By BLR Founder and CEO Bob Brady
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would make it much easier for unions to organize, was introduced in the U.S. Senate on March 10, 2009, and President Obama has said he will sign it if it passes. The future of the bill is by no means certain, but one thing is: HR managers believe it would be a disaster for the country.
A Real Threat
The E-pinion of February 27, 2009, discussed the bill and invited readers to participate in a survey about its probable effects. The full results appear below. Here is an executive summary:
- Unions will have considerable success in organizing workers if the law passes (81%).
- The law would not be good for employers (95%).
- The law would not be a good thing for American workers (73%).
- In general, employers are doing very little to prepare. Many (47%) were just “waiting and watching” (30% said they were “actively researching,” and only 10% are “communicating with employees”).
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500 Respondents
Nearly 500 HR professionals had participated in the survey as of March 5, 2009, when we pulled the results for this article. Nearly 75% said the law would hurt American workers. 95% said it would hurt American businesses, and 84% said it would hurt their own businesses. The results were pretty uniform across all employer sizes. Public employers were slightly less pessimistic, but comments suggested that this was influenced by the fact that many more of them are already unionized.
Unions Successful?
To add to the distress, 81% of managers think that unions would be successful in organizing workers if the law passes. However, as the question got closer to “home,” managers were less worried. While 64% think that unions would be successful in their own industries or their own regions, only 31% think unions would win in their own workplaces.
What does the difference between “all employers” and “their own workplace” mean? Are HR managers burying their heads in the sand, ignoring the risks? Do our readers treat workers so much better than the rest of the population that they don’t have to worry about unions? Are respondents wrong in their estimates of overall success? (I wish I knew, and I invite you to give me your opinions.)
SHRM Conference
The 2009 SHRM Employment Law and Legislative Update was being held in Washington, D.C., this week (March 9-11, 2009) as the bill was introduced. Nearly every speaker and every attendee clearly felt that this is one of the worst ideas to surface in years. It will make it much harder for American employers to compete, and would lead to lower employment as more employers move operations overseas.
Unfortunately for employers, nearly everyone thinks that it stands a serious chance of passage. The House of Representatives passed it last session, and, with additional Democratic members, it seems even more certain this session. In the Senate, the line up is less certain. As with the economic stimulus bill, the Democrats do not have the 60 votes needed to get the bill to a vote. Swing votes will be cast by Republicans in the East and Democrats in the West.
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Success?
One lobbyist I spoke with predicted that it would pass, a very scary idea, but I’m firmly aligned with the 94% of the poll respondents who think this is a thoroughly bad idea. If you live in one of the states that has a “swing vote” senator, you should be urging your employer to lobby your U.S. senator.
Anyway, that is my e-pinion. I’d love to hear yours (particularly about the disparity between “own workplace” and “all workplaces.” E-mail me at Rbrady@blr.com.
Survey Results
On balance, would the Employee Free Choice Act help or hurt the following groups:
Your results are consistent with what I’ve seen – most companies are not doing anything to defend against EFCA. Moreover, most small business owners do not know about EFCA, its elements, or how devastating it will be to their business, let alone the RESPECT Act, Patriot Employer Act, Working Families Flexibility Act, the push for the NLRA to recognize unions comprising of a minority of workers, further revisions to FMLA, revisions to independent contractor status, revisions to immigration laws, the list goes on. . .
This bill will be particularly harmful for the non-profit sector. One of our local small non-profits was unionized about 3 years ago and it has done nothing for the staff (except cost them dues out of their pay) and cost the organization a huge amount in legal fees.
The union did not “get” that non-profits do not determine how much money is available for salaries/benefits – that is determined by the grants/contracts awarded by the state/federal governments. The only thing the union managed to do was to disappoint workers who were promised better pay/benefits if they unionized and then that never happened. They have been trying to de-certify the union for two years now and it is has still not happened.
In a field where the pay rates (for the most part) do not match the for-profit sector – unions see an opportunity without understanding how it really works, or, if they do know – it is then seems clear that they are not there for the workers, just for the membership numbers and dues.
I know there are places where unions still make sense, but going about it the way this bill does not make sense for anyone (except the unions). We have a good workplace and great staff, but I also know that more pay is always an issue and unions know how to play on those issues and make promises that cannot always be kept.
Since we are hearing a lot of concern from potential clients about the passage of some form of EFCA, we conducted a <a href=”http://www.questaroig.com/National-Study-Suggests-16-of-Workers-Favor-Unionization.html“>study of employees to gain their perspective and to see what is motivating their decisions to unionize</a>.
Whether unionization is positive for business, the workforce, or the economy is a conversation best left to someone in a field other than mine. As an I/O Psychologist my interest lies in organizational success through the well-being of employees.
If no other good comes from EFCA, at least it is forcing companies to have an important conversation. In searching for ways to combat unionization, employers are realizing they need engaged employees – who feel communicated to, safe, valued, and a strong commitment to the company. I’ve been hearing a lot of chatter from the legal community about the need for ‘<a href=”http://www.questaroig.com/union_vulnerability.html“>union vulnerability audits</a>’ to ensure a satisfied workplace where unions are viewed unnecessary. Whether or not the EFCA passes I think employees (and organization) will benefit from the discussion.