WASHINGTON, D.C. The Labor Policy Institute (LPI), a project of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), has launched a direct mail and advertising campaign opposing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and urging senators to vote “no” on the EFCA, in any form. The initial phase of the campaign will focus on two key states, Arkansas and Colorado.
"This bill is one of the greatest threats to manufacturers’ economic competitiveness. It would undermine worker privacy and open the door to government control of wages and benefits in unionized workplaces,” said NAM Executive Vice President Jay Timmons. “We want to remind manufacturers and the public that this bill would destroy jobs. The EFCA would send our economy and our nation in the wrong direction.”
The EFCA, in its current form, aims to eliminate secret ballot elections and replace them with a “card check” system in which workers sign an authorization card whether in private or in the presence of union organizers and co-workers. It also includes a binding arbitration provision that would add cost and interfere in the balanced relationship between employers and employees, says NAM. The association also believes that alternatives to the EFCA that are currently being discussed, which it described as “ambush elections” and “last, best-style arbitration,” are as onerous as the EFCA and should be rejected. A recent economic analysis shows 600,000 jobs would be lost in the first year the EFCA is enacted, according to NAM.
“We are urging everyone who wants to protect their job to reach out to their U.S. senators and tell them to say ‘no’ to the EFCA in any form. At a time when our nation is struggling to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, we are urging Congress to implement policies that create jobs and put our nation on the road to economic recovery. The EFCA would have the opposite effect,” Timmons said.
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) (S. 560/H.R. 1409) was introduced in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives in March 2009. Neither chamber has held a hearing on this proposed legislation.