Fat Lady Sings EFCA? Not so fast...

There will be no singing because there is no fat lady. Anyone out there that thinks the Employee Free Choice Act is going away and that unions will crawl back under the rocks they came from hasn't been fighting unions for the last 30 years. Projections has been in the labor business since 1979 and I have been around since 1995, so I've heard it all and seen it all and will bet your future dues money that the battle with the EFCA is not over. Even now, there are rumors of a proposed "dual purpose" card to give workers a choice: choose to have secret ballot election or choose not to have any election and the employees might have the option to mail the card in (to whom I'm not sure... the union? the NLRB?)

All of this hoopla over EFCA in the past 18 months has been a wake-up call for so many companies in the U.S. Many are now coping with a paradigm shift (if you will) over how they communicate their union free position to their employees. No more "head in sand" or not saying the "u-word". In my opinion, it's a good thing: stop pretending that if you don't tell the kids about sex, they won't have it. The truth is always more effective. Good effective communication is never bad. Now, with this rumor of a "dual purpose card, I can assure you, unions are going to keep trying to organize your employees. There are millions -if not billions- of dollars at stake for them and the employees will continue to be the primary source of income. Nothing is going to change this fact.

I urge you to take advantage of this political and union confusion without delay and develop a communications strategy that keeps you in the driver's seat. Union business-as-usual is not something that you should be unprepared for. Pull your key people together, speak with your labor attorney and talk with communication experts who have been around the block a few times in rolling out the best labor relations strategy in the most effective manner.