Chamber of Commerce Aims to Block EFCA

July 24, 2008 - Seeking to preserve an environment that has allowed employers to ignore labor laws and block lawful organizing drives for years, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this week announced a multimillion dollar campaign to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800, S. 1041).

Claiming to oppose what it calls “labor’s anti-growth agenda,” the nation’s largest business lobbying organization predicted its “nationwide, multimillion dollar effort will galvanize small business owners, workers, community leaders, and citizens to preserve the rights and freedoms of Americans in the workplace.”

Oh, really? Under the current National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), union organizers face an overwhelming pro-business, anti-worker bias that has allowed corporations to routinely intimidate, harass, coerce and even fire workers who try to form unions and bargain for economic well-being.

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would establish stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form a union and during first-contract negotiations and providing mediation and arbitration for first-contract disputes. Most importantly, EFCA would allow employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation.