Northwest Arkansas Business Leaders Oppose EFCA

Crossland Construction of Rogers hosted an action luncheon on March 31 to encourage Northwest Arkansas business leaders to contact Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln and ask them to vote against the Employee Free Choice Act.

Alan Cobb with Americans for Prosperity, a public policy group based in Washington D.C., said the Employee Free Choice Act is a violation of the basic principals of democracy.

“It costs jobs and denies workers the fundamental right to cast a ballot in secret,” he told a packed crowd at Crossland’s headquarters.

The pending legislation would amend the National Labor Relations Act “to establish an easier system to enable employees to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to provide for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts, and for other purposes,” according to the bill’s text.

Under current U.S. labor law, the card check process begins when an employee requests blank cards from an existing union, and requests signatures on the cards from colleagues. Once 30 percent of the workforce has signed the cards, the employer may decide to have a secret ballot election on the question of unionization. If the majority favors the union, the National Labor Relations Board will certify it as the exclusive representative of the employees.

The Employee Free Choice Act would require the National Labor Relations Board to certify the union without directing an election if a majority of employees signed cards.

“We have resolutions from nearly 50 chambers opposing this bill,” said Randy Zook, president of the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce. “We are determined to make sure Lincoln and Pryor understand this is a clear cut issue and they need to come out publicly in opposition to it.”