IFA's Grassroots Toolkit on Card Check

SUMMARY

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, or “card check”) would require the National Labor Relations Board to certify a union if presented with signed authorization cards from a majority of employees at a company that the union is seeking to authorize. The bill would prohibit a secret ballot election, the standard for determining union representation since the 1940s, once a majority of cards have been signed.

The bill also provides for imposing contract terms on private employers through a process of compulsory binding arbitration. If an employer and a union are unable to reach agreement on a first contract within 90 days, it can be referred to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) for mediation. After 30 days of mediation, the dispute will be referred to arbitration. Results of the arbitration will then be binding for two years.

The legislation was first introduced in February 2007, and passed the House of Representatives, but was filibustered in the Senate. On March 10, 2009, Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. George Miller (D-CA) reintroduced the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act” (H.R. 1409/S. 560)

BACKGROUND AND MEMBER ADVOCACY

To look up your legislators, or learn more about your elected officials, please visit www.franchisingvotes.com.

For more information on the Employee Free Choice Act, including additional sample letters and articles, as well as detailed policy analysis and polling information visit the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace website at www.myprivateballot.com.

For more information on this issue, please contact Jason Straczewski, Director of Government Relations at 202-662-0797 or jstraczewski@franchise.org

CARD CHECK/PRIVATE BALLOT PROTECTION NEWS

IFA Letter to Senate Opposing Craig Becker Nomination to NLRB - Feb. 4, 2010
FRANCHISING AND THE REAL THREAT OF THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT Op-ed by David French, Vice President, Government Relations
CONGRESS SHOULD REJECT BILL TO ELIMINATE PRIVATE BALLOTS March 10, 2009 "If enacted, this bill will severely harm small businesses across the country at a time when they are struggling to stay afloat," said IFA VIce PResident of Government Relations David French.
IFA URGES NEW CONGRESS TO OPPOSE THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT December 3, 2008 “This legislation is not labor reform,” David French, IFA vice president of Government Relations said in letters to every member of the House and Senate. ...
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IFA Names Senate's Vote to Consider "Card Check" Bill as Key Vote and reminds Senators that the bill is fundamentally incompatible with protecting the principles of a sound democracy. June 18, 2007
IFA Urges the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to Strongly Oppose the Misguided Labor Law Reform, H.R. 800. The so-called Employee Free Choice Act is fundamentally incompatible with protecting the interests of individual liberty and the principles of a sound democracy. March 26, 2007
IFA Urges the House of Representatives to Oppose H.R. 800, the so-called Employee Free Choice Act. Despite its misleading title, the proposed measure is a radical change from more than sixty years of established labor law, and deserves very careful consideration prior to further action in Congress. February 26, 2007
IFA Urges House Education and Labor Committee to Vote No on H.R. 800, the undemocratic and harmful "card check" bill that would permanently tie the hands of all employers and employees when determining to unionize or not. February 13, 2007
IFA Urges Representatives NOT to Cosponsor Bill Limiting Democracy in the Workplace, January 24, 2007
IFA Documents the Approaching Challenges of Card-Check Organizing in Franchising World, June 2006

Updated 10/16/08