Topic: Union Organizing & EFCA

With all the recent news out of Washington focused first on health care reform, then financial reform, you may be wondering what has happened to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which was proposed by Congress last year. The short answer is that while EFCA was certainly pushed aside by the health care and financial reform efforts, it is by no means dead.

Media coverage of EFCA is swinging from one extreme to the other, with the headlines announcing EFCA’s assured passage, or its certain death. With all this back and forth, the real issue is being missed - our new Administration’s clear support for unions and the DOL’s resilient determination to make union organizing easier.

Obama has made it clear that he sees unions as part of the solution to our current recession, and our new Labor Secretary, Hilda Solis, has pronounced that unions are today, ‘more important than ever.’

Employers are taking note of these strong sentiments.

As predicted, organized labor, the White House, and members of Congress used the symbolism of Labor Day to re-energize discussions about the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). The momentum behind EFCA increased significantly this past week, when President Obama and other high-profile policy makers spoke at the AFL-CIO’s convention in Pittsburgh.

As American workers celebrated Labor Day on September 7th, both President Obama and the AFL-CIO took the opportunity to share their respective workplace agendas.

Obama spoke at an AFL-CIO picnic in Cincinnati, Ohio, and, as expected, touted the pro-worker accomplishments of his Administration, including passage of the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and the appointment of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. Obama also used the occasion to reiterate his long-standing support of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) currently pending in Congress.

As most people who read this blog already know, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is pending in Congress. It’s designed to make it easier for unions to organize employees, and to get quick pro-labor contracts. While it’s unlikely that EFCA will pass in its current form, the momentum and support is in place to get a compromise version passed in the coming months - and Obama has already said he’d sign it if it comes to his desk.

If you’d like to learn more, check out ELT’s June podcast on why EFCA is driving a heavy wave of critical union awareness training for managers.