Employee Free Choice Act Moves on in House (2/15/07)

The Employee Free Choice Act, which would reform a broken union election process by allowing shops to become union if a majority of workers sign authorization cards, passed in the Education and Labor Committee this week. The bipartisan legislation is now a step closer to moving on to a House vote.
As the process currently stands, "card check" is allowed but only if an employer agrees to it, which seldom happens. Instead, employers force workers to participate in a National Labor Relations Board election. The NLRB process is incredibly flawed and is balanced in favor of employers and against unions. Unions are greatly restricted in their access to workers who are interested in joining the union, while employers have free reign in campaigning against the union with their workers. Workers are routinely intimidated or even fired for their support of a union, a violation of labor law that routinely goes unpunished. Although just a fraction of the actual violations are recognized, over 30,000 workers received back pay in 2005 for being illegally fired or discriminated against because they wanted to join the union.
The Employee Free Choice Act would help eliminate these abuses and level the playing field by allowing employees to simply sign cards voicing their desire to join a union. A recent Hart Research poll shows 69 percent of Americans support the legislation.