National survey results

Public opinion regarding Employee Free Choice Act

 

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From Dec. 4 to 10, 2008, Hart Research Associates conducted a telephone survey among a representative national sample of 1,007 adults. The margin of error for this survey is ±3.2 percentage points among all adults, and larger among certain subgroups.

Findings

1. Americans want legislation that makes it easier for workers to bargain with their employers for better wages, benefits, and working conditions. Nearly four in five (78 percent) adults favor legislation that would make it easier for workers to bargain with their employers. This includes nearly half (46 percent) of Americans who strongly favor legislation to that end.

  • Just 17 percent of adults oppose legislation making it easier for workers to bargain with their employers for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.

  • A majority (69 percent) of Americans agree that it is very or fairly important to have strong laws that give employees the freedom to make their own choice about whether to form a union in their workplace. Half (50 percent) of Americans say this is very important.

2. Americans overwhelmingly support the Employee Free Choice Act. After hearing descriptions of its three main provisions, 73 percent of adults favor the legislation. Thirty-seven percent (37 percent) of adults strongly favor the Employee Free Choice Act.

  • Just one in five (21 percent) Americans opposes the Employee Free Choice Act.

  • Support for the Employee Free Choice Act stretches across demographic and geographic lines:

-- Democrats (87 percent) and independents (69 percent) support the Employee Free Choice Act. Even among Republicans, nearly half support the legislation. Indeed, opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act is further confined to Republicans who identify as conservatives (36 percent support). Three-quarters (74 percent) of moderate/liberal Republicans favor passing the Employee Free Choice Act.

-- Seven in 10 (69 percent) of adults in Right to Work states also support the Employee Free Choice Act.

Support for
The Employee Free Choice Act
among key groups


(after hearing messages from both sides of the debate)

Total Favor %
All adults
72
Registered Voters
72
Democrats
87
Independents
69
Republicans
48
Conservative Republicans
36
Non-conservative Republicans
74
Men
66
Women
78
Whites
69
African Americans
88
Hispanics
76
High School or less
77
Some college
76
College graduates
63
Northeast
81
South
67
Midwest
73
West
68
Right to Work States
69


3. The public supports each of the Employee Free Choice Act’s three provisions, and support is strongest for majority sign-up.

  • Three-quarters (75 percent) of adults favor allowing employees to have a union once a majority of employees in a workplace sign authorization cards indicating that they want to form a union, including 44 percent who strongly support the idea. Just 20 percent of adults oppose majority sign-up.

  • Two-thirds (64 percent) of adults favor strengthening penalties for companies that illegally intimidate or fire employees who try to form a union, including half (49 percent) who strongly support penalties.

  • Three in five (61 percent) adults favor binding arbitration in cases in which a company and a newly certified union cannot agree on a contract after three months. Thirteen percent (13 percent) of adults are not sure how they feel about this provision.

Support for provisions
of the Employee Free Choice Act

Total Favor
Allows employees to have a union once a majority of employees in a workplace sign authorization cards indicating they want to form a union 75
Strengthens penalties for companies that illegally intimidate or fire employees who try to form a union. 64
Establishes binding arbitration in cases where a company and a newly certified union cannot agree on a contract after three months of bargaining. 61

 

4. Fewer than half of Americans know that employers generally oppose unions. Just 47 percent of adults know that when elections are held in a workplace to determine whether a union will represent employees, employers generally oppose the union and try to convince employees to vote no. Three in 10 (30 percent) Americans believe that employers generally take no position and let employees decide on their own and 21 percent are not sure.