Northwest labor press., August 17, 2007, Page 7, Image 7

U.S. labor leaders will
keep pushing for EFCA
U.S. union leaders got closer this
year to reforming America’s basic la-
bor law than they have in at least three
decades.
After generations of decline, hopes
for a union comeback are pinned on
the Employee Free Choice Act
(EFCA) — a bill in Congress that
would make it easier for workers to
unionize and get a fair union contract.
That bill passed the U.S. House of
Representatives March 1 by a vote of
241 to 185. It has majority support in
the U.S. Senate, but Senate rules allow
the minority to thwart the will of the
majority, because it takes 60 of the
Senate’s 100 members to close off de-
bate. The vote to close off debate was
51 to 48. Opponents of the bill voted
not to end debate.
If EFCA had passed the Senate,
President Bush was certain to veto it.
So no one expected it to become law
this year. But holding a vote made
members of Congress declare which
side they’re on, said Steve Smith,
spokesperson for the AFL-CIO.
“We have every single member of
the House and Senate on record,”
Smith said. “Do they stand with work-
ing people or not?”
Under EFCA, if the majority of em-
ployees in a workplace want a union,
they could unionize simply by signing
authorization cards. Employers would
have to begin bargaining a contract no
more than 10 days after a request from
the newly certified union. If no agree-
ment has been reached 90 days later,
either side could call in a federal medi-
ator. If there’s still no agreement 30
days after that, the mediator would re-
fer the dispute to an arbitration panel,
which would decide the details of a
union contract, binding for two years.
The contract could only be amended
by agreement of union and manage-
ment.
Finally, illegal anti-union conduct
by management — such as firing union
supporters, conducting surveillance, or
interrogating workers about their views
on the union — would get faster and
heavier penalties.
Every part of EFCA is a response to
the current labor law’s failure to protect
workers’ right to unionize. Under the
National Labor Relations Act, workers
unionize via a government-adminis-
tered election, but the law gives em-
(Turn to Page 12)
We salute the hard working
men and women of Oregon
and Southwest Washington.
Public Relations - Government Affairs - Media and Creative Services
www.pacwestcom.com
AUGUST 17, 2007
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
PAGE 7