Media Matters has taken it upon itself to criticize our recent video highlighting the problems with the government-imposed contracts that the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) forces on workers and businesses. You can see the video here: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8kEwUDn7wo[/youtube] In the video Rian Wathen, formerly of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) local 700 in Indianapolis, explains how permitting the government to impose contracts would imbalance negotiations and give unions every incentive to send the contract to the government to write. He should know. After working as the local’s Organizing …
The Washington Post editorialized today in favor of a compromise on card-check, including snap elections or mandatory union access to company premises, because – they argue – the current process too heavily favors management. They also criticized the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace for refusing to admit this. So here is a question for the Washington Post: If the current process heavily favors management, why did unions win over two-thirds of organizing elections last year? In fact, as I have written before, labor law heavily tilts the scales in favor …
Sen. Reid has said he wants the Senate to vote on the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) this summer. The bill, Big Labor’s highest legislative priority, effectively eliminates secret ballot organizing elections. Instead of letting workers decide whether or not they want union representation in the privacy of the voting booth, EFCA requires workers to publicly announce their choice in front of union organizers. How does the AFL-CIO justify getting rid of secret ballots? They claim the “system for forming unions is broken” because “employers routinely harass, intimidate, coerce …
Even as the Detroit automakers are asking Congress for a taxpayer bailout, the Detroit News reports that Ford Motor Co. is operating highly automated, highly integrated, and highly profitable auto plants — in Brazil. They employ state of the art technology and techniques to produce high-quality vehicles: This state-of-the-art manufacturing complex in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia is not only the centerpiece of Ford’s Brazilian turnaround plan, it is also one of the most advanced automobile plants in the world. It is more automated than many of Ford’s U.S. …
Congress is considering increasing the length of time unemployed workers can collect unemployment insurance (UI) benefits. Normally unemployed workers can collect UI benefits for up to 26 weeks. Congress changed the law to allow 39 weeks of benefits. Now many in Congress want to allow 46 weeks of benefits. One of the reasons Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) give for this change is the fact that long-term unemployment has increased. This is true: The number of workers unemployed for more than 26 weeks has …
Federal employees receive up to 12 weeks a year of unpaid parental leave for the birth of a new child, adoption or foster child care, and they can take paid sick or vacation leave during that time. The House is set to vote on H.R. 5781, the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act, which converts eight of those 12 weeks of unpaid leave into paid leave. Congress understandably wants to ease the tension between work and family for new parents, but federal employees already receive higher pay and more generous …
