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Story Archives: Monroe chamber opposes 'card check'


Monroe chamber opposes 'card check'
posted Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 @ 9:24 pmE-mail Story E-mail Story | Print Story Print Story 
The Monroe Chamber of Commerce has joined a national coalition of business organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Coalition for A Democratic Workplace and the National Association of Manufacturers, to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act.

The U.S. Senate is expected to take up the EFCA in the next few weeks. Under the proposed bill, employees would be denied the right to freely choose whether to unionize while employers would be prohibited from explaining the drawbacks of organizing. According to The Wall Street Journal, EFCA is the "best shot in a half-century" that labor unions have had to rewrite labor laws.

Opponents of the EFCA, frequently referred to as "Card Check," said it would deny employees the right to a secret ballot election when deciding whether to join a union. Instead, individual signatures would be collected on cards in front of union organizers and fellow employees.

Opponents of the EFCA argue that if it is approved by the Congress, it would eliminate employees voting in confidential balloting. It would allow a union to be certified once it has proven to the National Labor Relations Board that a majority of employees in an appropriate unit have signed authorization cards. No election would be required.

Opponents say the cards could be signed anywhere, even online or at home. Opponents also say the pressure to "sign a card" would be tremendous.

"The Monroe Chamber Board of Directors views EFCA as a dangerous piece of legislation that would tilt the scales in favor of unions," said Isaac White, chairman of the Monroe chamber. "An employee asked by a union representative to sign a union authorization card would feel pressure to sign."

Currently, the most common method for determining whether employees want a union to represent them is a private ballot election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The NLRB provides detailed procedures that ensure a fair election, free of fraud, where employees may cast their vote confidentially without peer pressure or coercion from unions or employers.

According to Sue Nicholson, president and CEO for the Monroe Chamber of Commerce, "Every worker should continue to have the right to a federally supervised secret ballot election when deciding whether to organize a union."

In addition, opponents of the EFCA said it would eliminate the employer's right to decline unfavorable proposals during collective bargaining negotiations. Under card check, when a nonunion company is unionized, management and labor would only have 90 days to settle a contract. After that, the union could force the newly unionized company into government-supervised mediation. If the union and management still have not reached an agreement in another 30 days, a government-appointed arbitrator would set the final binding contract terms. If EFCA were to pass, it also establishes Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) fines of $20,000 per offense to employers only.

The Monroe Chamber of Commerce recently sent letters to the state's congressional delegation asking them to vote against cloture on the floor of the Senate and to oppose any compromise bill that includes the elimination of secret ballots, binding arbitration or new penalties for employers.
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