What is the Employee Free Choice Act?

The Employee Free Choice Act is a piece of legislation proposed on a federal level that will help working people restore human rights to the workplace. This legislation would.....

• Allow workers to form a union after a majority of workers signed cards stating that they want to be part of a union
• Add real penalties for firing and intimidating workers during organizing campaigns
• Allow for an arbitrator to help decide what is fair when workers reach an impasse with their employers after 6 months.

What is wrong with the current system?

The current system for forming unions and bargaining is broken. Every day, corporations deny employees the freedom to decide for themselves whether to form unions to bargain for a better life. They routinely intimidate, harass, coerce and even fire people who try to organize unions, and the current penalties for breaking labor laws are so insignificant that many companies treat them as just another cost of doing business

• Employers illegally fire workers in 25% of private-sector organizing campaigns;
• 78% of employers require supervisors to deliver anti-union messages to the workers whose jobs and pay they control;
• Even after workers successfully form a union, they can’t get a contract one third of the time.
• In 91% of the petitions filed to form a union with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) a majority of workers indicated they wanted a union before the process began. In several cases, workers demonstrated more than 80% support. In stark contrast, unions were victorious in only 31% of the campaigns in which they filed a petition.
• Corporations give CEOs contracts that protect their pay and benefits—but they deny employees the same opportunity.

Why do we need it?

Working people are struggling to make ends meet and our middle class is disappearing.  The best opportunity working men and women have to get ahead economically is by uniting with co-workers to bargain with their employers for better wages and benefits.

• Union workers earn 30% more than people who are not union members, they are 63% more likely to have employer provided health care, and they are 386% more likely to have guaranteed pensions.  With a free choice to join unions, workers can bargain for better pay and benefits, and build a better life for their families.
• The whole community benefits when working people form unions. It’s not a coincidence that as union membership has declined; we’ve seen a shrinking middle class, more low-paying jobs, and a huge increase in the number of people without health insurance.
• Strong unions set a pay standard that nonunion employers follow. For example, a high school graduate whose workplace is not unionized but whose industry is 25% unionized is paid 5% more than similar workers in less unionized industries.  Higher levels of union membership help raise living standards for all workers.
• States where many workers are union members have lower poverty rates, better schools, more people with health insurance, and less crime than states where few people are union members.  Social Security, Medicare, the Civil Rights Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act - unions united workers to win each of these important landmarks in American policy.  Unions are an organized voice for poor and middle-class families that advocate for laws and policies that benefit us all.

We Need Your Help to Make This a Reality!

• Take the pledge Add your name and help get a million people to support this important effort, sign a card or click here to do it online.
• Recruit people in your workplace to join the campaign.
• Volunteer to help with actions. Get your church, fellow students, community group or friends involved.
• Got a Story? We re looking for stories of workers fighting for justice on the job.  Send us your story at jwj@massjwj.net.

EFCA Facts and Resources