Putting America back to work
Here's why we need EFCA
The Employee Free Choice Act is simply that – giving workers the freedom to decide whether to form their own union. Here’s why it’s important: The method of union sign-up known as "card check" is already recognized under current labor law – but only when the employer approves it. EFCA would remove the ability of employers to withhold recognition and insist on a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election.
Since the boss gets to decide when an election will be held, he/she often wages an intimidation campaign in the meantime. So EFCA legislation would toughen penalties against employers who violate their workers' rights in that way.
Under EFCA, workers would still have the right to vote in a NLRB secret ballot election if 30 percent of the workforce signs cards, just as they do now.
Here’s more research from the American Rights at Work, a nonprofit workers rights’ organization:
| 25% | Companies that illegally fire at least one worker for union activity during organizing campaigns | 1 in 6 | Chance that an active union supporter will be illegally fired for union activity during an organizing campaign |
| 92% | Companies that force employees to attend mandatory closed-door meetings against the union | 75% | Companies that hire consultants or union-busters to help them fight union organizing drives |
| 78% | Companies that force employers to attend one-on-one meetings against the union with their own supervisors |
52% | Companies that threaten to call U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during organizing drives that include undocumented employees |
| 51% | Companies that threaten to close the plant if the union wins the election | 1% | Companies that actually close their plants after a successful union election |
| 29,559 | Workers in FY 2007 who received back pay in cases alleging company violations of workers’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act | 44% | Percentage of cases in which companies do not agree to a contract after workers form a union under the NLRB process |
| 78% | Portion of public that supports workers’ freedom to bargain for better wages and benefits | 47% | Portion of public that knows companies routinely resist unionization efforts by their employees |