SAF this week signed onto a letter to Congress opposing the “Workplace Democracy Act” (WDA) (S. 2810 and H.R. 5728), the most recent iteration of the “Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).”
In 2006, SAF was an original member of a coalition which led the successful fight against ECFA, also known as “Card Check,” as noted in the March 27, 2009 Week In Review.
Among other things, EFCA would have replaced a worker’s right to a federally supervised private ballot election and replaced it with a process called “card check” where workers are forced to choose in public their preference for workplace representation. It also would have allowed government-appointed mediators to impose contracts and working conditions on workers and employers if the employer did not agree to union demands without workers being able to approve those conditions.
WDA not only contains the card check and arbitration provisions like EFCA, but also would codify the joint employer standard which would hold businesses accountable for the actions of companies with which they contract even though the business had no direct knowledge or control of the contracted company, abolish Right to Work protections nationwide, codify the Persuader rule which would have hampered employers in union elections, make it much harder for people to work as independent contractors, and eliminate any restrictions on unions targeting consumers and neutral companies (i.e., those not directly involved in the labor dispute).
No action has been scheduled for WDA in either the House or Senate nor is it likely any will be while the chambers remain under Republican leadership. Some speculate the bills were introduced in anticipation of the November mid-term elections and the possibility that Democrats may take control of one or both bodies.
