Ninety-five percent of employers say that American businesses would be hurt if the proposed Employee Free Choice Act were to become law, but far fewer say that unions would be successful in organizing employees at their own organization, according to a survey conducted by BLR's HR Daily Advisor.
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Download NowThe Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would make it easier for employees to unionize by eliminating employer's ability to force a secret-ballot election. Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and Representative George Miller of California reintroduced the legislation yesterday.
The legislation would require the National Labor Relations Board to certify a union if the board finds that a majority of employees have signed authorizations designating the union as their bargaining representative. Under current law, the National Labor Relations Board typically oversees an election process for unions that uses secret ballots.
The legislation would also allow a union or employer to refer a dispute to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) if an employer and a union are engaged in bargaining for their first contract and are unable to reach agreement within 90 days.
Under the legislation, if the FMCS has been unable to bring the parties to agreement after 30 days of mediation, the dispute would be referred to arbitration and the results of the arbitration would be binding on the parties for two years.
In a recent HR Daily Advisor survey, conducted before the reintroduction of the legislation, most respondents said that the proposed legislation would hurt employers and employees alike. Seventy-three percent of respondents said the legislation would hurt American workers. Eighty-four percent of respondents said the legislation would hurt their employer's business.
Eighty-one percent of respondents said that they think unions would be successful in organizing workers if EFCA passes. However, only 31 percent of respondents said unions would be successful in organizing workers at their workplace in particular if the bill becomes law.
The survey included nearly 500 HR managers.
Business groups oppose the legislation, arguing that the election process would become a public one in which workers would feel pressure from union supporters to vote in favor of unionization. Unions argue that the secret-ballot process is flawed and allows employers to influence elections.
The legislation has been proposed before. In 2007, the House of Representatives approved the legislation, but Democrats in the Senate failed to get enough support to force a vote. The legislation's prospects for approval are still uncertain in 2009. President Obama reportedly told unions that the legislation would pass, but even some supporters admit they don't have enough votes yet to ensure that the legislation (at least in its current form) even makes it to the president's desk.
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