The Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800, S. 1041), supported by a bipartisan coalition in Congress, would enable working people to bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions by restoring workers’ freedom to choose for themselves whether to join a union. It would:

- Establish stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations.
- Provide mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes (PDF).
- Allow employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation.

http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/

Take Action - Join the Million-Member Mobilization Campaign

The Employee Free Choice Act can help reclaim the American Dream by restoring workers' freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life. Our goal is to gather signatures in support of this bill-1 million voices calling for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. But 1 million people is a lot of people. We won't reach our goal without your help and the help of your friends and family.

Please support this bill and help us reach our goal of 1 million signatures—sign the petition today.

http://www.freechoiceact.org/page/s/aflcio?source=aflcioweb

My view: Free Choice Act protects workers, unions

BY NOAH SCOTT WARMAN
Special to The Miami Herald

The Employee Free Choice Act is a necessary corrective to counter a three-decade-long war on workers' right to organize unions.

Two elements of the Employee Free Choice Act -- increased penalties for companies that violate workers' right to organize and interest arbitration for a first contract -- are essential. They discourage companies from breaking the law and give them incentive to bargain in good faith if their employees organize. But the most striking element of the bill is allowing workers to use majority sign up to organize unions.

Majority sign up means that if a majority of workers sign a card designating a union to represent them, then their employer must recognize and bargain with that union. If a majority of employees do not want union representation, there is no union representation. Workers are free to decide on their own terms at their own pace whether and when to unionize, and the Employee Free Choice Act makes their employer respect that choice. There is nothing radical about it. What is radical is that ''secret ballot elections'' are trumpeted by corporate employers. The current system is nothing like a fair and free election.

REQUIRED MEETINGS

Currently, even if each and every employee in a workplace wants union representation, their employer may insist on an election. The election is then scheduled weeks, if not months, later. In the meantime corporations routinely hire management attorneys and ''consultants'' to come up with all sorts of carrots and sticks to stop the employees from unionizing. The law allows employers to require its employees, both in groups and one-by-one, to attend anti-union meetings. The employer may claim the business will suffer or close, that ''things will get better,'' that the union cannot do anything for the workers and that bargaining will begin ''from scratch.'' And all too often employers simply fire workers who support the union.

The current union election process fails on almost every single count to meet U.S. and international standards used to decide whether a political election is fair and free. Much of the debate about the Employee Free Choice Act focuses on the ability of workers to organize unions without a ''secret'' ballot, but a secret ballot does not necessarily make an election fair. After all, Cuba and China have secret ballot elections; neither is a model of democracy.

ELECTIONS FOR DESPOTS

The Employee Free Choice Act is about far more than a secret ballot. It is about putting power back in the hands of workers to decide for themselves on their own terms whether and when to organize, without the hoops, hurdles, and horrors of a so-called election that would do a despot proud.

Given the tough economic times for America's workers, they need to organize now more than ever. However, anti-union companies, aided by the National Labor Relations Board's anti-union tilt, have made a mockery out of union elections. No despot willingly gives up power. No wonder they fear the Employee Free Choice Act so much - and no wonder it receives bipartisan support by a majority of the House, the Senate, and American workers. The Employee Free Choice Act does not target workers - it targets only those anti-union companies, aided and abetted by the ''union avoidance'' lawyers and consultants, who ignore their workers' rights.
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Read the op-ed piece and post a comment on the miamiherald.com Web site.
http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/695200.html

Business, Labor Groups Clash Over Legislation to Ease Workers’ Barriers to Forming Unions

A fierce battle is brewing between labor unions and business groups over the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers to form a union. If passed, the Employee Free Choice Act would amend the National Labor Relations Act to allow workers to form a union if a majority of them signed a card or petition. We host a debate between Stewart Acuff of the AFL-CIO and James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation. [includes rush transcript]
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Read the transcript or watch te video on democracynow.org.
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/13/busi...ver_legislation

Employee Free Choice Poll Gives Labor Backers Big Boost

Proponents of the Employee Free Choice Act received a big boost Tuesday morning with the publication of an independent poll showing majority support both for the legislation and the greater concept of increased unionization.

Gallup Surveys released a study on Tuesday finding that 53 percent of respondents favored a new law that would "make it easier for labor unions to organize workers." Only 39 percent of respondents opposed such a law.

When asked how important it was that Congress pass such a law, 26 percent of respondents said "very," 29 percent said "somewhat," 23 percent said "not too important," and 20 percent said "not important at all."

Added up, the findings provide a solid boost to EFCA backers, with 55 percent expressing some desire to see Congress act on the legislation and 43 percent expressing a level of opposition or ambivalence (three percent said they had no opinion).

The study was conducted via a poll of 1,024 people across the nation. The survey did not reference the legislation by its name ("Employee Free Choice Act") or by the descriptions used by its opponents, like "card check."

That said, Gallup's description of the Employee Free Choice Act -- to "make it easier for labor unions to organize workers" -- seems one that cuts it relatively down the middle. Unions prefer to describe the legislation as giving "workers the free choice to join unions." The fact that a majority of respondents favored the legislation as described underscores the importance of the framing debate for business and labor.

The cross-tabs of the Gallup's survey provide equally interesting data points. Asked whether they would "favor or oppose a new law that would make it easier for labor unions to organize workers," the respondent break down went like this:

Republicans: 34 percent favor, 60 percent oppose; Independents: 52 percent favor, 41 percent oppose; and Democrats: 70 percent favor, and 23 percent oppose.

The surprise here: more than one out of every three Republicans favor laws that would ease unionization, suggesting there is room for labor officials to win over GOP converts.

If nothing else, the Gallup Poll is a nice marking point for where the Employee Free Choice Act debate currently stands, contradicting Monday's Rasmussen Poll that claimed nine percent of workers wanted to join unions, and pushing against -- to a certain extent -- the corporate and union polls conducted up to this point.
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Read the article and post a comment on huffingtonpost.com.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/17/e...l_n_175563.html

“A union card is the best middle-class support in our country. When workers can negotiate with employers, they're able to bargain for their fair share of wages and benefits. Union workers are more likely to have health care, pensions and better job security. In fact, a solid majority of Americans support legislation that would make it easier for workers to join and form unions, according to a recent Gallup poll. That's why Congress is ready to act on the Employee Free Choice Act, which would restore workers' freedom to form unions and bargain for better lives. Current law lets corporations decide whether workers will organize using a majority sign-up process or the more difficult and divisive process of a ballot election. This act would let workers make that choice themselves. Hundreds of successful businesses, including many in Florida, already have benefited from the majority sign-up process. Unfortunately, some legislators in Tallahassee want to block the Employee Free Choice Act in our state. Florida's workers need the Employee Free Choice Act, not a mean-spirited campaign financed by out-of-state special interests.”

-- Florida AFL-CIO President Cindy Hall, in a letter to The Palm Beach Post.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/conte...webletters.html