Issues
Protect jobs! Protect the private union ballot!
The fight over card check is not over. In fact, it's really just begun.
While Sen. Specter's opposition to the bill in its current form will slow EFCA for now, Big Labor will not stop trying to get some of its more harmful components into other bills.
That's why workers and employers across Pennsylvania must keep up the pressure on Pennsylvania's Congressional delegation to vote against similar legislation in the future.
What's at stake: The right to a private ballot
For many years, U.S. workers have had the right to unionize, and this right is strongly protected under the law. What is also strongly protected is the use of private ballots - if a small percentage of workers express interest in being represented by a labor union, a private election is held to determine if that union is recognized. It's a process that 76 percent of union members say is the best way to protect workers' rights when organizing.* And in 2007, unions won representation in the majority of private ballot elections, according to the National Labor Relations Board.
But just as workers have the right to decide privately to form unions, they also have the right to reject unionization if they feel that a union is not in their best interest. The private ballot enables them to do so without interference from coworkers, managers, employers and union leaders.
Ending private ballot could mean beginning of worker intimidation...
Card Check would all but eliminate the private ballot process for union organizing - opening up workers to others knowing how they are voting...and possible intimidation and harassment. Surveys show that a majority of union households actually oppose this potential change in the organizing process.**
To make matters worse, if both parties are unable to reach a contract agreement after an unreasonably short time frame, a government arbitrator would get to decide wages, hours and benefits - a decision that may not be good for the employer or the employees, but that would be binding nonetheless for two years.
And in some instances, Card Check and binding arbitration would force contracts on workers without a vote!
...Destruction of Pennsylvania jobs
Employers need predictability and flexibility in order to maintain and grow their businesses. Card Check would create uncertainty for business planning, reducing employers' incentives to grow their businesses here at home. In fact, Card Check and its binding arbitration provision would increase unemployment by 1 percent for every 3 percentage point increase in workers organized under its provisions.* For an economy already in crisis, stifled investment and job creation would come at a time when Pennsylvania and the nation can least afford it.
* Source: "An Empirical Assessment of the Employee Free Choice Act: The Economic Implications." Dr. Anne Layne-Farrar
