Zook opposes Employee Free Choice Act
Posted on Thursday, December 4, 2008
One side says it’s the end of democracy.
The other says it’s the beginning of free choice for America’s workforce.
The only real agreement between the two sides is that federal passage of the Employee Free Choice Act will change the business world dramatically.
Randy Zook, president of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce, told Northwest Arkansas business leaders Wednesday that the bill in Congress would extensively change how unions are formed. He’s part of a coalition called Arkansans for the Secret Ballot that’s working to defeat the proposed act.
“Our view is that the bill is mistitled. This does not present a free choice for employees,” Zook said. “That choice exists today with a secret ballot.”
The Employee Free Choice Act legislation remains in limbo in the U.S. Senate, but a stronger Democratic presence and the election of Barack Obama, a Democrat, as the next president has given new life to the efforts to attempt its passage.
The act would change the way unions are formed by streamlining the process union supporters would have to go through. Currently, workers may seek an election through a petition drive or a “check card ” system in which the individual workers indicate their interest in holding an election. In that scenario, an election is then carried out by the National Labor Relations Board through secret ballot.
Under the proposed legislation, a union will be declared official without an election if more than half the workers sign cards indicating they favor formation of a union. The legislation would also authorize either the union or the company involved to petition federal mediators if the union and management cannot come to terms on a contract within 90 days. The contract, if no resolution is found in mediation, would be determined by an arbitration panel.
The proposal would also stiffen penalties for employer violations of the National Labor Relations Act.
Alan Hughes, president of the Arkansas state chapter of the American Federation of Labor, said the bill is needed to allow workers needing union protection the ability to easily form the organizations.
“If a company is treating their employees right, they don’t need a union,” Hughes said.
Zook, speaking to a meeting of the Fayetteville Economic Development Council Wednesday morning, said that, currently, the creation of a union requires a petition signed by at least 30 percent of the workforce stating they want to form a union. The petition is presented to the National Labor Relations Board, which then sets up a secret ballot election on the formal question of forming the union. Zook said removing the secret ballot runs contrary to democratic ideals and increases chances for intimidation by union organizers.
Hughes said that workers could still choose to hold a secret ballot election if they wanted one. Even today, he said, the petition signing is typically done in private and sent directly to the National Labor Relations Board, not published for others to review.
Hughes said unions want to streamline the process to remove the opportunity for employers to intimidate workers to vote against a union.
Zook believes that without a mandated secret ballot vote, workers will be subjected to similar intimidation from union representatives.
“This presents opportunity for intimidation and harassment and it is, in our view, undemocratic,” Zook said.
He said the arbitration portions of the Free Choice Act would put a government bureaucrat in charge of determining company contracts with workers. The legislation was first sent to the House of Representatives in February of 2007 by the House Committee on Education and Labor. It passed the House on a 241-185 vote. All of Arkansas’ U.S. representatives, except Republican 3rd District U.S. Rep. John Boozman, sponsored and voted in favor of the bill. It was introduced to the U.S. Senate a month later where it was halted by a Republican filibuster. Both of Arkansas’ senators, Democrats Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln voted to send the bill to floor discussion.
Now that the bill is heading back to a U.S. Congress with a Democratic majority, Zook believes passage through the U.S. House will be simple. The fight will be in the U.S. Senate, Zook said, and Obama would most likely sign the act if it passes.
Lincoln on Wednesday told the Northwest Arkansas Times in a phone interview that she remained undecided on the proposal and believed the nation had more important issues to deal with, such as incorporating new, energy-efficient technology into society, educating the country’s youth and reinvigorating the nation’s economy.
“Focusing on this bill, this issue, isn’t paramount,” Lincoln said.
She added that she was disappointed that the issue was such a dividing one among American citizens and pointed out that even if it did make it to the U.S. Senate’s discussion level, it would undoubtedly be changed and tweaked.
“Most bills we change drastically before we pass them,” Lincoln said.
Pryor did not return calls Wednesday.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
