GrassrootsToolkit

Messaging

Faced with bipartisan opposition to the job-killing Employee Free Choice Act, the current labor union strategy is to agree to a compromise bill then amend it to include card check once it is under consideration on the Senate floor.  Your Members of Congress need to hear that this is not acceptable:  

• The current labor union strategy is laid out in this 2009 New York Times article to which Andy Stern from SEIU issued the following response outlining their strategy:
  
  "As we have said from day one, majority sign-up is the best way for workers to have the right to choose a voice at their workplace. The Employee Free Choice Act is going through the usual legislative process, and we expect a vote on a majority sign-up provision in the final bill or by amendment in both houses of Congress."
  
  
• Current alternatives to the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) include compromise protections for employees and employers.  Click here for talking points on the harmful alternatives being considered, how quickie elections deprive workers of choice and information, and how union access provisions are unnecessary and disruptive.
  
  
• EFCA’s Binding Interest Arbitration Differs from “Dispute” Arbitration:  The differences between common arbitration (known as “dispute” arbitration) and EFCA’s mandatory binding interest arbitration are extremely significant.  Proponents of EFCA are attempting to blur the large differences between the two concepts as part of their attempt to rehabilitate the fatally flawed legislation.  Click here for talking points.
  
  
  • Dispute arbitration:  takes place when both parties enter into an agreement to settle a dispute, as an alternative to litigating a legal or contractual disagreement.
  • Binding Interest Arbitration (EFCA):  Federal government arbitrators dictate terms of a labor contract if parties have not yet come to a voluntary agreement on a first contract within 120 days of good-faith bargaining.  EFCA binding interest arbitration forces employees, their union representative and the employer to accept a contract (written by the arbitrator) for two years.
    
    
• “Postcard Check”/Mail-In Card Check: one of the proposed compromises by EFCA proponents is the Mail-in Card Check, or “Postcard Check”. This would introduce an ACORN-like approach to union-organizing in the workplace.  Click here for talking points.
  
  
  • Brian Worth’s LTE in The Oregonian addresses the flawed individual pieces of EFCA, including a new compromise version of “postcard-check” and the “card check with a stamp” that would unquestionably lead to coercion and intimidation. Taking the fight out of the workplace and into the workers’ homes does not fix the problem, but instead makes it worse and indisputably would lead to job loss in the end.

Congressional Delegation Action

Members of Congress need to hear from you this year.  The current “alternatives” are not acceptable compromises on EFCA.  It is critically important to continue expressing united opposition to EFCA and all compromise versions of the bill that deny workers a secret ballot and forces harmful binding arbitration. You need to make sure your Senators know a vote for cloture is a vote for the bill.

1. For any of your Senators and House of Representatives Members who are opposed to EFCA, send a letter from your coalition thanking them for their stance and then send the letter along with a press release to your local media. Click here for a sample letter.
2. Conversely, for any of your Senators and House of Representatives Members who are supporting EFCA or have not yet publicly stated their intent, send a letter from your coalition expressing your views and send the letter along with a press release to your local media.  Click here for sample letters: House | Senate.
3. Also encourage your coalition members and their employees to go to www.myprivateballot.com and send as many emails, letters, and calls into your Senators and House of Representatives Members offices as possible.  The goal should be at least 100 calls and 100 emails/letters per day.

Action

1. Send this press release to your local media.
   
   
2. Distribute this handout to your coalition member employees and interested parties.
   
   
3. Send OpEd and Letters to the Editor to your local newspapers.  
   OpEd   |  LTE 1   |  LTE 2   |  LTE 3
   
   
4. Schedule Editorial Board meetings with your local papers.
   
   
5. If you have the funds, run one of these print advertisements in your local paper.  Should you have the financing, CDW can provide you with the artwork and place the ad in the paper through a contact who gets reduced rates based on their volume.
   Ad 1   |  Ad 2   |  Ad 3