The St. Tammany West Chamber of Commerce had a remarkable opportunity last month to meet face to face with Louisiana senators and congressmen on Capitol Hill to adamantly oppose legislation that would effectively eliminate workers’ rights to a private ballot election in union organizing drives.
The misnamed “Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA),” commonly known as “card check,” would not only strip workers of a private vote, the bill would also grant government arbitrators new powers to dictate private sector wages and working conditions, and would impose one-sided penalties on employers, but not unions, for misconduct during union organizing efforts.
Abiding by our mission to represent the St. Tammany West business community and working in full collaboration with our region, representatives of our chamber were among the nearly 200 business leaders from Louisiana, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Nebraska that met with their delegations in Washington, D.C. in an effort to kill this bill.
Along with nearly 30 other Louisianans in the U.S. Chamber sponsored fly-in, our group met with Congressmen Charles Boustany, Steve Scalise, Joseph Cao, and Charles Melancon’s designee, Senators David Vitter and Mary Landrieu, as well as a staff member of Senator Landrieu’s Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship to share our immense concerns regarding the passage of the card check bill.
At the time of our meeting, Congressman Melancon was in support of EFCA, Senator Vitter and Congressmen Scalise, Cao and Boustany were opposed, and Senator Landrieu was undecided. In the last several weeks we have called on our members to show their opposition of this bill due to the dire consequences it could have on businesses, including the following:
· Employees Lose Their Free Choice of a Secret Ballot
First, the EFCA eliminates the employee’s right to a government-run secret election ballot to state whether or not the employee agrees to allow a union to represent all employees collectively when dealing with terms and conditions of employment.
· Contract Terms May Be Determined Through Mandatory Arbitration
Second, the Act potentially eliminates employees’ rights to approve the contract terms negotiated with their employer by union representatives. EFCA provides that once a union is designated the representative of the employees, the employer must come to terms under its first contract with the union within 120 days, and failing to do so will result in the terms and conditions of the contract being determined by a government appointed arbitrator. An arbitrator will decide how much money an employee will make, what benefits an employee will receive, what percentage of benefits the employer must pay, and what the conditions of work will be for a term of two years. The employees will lose their right to ratify the contract, and the employer will lose its right to run its business in a profitable and successful manner.
· Employers Will Be Subjected To Greater Penalties
EFCA calls for extensively larger monetary penalties for employers who violate employees’ rights under the Act. Unfortunately, the Act, as currently presented, lacks fairness. There are no increases in penalties for unions.
At the time this article was written, the EFCA had been introduced in both the House and Senate, but without a final vote. Though we wish this bill was never introduced, the situation lent itself to an opportunity to display the spirited cooperation not only among our members, but with other leading regional organizations including Greater New Orleans, Inc., Northshore Business Council, Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI), and the River Region, Bossier City, and Shreveport Chambers of Commerce. Our congressmen and senators were able to see our collaboration first hand.
Small business owner Sandy Hughes of Hughes-Consulting and a member of our delegation that traveled to Washington, D.C. stated, “I found this trip to be a tremendous learning experience. It’s made me a wiser American.” James Vitrano of Blue Williams, LLP added, “I have never been prouder of St. Tammany.”
Our group also included Allen Churchill, Wachovia Securities; James Person, St. Tammany Parish Hospital; Pat Brister, Northshore Business Council; Maura Donahue, DonahueFavret Contractors; and Emily Miller, our chamber’s Communications Coordinator.