According to Union proponents, the biggest obstacle to a modern organizing campaign is management delay tactics. In a traditional organizing campaign, union representatives meet with bargaining unit employees (i.e. all the mechanics at a car dealership) and talk with them about union representation. The union then attempts to secure signed authorization cards from the employees. If the union can show that a majority of the employees in the bargaining unit favor union recognition, the employer may voluntarily forego an election and recognize the union. If, however, the employer refuses or the card-check process generates at least 30%, but not majority, employee support, the union may petition the NLRB for a secret ballot election administered by the NLRB. Unions plead for majority card-check rules because they claim that employees suffer at the hands of underhanded management tactics during traditional Board elections. “These delays make it too easy for employers to intimidate and coerce workers, including by dismissing them for organizing. And this in turn diminishes employee interest in unions and thus undercuts the right to collective bargaining they are supposed to enjoy.” However, unions still have the same success rate in traditional elections (approximately 60%) as they did in 1965.

Organized Labor’s pleas were answered when the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which was co-sponsored by then Senator Barack Obama, was introduced. Under the EFCA, unions would no longer have to go through the NLRB traditional election process to gain recognition. Instead, a union must obtain signed authorization cards from a majority of employees in the bargaining unit. Additionally, the EFCA would invoke binding interest arbitration if labor and management cannot agree upon the first contract within nine months. Once in arbitration, a government appointed arbitrator would decide the parties’ obligations in the first contract. Because of the results of the November 2008 national elections, we are likely to see some sort of change in 2009. Barack Obama promised to sign EFCA. Should the EFCA pass, unions estimate that they will be able to organize millions of new workers. Below are some of the more notable features of the EFCA in detail:Continue Reading The Employee Free Choice Act