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Grassroots Toolkit

Faced with bipartisan opposition to the job-killing Employee Free Choice Act, the current labor union strategy is to have their agenda enacted through executive action and regulation through the National Labor Relations Board. Knowing they can no longer hope to sneak “card check” through the legislature, Big Labor is pushing its agenda through small actions—but your Members of Congress need to hear that this is not acceptable:

  • The ongoing labor union strategy was 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.” Now that the legislative process no longer looks promising, SEIU and its allies are relying on former SEIU attorney and NLRB Member Craig Becker to curtail the current private-ballot process.
  • 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.
    • 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.
    • 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 and EFCA-lite alternatives being pushed through the NLRB, 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 have supported EFCA or similar NLRB actions, or those who 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.

Action

  1. Send this press release to your local media.
  2. Schedule Editorial Board meetings with your local papers.