Employee Free Choice Act of 2007 Moving Toward Senate Vote

The U.S. Senate takes up debate on the "Employee Free Choice Act of 2007" (EFCA) and may be voting by June 20.

The bill, H.R. 800, seeks to amend the National Labor Relations Act by no longer requiring elections to determine if employees will accept a union if a majority of employees have signed authorization cards.

Further, it establishes harsher penalties for employers who violate employee rights when workers seek to form a union, and institute new mediation and arbitration processes for first-contract disputes.

The bill passed the house on March 1 on a vote of 241-185.

This bill, according to CCH Business & Corporate Clearinghouse, would increase the union density rate in the U.S. by 10 percentage points.

Currently, if a majority of employees in an appropriate bargaining unit sign authorization cards, and an employer protests - either the bargaining unit or the cards themselves- a secret ballot election is held to determine whether or not a union would become the bargaining representative. Employers will usually use the intervening time to present their message against authorizing a union. Alternatively, an employer may accept the union without a secret ballot.

The bill would also provide for mandatory arbitration if the employer and union have not reached agreement on a contract within 120 days of certification. The decision of an arbitration panel would be in effect for up to two years. Currently, after winning certification rights, fail to secure agreements in roughly one of every four first-contract negotiations.

According to one study, employer discrimination against union activists and refusal to bargain, have substantial negative effects on the probability that a first contract will be reached. Other reasons include lengthy delay in the NLRB's resolution of employer objections and challenges to lost elections. Unions are also more likely to obtain first contracts when firms pay wages well above the industry average, when national union representatives participate in negotiations, and when bargaining units are relatively large and cohesive.