Supporters of a labor-endorsed bill to protect employees’ rights to freedom of association contend that something is radically wrong when threats, intimidation and stall tactics regularly are used by employers to thwart the will of workers who simply want a better way of life.Yet that is precisely what is happening in our nation, notes the AFL-CIO, the national federation of trade unions (to which the SIU is affiliated). Employers routinely go to extremes to obstruct and ultimately derail workers’ rights to make free and fair decisions on joining or forming unions, the federation reports.
For example, according to National Labor Relations Board data compiled and recently released by American Rights at Work, U.S. employers so far in 2005 have taken illegal and punitive measures against more than 10,000 employees seeking to support or form a union at their workplace. Although labor law prohibits such tactics, the government has been unwilling to step in and protect workers’ basic rights in the workplace. As a result, working families are paying a huge price for this interference, because unions play an essential role in our society and the rights of workers to organize them are crucial.
Union representation is a vehicle to help earn a decent wage, encourage profit sharing between owners and workers, provide health care and pension benefits for families, improve health and safety in the workplace, advocate economic and social policies that support all workers, and provide workers a role in workplace decisions.
Recent polls show that as many as 57 million workers would be willing to join a union, but most believe that current laws and workplace situations are stacked against them. That is why union members and others across the country are working with Democratic and Republican members of Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act.
Initially offered last year in the 108th Congress, the legislation garnered support from more than 200 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 35 senators. Because the bill was not passed, another effort to make it law started in the 109th Congress.
On April 19, Senators Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Representatives Peter King (R-N.Y.) and George Miller (D-Calif.) reintroduced the measure for the 109th Congress. Already the number of legislators in both houses signed on to sponsor the act is approaching its 2004 level.
The Employee Free Choice Act has three major provisions:
- First, it calls for certification of a union as the bargaining unit if the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) finds that a majority of employees in an appropriate unit have signed authorizations designating the union to be their representative. Basically, the act would make card-check organizing campaigns the law of the land.
- Second, it would put and end to delaying tactics to prevent negotiations for a first contract that have been used by many businesses to the detriment of workers. Instead, the measure would allow either party involved in the talks to reach out to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) after 90 days. If the FMCS cannot resolve the dispute within 30 days, it may be referred to arbitration whose results would be binding for two years.
- Third, just as the NLRB must seek a federal court injunction against unions whenever there is a reasonable cause to believe that the unions have violated secondary boycott publications, the legislation would call upon the NLRB to do the same if there is reasonable cause against an employer who has discharged or discriminated against workers or engaged in action that interferes with employee rights to organize or negotiate a first contract. The act also provides penalties.
The AFL-CIO states that there’s little doubt in the labor community that the Employee Free Choice Act will help fix the flawed process through which workers currently form unions. This important legislation would make sure workers have a fair chance to exercise their democratic right to choose a union. If Congress passes the measure, stronger enforcements instantly would be in place to deter violations of labor law and help workers reach contracts quickly and fairly.
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