Fearing card check, business groups rally opposition efforts
Business groups are rallying for a battle to head off an expected introduction
of legislation that would make it easier for workers to organize unions in
their workplaces.
The Employee Free Choice Act, which would require employers to recognize unions
once a majority of their workers sign cards of support, is expected to have a
better chance of passage this year.
The House of Representatives approved the measure in the last Congress, but a
filibuster in the Senate stopped its progress. Now with increased majorities
for Democrats in both the House and Senate and a new Democratic administration
favorable to the act, business groups fear it has a better chance of
succeeding.
In the drycleaning industry, both the Drycleaning and Laundry Institute and the Textile Care Allied Trades Association are joining with other business groups in opposing the legislation.
In an e-mail to members, DLI said it has signed on to support the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce’s efforts to defeat the measure.
“The Drycleaning and Laundry Institute is fighting to keep labor unions from
taking over cleaning businesses,” DLI said. “Labor unions are stepping up efforts to unionize workers, particularly those
working for small businesses. They want to do away with the private balloting
process and pressure workers into publicly signing cards indicating an
individual’s support for the union.”
As proposed in the last Congress, the Employee Free Choice Act, also known
simply as “card check,” stipulates that the National Labor Relations Board would recognize the union's
role as the official bargaining representative once a majority of employees
sign a card. A secret ballot election would not be required. The law would
allow employees to choose a secret ballot process to elect union representation
if they do not desire a card check election, but employers are required to
accept whichever method employees choose.
If the employer and union are unable to reach a contract agreement within 120
days, they would have to submit to binding arbitration.
TCATA was encouraging members to join the “Stop Employee Forced Choice Act” day on Feb. 4, an event organized by the National Association of Manufacturers
(NAM) to express directly to Congress the business community’s opposition to the proposed legislation.
“As you know, TCATA expends resources on only the most important legislative
issues, ones that would have a significant effect on many members,” the association said on its web site.
“Card check legislation is one of these issues, one that would have a significant
detrimental impact on TCATA members of all sizes.”
According to the Washington Post, Democratic congressional leaders were planning to move on the legislation
quickly in the new Congress. Administration backing seems likely, too. On the
campaign trail, Barack Obama expressed strong support for the measure, which he
co-sponsored as a senator.
However, The Wall Street Journal wrote last month that many Democratic legislators who previously supported the
legislation under a Republican majority have said that the legislation may not
be a priority during the economic crisis.
The legislation has strong backing from organized labor, whose leaders say that
current organizing rules have depleted the power of unions.
In the past quarter-century, the share of workers in unions has declined from 20
percent to 12 percent, and many are public employees. Just 7.5 percent of
private-sector employees are unionized, according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
Among business groups joining the opposition to the measure is the National Federation of Independent Business which said card check would overturn the private ballot election that “prevents workers from being vulnerable to misinformation, intimidation and
coercion by union advocates.“
Under a card-check system, NFIB said, workers' votes are made public to the
employer, union organizers and co-workers.
“If Congress passes card check, they will be stripping away federally protected
private ballots from the hands of American workers,” NFIB said. “The only way to ensure workforce privacy and worker protection is through the
continued use of a federally supervised private ballot. Private ballots protect free choice.”
Another consequence of the card-check law, NFIB said, is that companies and
workers alike could face binding contracts that would be imposed by an
arbitration board put in place by the federal government.
DLI encouraged members to support the campaign against card check by visiting the issues section of the U.S. Chamber’s web site, www.uschamber.com, which includes Congressional letters and “letters to the editor” to elicit support from the general public.
The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, an organization composed by hundreds
of business groups opposing the measure, has is keeping tabs on the
legislation, too. Its web site is www.myprivateballot.com.
