EFCA This Fall? No Binding Arbitration?

We have a couple new stories on EFCA this week that are worth mentioning. The first is from Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), who as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is at the center of the issue.

Harkin went on the Bill Press Radio Show and said he was pushing for a vote this fall saying that passing EFCA is “something we have to do.” Harkin sounded an optimistic tone that they have the votes to pass the controversial legislation. Adding to the optimism was the fact that Massachusetts Democrats were able to quickly change a law (that they passed five years ago) to give the governor power to appoint an interim Senator. Interim Sen. Paul Kirk, once again, gives the Democrats 60 votes in the Senate.

Another Democrat- Evan Bayh of Indiana- recently did an interview where he talked about EFCA and made a couple key points. Bayh said he is for some sort of labor law reform, and seemed to indicate support for “quickie” elections. Bayh doesn’t think that binding arbitration, another controversial but less known part of the bill, will pass. Bayh was an original co-sponsor of the legislation, but seems to be on the compromise side of things along with several other moderate Democrats. Here is a quote from Bayh:

Look, if you can preserve the secret ballot, have reasonably prompt elections, meaningful penalties for those few bad actors out there, then there is some incentive for people to bargain in good faith.

Bayh said that many in the business community who he has spoken with would support this type of bill, and he thinks that labor would support it as well.

Unions Are Using Social Media To Talk To Your Workers

The AFL-CIO had a blog post this morning about how social media is helping organize workers in the 21st century. Social media generally refers to places like Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Squidoo, etc.

What this new media means is that union organizers have much greater access to your employees than ever before. Steve Shelby, an organizer for IBEW, set up a MySpace page and handed out one flier directing workers to that page. Rather than having to hand out hundreds of fliers or pamphlets everyday, Shelby was able to get the employees attention and regularly update his site.

Social media is fast, cheap, and reaches a greater audience.

The unions have also taken kindly to social media in an effort to reach out to young workers who are less likely to belong to a union then there father or grandfather. This is similar to a strategy Barack Obama developed to much success during the 2008 presidential campaign. By finding young workers at the sites they frequent, the unions are trying to persuade them to join their cause.

At the same time, companies can follow a similar strategy is delivering their message. Projections recently wrote about this topic and how you can use social networking to your advantage. And remember; don’t wait until it’s too late to start communicating with employees.

Do You Know What 5 The Highly Contagious Employee Communication Illnesses Are?

You will after you read the latest article from Projections.

The Path to Nowhere, Union-style

Picture a map in your head (any map will do) and now picture Unions all over it. Because that's where the Unions are in terms of what they are doing right now--"ALL OVER THE MAP".

--New AFL-CIO leader. Sweeney goes out compromising on the EFCA and Trumka comes in not talking about any compromises. They've only worked together for 14 or so years...

--Spectre unveils a revised EFCA and now shocking 3 days later, no one is reporting anything about it. Is it even real? Spectre says it will pass before year-end. Others say Healthcare first and that's not looking to good either.

--Andy Stern has pissed off everybody. I'm not sure his own family talks to him.

--Change to Win implodes. UNITE HERE announced (today) that it is switching back to the AFL-CIO. Isn't UNITE HERE breaking up themselves? Will other unions follow suit (Laborers), leaving Andy all alone?

--Unionized UPS battles non-union FedEx but not in the marketplace but rather in Congress. Boo-hoo, it's not fair...FedEx is under the Railway Labor Act and we are not, our costs are higher, we can't compete fairly. Today's Headline: UPS Airline Mechanics Authorize Strike It makes you feel sorry for UPS-- doesn't it....no maybe not.

--Want to see Obama's speech regarding the EFCA at the AFL-CIO convention on Monday, brace yourselves--here it is. "That's why I stand behind the Employee Free Choice Act...(APPLAUSE)...because if a majority of workers want a union, they should get a union." That was it, I'm not kidding, not one other mention of the Employee Free Choice Act.

--Healthcare Reform? AFL-CIO hates its own version of the bill that came out yesterday from the Senate Finance Committee. Sweeney is quoted as saying that it "absolutely fails" to meet basic reform needs.

--Gallup Poll Shocker. Not really. 66% of Americans continue to believe unions were beneficial to their own members, but only 48% (a record low, down from 59% last year) approved of unions.

--Not worried about the EFCA having an effect your business yet? Don't fret, you've got Executive Order 13496 for all Federal Contractors, Project Labor Agreements (PLA) for the construction industry, eliminating Right to Work, unions and the use of Email, Social Media and direct employee access, the power of the NLRB itself regarding Card Check, Contract Arbitration, Quick Elections and increased penalties.

All just to name a few. What is your companies map to safety from all of this lunacy?

Democrats Respond To Specter’s Claim of Deal on EFCA

When Sen. Arlen Specter told a crowd of supporters at the AFL-CIO annual convention that he engineered a compromise on EFCA, he appears to have been speaking for himself. Not only did Specter claim to have a deal, but he said that it had the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. This was news to many key Democrats, who have distanced themselves from Specter’s statement.

Sen. Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat who opposed the card-check provision and has been working on a compromise, said no deal has been made.

“We have had real good discussions. As they say, frank and honest discussion. I think we have made real progress and narrowed somewhat of the differences between organized labor and the business community. We are not quite there yet. My hope is we will finish what we have started.”

Carper added that those working on a deal will re-start talks later this fall.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who recently said the bill was dead for the year, added that he was “not aware” of any deal. The number two Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin, said negotiations were continuing and that he expects Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) to make an announcement when a deal is reached.

Moderate Democrats such as Senators Mary Landrieu (of Louisiana), Kay Hagan (of North Carolina) and Blanche Lincoln (of Arkansas) were equally shocked by Specter’s announcement and said they have not heard of anything, and did not commit to anything.

Do We Have Any More Clarification on EFCA?

EFCA’s future has been all over the map lately, and as the AFL-CIO annual conference wraps up it looks like there are still more questions than answers.

Seeking to rally labor to his side for his 2010 re-election, Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) made the bold announcement yesterday that he has worked to reach a compromise on the Employee Free Choice Act that has 60 supporters in the Senate. Specter’s EFCA looks like this:

- No card check, but an expedited election process following the collection of authorization cards
- Unions would receive guaranteed access to employees if employers hold mandatory meetings
- Mandatory arbitration similar to Major League Baseball where a mediator chooses between the “last best offer” each side offers
- Penalties would triple what they are today for companies that violate labor law (unions are exempt)

Key Senators such as Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Ben Nelson of Nebraska have not confirmed their support for this bill. Specter said he met with them and they gave him the “impression” they would vote for cloture. Apparently that is how Specter came up with the 60 supposed supporters.

That said, it looks like labor was a little surprised and they have not endorsed it:

Incoming AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said card check legislation was still in play. The chairman of AFL-CIO's organizing committee, Larry Cohen, said that until there were 60 Democratic-controlled votes in the Senate, “We don't even want to finalize a bill, because who are we discussing it with?”

It looks like they won’t be saying much until there is a replacement for the late Ted Kennedy in the Senate. Of course, the chance of Kennedy’s successor supporting EFCA stands around 99.9 percent.

Unions and Healthcare

Here is a preview of our latest informative whitepaper on union organizing in the health care industry:

Though our nation's economy has recently lost millions of jobs, the health care industry has continued to add them. Not surprisingly, unions are eager to sign up health care workers. In the last 10 years, the rate of union wins in the health care industry has grown faster than the national average. Unions are uniting to lobby for labor-friendly legislation to promote increased union membership in the health care sector.

In addition to traditional organizing, health care union organizers are using more radical corporate campaigns that target hospital donors, shareholders, community groups, and even patients. The unions push these target groups to put pressure on hospital owners to allow unions to organize their employees. Many critics have argued that some of these agreements with employers have greatly limited workers' power and emphasized the union's cooperation with management.

Read the rest of this article here.

Harry Reid's Latest On EFCA

Last time we heard from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, he said that the Senate has no plans to bring the Employee Free Choice Act to the floor for a vote (at least not anytime soon). Reid said they had other things they are working on and did not have time to bring it up.

Yet last weekend, Reid delivered a video message to the AFL-CIO annual conference and touched on the pending legislation. This time he said: "I’m as committed today as ever to passing the Employee Free Choice Act and making it law."

The AFL-CIO blog took that to mean that Reid wants to "swiftly pass" EFCA. However, Reid chose his words carefully. He said he is committed to the bills passage- which we should never have doubted- but he did not go into any detail about when.

Was this just an olive branch to keep unions happy while the bill sits in waiting or have the Democrats decided to move forward with EFCA?

Goodbye John Sweeney, it's been a hoot!

Unions, God love them...because no else does. At least according to a Gallup poll from last Thursday that found a record low of Americans, 48%, approved of unions. Down from 59% last year.

In just 10 days, on September 16th, John Sweeney' s rein will be over and Richard Trumka, the AFL-CIO's secretary-treasurer will take over. You would think no big changes are really going to occur with the new apple falling right off the same same union tree. Leave it to Sweeney to go out with yet even more controversy proving that the unions themselves are their own worst enemy.

Straight from the horse's mouth, via The New York Times (article by Steve Greenhouse), comes this headline from Saturday's paper, "Union Head Would Back Bill (EFCA) Without Card Check". In it, Sweeney says that he "could live with" fast or snap elections," as long as there is a "fair process that protects workers against anti-union intimidation by employers and eliminates the threats to workers."

Randel Johnson, Senior Vice-President of the United States Chamber of Commerce, says it best, "It still begs the question, what is wrong with the existing secret ballot process?"

By the way, the "fast or snap elections" that Sweeney "could live with" with are 5 or 10 day elections from the time a petition is filed for an election. Don't misunderstand him, he still wants binding arbitration and stiffer penalties against management only.

This announcement by Sweeney while on his way out the door is polar opposite of all of the other labor leaders on the planet, including incoming President Trumka... who I'm sure is muttering, "What the hell is Sweeney thinking?"

What does all of this zaniness mean for every corporation in America? Luckily, it's yet another opportunity to stay one step ahead of the unions that are marching on facilities all over the U.S. No matter how much we protest and rally and complain, a bad day for corporate America is coming, and I don't think anyone can stop it. Organized labor bought President Obama and they own a majority stake in Congress.

The Employee Free Choice Act, as it is proposed now with the Card-Check provision, or a version with Snap or 5-10 Day Elections makes no difference. Why? Because any of the "compromises" are really, really bad for all businesses.

Can you stop the EFCA from coming? No you can't. No more than the Grinch could stop Christmas from coming. But you can be better prepared for any of the possibilities that are going to unfold. Preparation comes now, by the way, not when the lions are at the door. Underground card-checks by design are "underground" for a reason, and then you are unionized or (if option two makes you feel better), you have 5 days to an election. Are you prepared for either scenario?

Corporate America is historically reactive and not proactive. In the battle to remain union free, I can tell you that proactive is cheaper, more effective, and longer lasting than any reactive situation. I have literally assisted thousands of companies in the reactive mode with great success and probably only a tenth of that number via proactive methods.

With all this, I'm trying to impress upon you that the EFCA is a game changer. Projections is busy right now, like Santa's elves at the North Pole, crafting all the reactive campaign videos and websites you will need for a shorter election and all the Essentials of union information for employees to vote wisely. Rest assured, if you become a target, you're in good hands... but why not take control now? Why wait until an election or card-check count to panic and attempt to salvage a dire situation? Take advantage of the union's confusion and congressional time-delays (healthcare, bailouts, cash for clunkers, Afghanistan, etc.) to get prepared now, so when the time comes, you will know that you have done all that you can. The power to save the company will ironically fall into the same hands the unions think will hand it over to them: your supervisors and employees.

One last thing: No one cares as much about the EFCA as you do. Politicians don't care. Your employees don't care. The public does not care. Only you care, and only you have the power to do something about it - and I can help.

Don't believe me? Ask Sweeney, he hates me.

EFCA Notes

Gallup has been polling the popularity of unions since the 1930s. Generally speaking, unions poll favorably well. They peaked at about a 75 percent approval rating in the late-1950s, but have held steady with around 60 percent or more of Americans approving until this latest poll.

In fact, just one year ago 59 percent of Americans gave unions the thumbs up. Today, they have hit an all-time low of 48 percent (see the poll results here). While approval from Republicans and Democrats have seen modest drops, Independents support of labor fell nearly 20 point in the course of the year (from 63 to 44 percent).

Further, Americans are split on the question of whether unions hurt the economy. Just five years ago, an overwhelming majority thought unions were a good thing. That is not the case today. Gallup noted that unions popularity took a hit in light of the US auto industry collapse.

I would also argue that there is somewhat of a backlash forming against unions for the simple fact that we have a president who is unapologetic in his never-ending support for them. There is a perception that they are getting special preference, while everyday Americans (the 88 percent who don’t carry a union card) are being hung out to dry.

And finally, I see the large drop of support among Independents as a sign that EFCA is not too popular. This is the centerpiece of today’s labor movement (although healthcare has taken a lot of their attention). This is the biggest labor issue in years, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that there approval is going down at the same time.

Labor Leader OKs EFCA Compromise

Richard Trumka, the incoming AFL-CIO president, has apparently given the green light to an EFCA compromise without the card check provision:

In tacit acknowledgement of what it will take to get the bill (EFCA) moving again in Congress, the union leader showed far more flexibility (than healthcare). He told reporters that a compromise bill currently being negotiated by moderate Democrats in the Senate would be acceptable even if it didn't include the controversial “card check” option that would let workers opt for a union simply by signing off on a card.

In a significant concession to the demands of business, he said the AFL-CIO would back a bill even if it allowed employers to require a secret ballot election before a union can be certified, as is required under existing law. Including the controversial
card-check provision “may or may not be” critical to the union, Trumka said.

I think it is significant that Trumka is openly admitting this. He still holds out hope that a bill will pass soon, but he might want to check with the Senate Majority Leader on that.

No Republican Support

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) recently told reporters that no Republicans will support EFCA as it currently stands. He did make a point of saying that they would not “support legislation that would allow workers to join a union by signing cards instead of voting in a secret-ballot election.”

Of course, card check looks like it would not be part of a compromise, and McConnell did not touch on that. It would be interesting to know if any moderate or union state Republicans would back the compromise.

How Benefits Communication Can Keep You Union Free

A very good article appeared in Workforce Management today about the steps companies are taking to communicate there current benefits programs to employees. This topic has regained relevance as companies begin to prepare for more union activity if and when EFCA passes.

From Workforce:

Too often employees aren’t aware of all the benefits that their employers offer them, making unions’ claims of a better life all the more appealing, says Joseph Lazzarotti, a partner in the benefits group of Jackson Lewis. “Unions are just making these general statements that if employees join, their lives will be better without anything on the other side coming from the employers,” he says.

And with retirement benefits and health care issues of such great concern to employees given the economic downturn, union organizing efforts have really focused on benefits, experts say.

As a result the number of companies that are stepping up their communications efforts around benefits is skyrocketing, says Steve Peterson, a principal in the communications practice at Hewitt Associates. While Hewitt had a handful of firms doing this a few months ago, it now has more than 20 companies adopting these strategies—many of which have just started in the past few weeks, Peterson says.

“This is definitely one of the hottest things we have seen for the year,” he says.

This is very similar to what we have been saying at Projections for some time, and we published this article about a month ago on the same topic:

In an unstable market, it is critical for organizations to leverage their resources to ensure that the business remains viable and successful. An often overlooked resource that can increase employee satisfaction and help build a positive brand image in the marketplace is employee benefits. The key to leveraging employee benefits is a well-developed benefits communication strategy.

In their seventh annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends, MetLife found that employees are placing a higher emphasis on their benefits package than in recent years. In fact, “41 percent of surveyed employees consider workplace benefits to be the foundation of their personal safety net.” Yet, IOMA, a provider of business management information and products, states that employers only spend a small fraction of their benefits budget to ensure that “the whys and hows of their [benefit] plan’s design, its unique features, and its benefits to the employee” are communicated to employees. With this in mind, it is vital for organizations to effectively communicate benefits to employees.

The bottom line of any organization is to be profitable and satisfy consumer needs. These goals should not be viewed separately from HR, Labor Relations, and employee satisfaction goals. By providing detailed, easily accessible benefits information throughout the year, organizations can improve employee loyalty and job satisfaction, which helps companies recruit and retain top talent—ultimately, impacting the organization’s bottom line.

You can read the entire article here, and from there you can learn more about Projections and the custom benefits communication that can be designed for your company.