The Devil at His Doorstep
The following is a guest post by Dave Bego. Bego is the President and CEO of Executive Management Services, a nationwide cleaning company based in Indianapolis. He recently wrote a book entitled, “The Devil at My Doorstep” chronicling his company’s struggles with the Service Employees International Union as well as his opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).
Unions want you to believe that EFCA will “Restore Freedom to Organize and Bargain”. The freedom of organization has never been compromised. The existing law has been in place since 1947 ( 62 years), when Congress overrode a veto by President Harry Truman to pass the Taft Hartley Act in order to curb the union harassment and intimidation which accompanied the initial twelve year existence of the National Labor Relations Act. It is this regime of abuse and coercion which the unions look to implement by passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.
Unions seek this because they are desperate for membership, which has declined to a low of about 12% today. Why would Congress now entertain reversing the law and subject employees to a ruthless non private process where employees are subject to intimidation and harassment by union organizers who know how they vote? My guess would be political contributions.
There are several reasons why arguments for the EFCA fall flat.
- Unions state that “companies decide how workers form their union.” The National Labor Relations Act specifically provides that an election is held if a minimum – just 30% or more – of employees indicate their support of union representation. The employer has no choice but to submit to the election.
- Penalties: Unions want up to a $ 20,000 fine assessed on a company for every unfair labor practice charge against the company which is upheld by the NLRB, but no such fines for unions. Why? Because unions misrepresent that only 42 cases have been filed against unions since the NLRA act was enacted and 29,00 to 30,000 against employers last year alone. These statistics are patently false. The National Labor Relations Board produces an Annual Report summarizing the cases they receive. The report shows that in 2007 alone, there were 5,992 charges filed against unions. The vast majority of these were filed by individual employees. Over 84% of all charges filed alleged “illegal restraint and coercion.”
- Unions also assert that EFCA does not eliminate the Secret Ballot Election. While, they are technically correct, the practical effect of the legislation is that elections will no longer be needed. Section 2(a) of EFCA expressly provides that if a majority of employees submit authorization cards (regardless of how they were obtained), the union will be recognized. There is no election because the union will never notify the employees when 30% of the employees have signed cards and the union will submit the cards for recognition when 50% + 1 of the employees have signed cards. This opens the door to widespread corruption.
- Unions also overstate the case against employers. There were 16,291 cases brought against employers in 2007. The vast majority of these, almost seventy-five percent, were brought not be employees, but by the unions themselves, as a technique designed to force companies to sign recognitional agreements. Furthermore, less than six percent of the charges were determined by the NLRB to have merit justifying the issuance of a formal complaint.
These are just some of the arguments I make against the EFCA. We cannot allow our elected officials to compromise the welfare of the citizens merely for political purpose. The truth is the EFCA would be devastating for all businesses from the “Mom and Pop Shops” to major corporations and would eliminate millions of jobs across the country. The current laws work, if they are enforces and the unions know this. It’s been my experience however, that when unions are asked to debate openly they decline, because they cannot support the information they propagate.
