The decline of union power in the United States is the driving force behind proposed legislation awaiting a Senate vote that would make it easier for workers to organize by doing away with secret-ballot elections. In 1983, when the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking union membership data, 20.1% of the workforce was unionized. Fast forward to 2008 and only 12.4% of employees nationwide belong to unions, according to the Bureau.
Supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), or "card check" bill, say the current system suppresses employees' ability to form unions by ultimately putting the decision to unionize into the hands of employers.
"Under the current law, when a majority sign cards authorizing a union, then they have a union if their employer consents to it," said bill sponsor Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., when first introducing the legislation in 2007. "But instead of consenting, employers often reject the employees' choice and force them through an NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) election process that is dramatically tilted in the employer's favor."
The pro-labor think tank Economic Policy Institute (EPI) characterizes the NLRB election campaigns as resembling "sham elections in totalitarian countries." EPI claims employers are quick to fire workers who participate in organizing campaigns, citing a study published in 2000 by Cornell University professor Kate Bronfenbrenner who says 32% of employers break the law by firing pro-union workers and 50% skirt the law by threatening to close.
The EFCA would penalize companies that violate the law during organizing campaigns and negotiations for the first contract with a fine of up to $20,000 per violation, triple back pay for employees unjustly discharged or a requirement that the NLRB seek federal court injunctions if it's suspected that an employer violated the law during organizing efforts, according to EPI.
Business advocates say the bill will further fracture union/management relationships and could cost the United States jobs.
"EFCA is a dramatic departure from long-established labor law," National Association of Manufacturers CEO John Engler said following the introduction of the bill in Congress on March 10. "It deprives employees of the privacy of the secret ballot, which has always been an integral part of the democratic process. It would also change the traditional role of federal arbitrators from interpreting contracts to dictating the terms and conditions of contracts."
NAM says the EFCA would add 1.5 million more union members, while costing the economy 600,000 jobs in 2010.
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