EFCA must not pass

[Jam Stunna]

AFL-CIO supports EFCA
The Heritage Foundation does not support EFCA

For those who are unaware, EFCA stands for the Employee Free Choice Act. Basically, it will change the laws regarding how a business becomes a union shop. Instead of balloting, there will be a card-check system, which once there are 50% +1 pro-union cards, the shop is now unionized.

The potential abuses here should be rather self-evident. It's funny, because I'm generally pro-union (although I have been rethinking that position lately), and I think this is an absolutely terrible bill.

Despite what many people may think, professional unions are a BUSINESS. They do not have your best interest at heart; just like any business, they seek to maximize profit and political influence, and this bill is a blatant example of that. This is a de facto elimination of the secret ballot, and when union officials and other workers see that you haven't turned in a pro-union card, what do you think will happen?

Get the romanticized image of workers fighting for their rights out of your head, because those days are gone. AFL-CIO, Teamsters, etc. all want everyone paying union dues because it lines their wallets. This bill is to try and make us ALL union members, even if we don't want to be.

I usually don't post my opinions right off the bat, but I'm pretty dead set against this one.

 

[Crimson King]

The problem with an open system like this: anyone who dissents will be obvious and coerced to change their mind or blackballed.

By having every business easily converted to unions, you are killing the reason for competition. If I am in a job where a position opens up that grants me $10,000 more per year, but to get it, I have to work off the clock, go the extra mile, whatever, then I will do that to get it and the company benefits. If there is a position like that in a union ran business, instead of going through those hoops, I can walk into my boss's office, tell him that I will strike if I don't get this raise, and out of the realistic fear that I can incite a strike, he will give it to me. There is also the issue that the low-end wages will raise really high.

Don't even get me started on unskilled unions.

 

[Mediocre]

I actually agree with both Eric and Jam on this one, which surprises me quite a bit. This is just a power grab, as far as I can tell.

The one thing I do have a problem with is Eric's apparent sentiment that unions are just for-profit and for-power organizations. I agree that today that is largely the case, but there have been times in history when unions were necessary for workers to simply get a fair deal.

However, that was a long time ago, and while I still favor the concept of unions, the current reality is that they are mostly a drain on the system with not much actual benefit for the workers.

I'm not really sure if unions can ever be trimmed down to the point where they are actually functional again, given the power and influence they have accumulated. Sadly, I think they're here to stay, at this point.

 

[Amide]

I personally don't have much of a say in this issue, but since my dad is a huge supporter of EFCA, and it's his job to encourage support, I asked his opinion on the issue.

He said that if workers want to join a union now, the employer decides how the process is set up. Employers are usually anti union, and they usually choose the path of secret ballot. This seems fairest, but it actually gives the chance for employers and other management figures to threaten workers to vote no on the ballot. Since unions are for groups of employees, shouldn't they be the basis for the start of a union? And if the employees decide to go for the secret ballot route, then they can.

I actually agree with you guys though, but it can help to see a different perspective.

 

[cman]

This seems fairest, but it actually gives the chance for employers and other management figures to threaten workers to vote no on the ballot.

This needs some explaining, because i don't see the logical jump from secret to known.