with the great majority of Americans. John McCain voted against it, siding—once again—with George W. Bush and the Republican obstructionists. This is a good day to explain why we're proud to protect workers' rights and support the Employee Free Choice Act.
The Facts
Most working families are struggling to make ends meet. Since George W. Bush took office as president, real wages have declined, benefits have shrunk and good jobs have become harder to find. At the same time, basic costs—health care, gasoline, and food—have risen dramatically.
Workers who belong to unions receive higher wages and better benefits. Wages for union workers are 30 percent higher than for non-union workers ($863 median weekly earnings vs. $663). Union workers are 63 percent more likely to have health insurance (78 percent of union workers have employer-provided health insurance vs. 49 percent of non-union workers). And union workers are four times more likely to have pensions [AFL-CIO].
More than half of all U.S. workers—nearly 60 million—say they would join a union right now if they could [Peter D. Hart poll]. Their best opportunity to get ahead is by uniting with co-workers to bargain with employers for better wages and benefits. Working people want that opportunity.
But the current system for forming unions and bargaining with employers is broken. Every day, corporations deny employees the freedom to decide for themselves whether to form unions to bargain for a better life. Corporations routinely intimidate, harass, coerce and illegally fire people who try to organize unions. Workers are fired in a quarter of private-sector union organizing campaigns; in such campaigns, 78 percent of private employers require supervisors to deliver anti-union messages to their employees; and even after workers successfully form a union, they can't get a contract one-third of the time [AFL-CIO].
The Argument
The federal government is blocking the freedom of working people to make their own decisions about joining a union. The current system for union recognition is decidedly undemocratic. One side—the corporation—has all the power, controls the information workers receive, and routinely poisons the process by intimidating, harassing, coercing, and even firing people who try to organize unions. Penalties for corporate violations of the law are so insignificant that they have virtually no effect.
American workers should have the freedom to choose a majority sign-up system. Ever since the Great Depression, the law has allowed workers to form a union when a majority has signed authorization cards and those cards are validated. But it is currently the corporation's choice—not the workers' choice—whether to follow that process.
A number of responsible employers have agreed to a majority sign-up process. Companies such as Cingular Wireless, Kaiser Permanente, and DaimlerChrysler have allowed employees to choose by majority sign-up whether to have a union. Those companies have found that majority sign-up is an effective way to gauge workers' free choice—and it results in less hostility and polarization in the workplace than the current representation process.
Majorities in the U.S. House and Senate support the Employee Free Choice Act, but President Bush and Senate conservatives have obstructed its enactment. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill by the hefty margin of 241 to 185. A majority of the U.S. Senate also favored the measure, but it was blocked when proponents could not muster 60 votes to overcome a conservative filibuster.
Progressive Solutions
The Employee Free Choice Act does three things to level the playing field for employees and employers:
- It lets workers choose majority sign-up, meaning that if a majority of employees sign union authorization cards, a company must recognize the union.
- It guarantees workers a contract when they form a new union, by bringing in a neutral third party mediator/arbiter if the company and union cannot come to an agreement after three months.
- It strengthens penalties for companies that coerce or intimidate employees in an effort to prevent them form forming a union.
