The Employee Free Choice Act Would NOT Eliminate the Secret Ballot Election

The Obama administration will soon make every effort to pass a key piece of pro-union legislation geared at eliminating the Employer Intimidation and FEAR Act.

Union busting is by definition a practice, considered by some to be unethical, undertaken by an employer. It is the process which some employers may use to prevent their employees from joining a labor union. Another form of union busting is firing an already organized workforce and hiring non-union labor.

By law, employers aren't supposed to intimidate, coerce, or fire employees for exercising their democratic rights to form unions. Yet when faced with organizing drives, 25 percent of employers fire at least one pro-union worker.

Anti-union employers rarely go it alone - many seek the help of outside unionbusting consultants to stop workers from organizing a union, or to destroy one that's already in place. Under the current labor law system, employers often use a combination of legal and illegal methods to silence employees

Martin J. Levitt From "Confessions of a Union Buster" said it best when he said

"Union busting is a field populated by bullies on deceit. A campaign against a union is an assault on the individuals and a war on the truth. As such, it is a war without honor. The only way to bust a union is to lie, distort, manipulate, threaten, and always, always attack. The law does not hamper the process. Rather, it serves to suggest maneuvers and define strategies. Each "union prevention" campaign, as the wars are called, turns on a combined strategy of misinformation and personal attacks".
What is union busting?

During the organizing campaign management will hire a Labor Consultant (union buster) to run their anti-union campaign. The union buster will orchestrate management's anti-union campaign and make all decisions regarding the campaign. They are well aware of management's advantages, both logistically and legally, and will use these advantages to counter the pro-union campaign. Usually, you never see the union buster, but their presence will be felt. Their campaign is built on deceit and lies. They will spread rumors and mistruth about the union and organizing process.

The union avoidance industry consists of four main groups which frequently coordinate their activities: labor consultants, law firms, industrial psychologists, and strike management firms. Clients may seek out labor consultants based on experience, track record, language skills, and reputation.

American Rights at Work, a workers' advocacy group, describes union-busters this way:

Unionbusters operate under the radar intentionally. They often provide material and instructions behind the scenes while the employer's management and middle-management/supervisory staff carry out the actual communications with workers. In this way, the unionbuster does not deal directly with employees and, as a result, may avoid having to disclose financial reports about such activity to the U.S. Department of Labor. The unionbuster's name or firm is not used or referenced in the anti-union materials distributed to employees, further masking the unionbuster's involvement in orchestrating the anti-organizing campaign. More importantly, the anti-union company is rarely called on to divulge that it hired a unionbuster or reveal the specifics of such expenditures. [W]ithout a paper trail, unionbusters are hard to detect, underreported and not in the public eye.

One of the largest such firms, Labor Relations Institute (LRI), offers a "Guaranteed Winner Package." If the corporation doesn't "win"-that is, smash workers' efforts to form a union-it doesn't pay. An LRI promo states:

If your organization purchases an LRI Guaranteed Winner Package and the union becomes certified, Labor Relations Institute will refund the full cost of the package.

Some 82 percent of employers hire high-priced union-busting consultants, according to American Rights at Work. Further, when employers are faced with organizing campaigns:

30 percent fire pro-union workers.

49 percent threaten to close a worksite when workers try to form a union, but only 2 percent actually do.

51 percent coerce workers into opposing unions with bribery or favoritism.

91 percent force employees to attend one-on-one anti-union meetings with their supervisors.

What can I expect from the union buster?

Captive audience meetings. Management will hold captive audience meetings during work hours. They will have several unfounded reasons why they believe it is in the carrier's best interest to remain free from "outside interference".

One-on-one meetings. Supervisors will hold one-on-one meetings with individual pilots and try to convince them that they need to remain union free.

Letters. The union buster will prepare anti-union letters for management to distribute at the bases and to send to pilot's homes.

Anti-union committee. The union buster will help the carrier form an anti-union committee. They will provide the resources and make promises to those who join.

Sudden changes. Management will suddenly be interested about the pilot's issues and concerns. They may implement phony committees and grant wage and/or benefit improvements.

Union avoidance consultant Demaria tells his audience that the one surefire way to keep unions out is to run a decent shop. DeMaria says he has talked to union organizers, and "a common refrain I get is, '

"We don't organize employees, management does.'"
DeMaria recommends offering competitive wages (but not the highest wages around, he stresses, because you want discontented workers to leave) and seniority and peer grievance review provisions.

With a new administration in support of unions and workers rights it looks like The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace ( My Private Ballot ) which continues to Lie and spread misleading information about the Employee Free Choice Act stating repeatedly that the passing of the Employee Free Choice Act would eliminate a workers right to a secret ballot election, has taken a page out of Adolf Hitler's book when he stated

" Law of the Lie: " No matter how often a Lie is shown to be False, there will remain a percentage of people to be true. And the great masses of people will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one"

For More Information on EFCA please visit our websites and blog

http://www.employeefreechoiceactnow.org

http://efcanow.blogspot.com/

http://www.FreeChoiceActNow.Org

http://www.LaborUnionResources.Org

Tags: The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, My Private Ballot, Employee Free Choice Act, EFCA, Card Check, Union Busting, Union Avoidance