| Newspaper Ad Clears Misconceptions About the Employee Free Choice Act |
The Employee Free Choice Act is common sense federal legislation that would give America's workers a fair and simple path to form a union so they can earn better wages, health benefits and improved working conditions. Corporate America's latest pretext for opposing the bill? Big business alleges it eliminates the option of holding a "secret ballot" union election. Our latest newspaper ad, running in The Hill, Roll Call, and Politico, lays out the facts. FACT: The Employee Free Choice Act will not eliminate a worker’s right to a secret ballot. This legislation would put the choice of how workers form unions in workers’ hands, not big corporations. Workers can form a union when a majority signs up or can still choose to have a secret ballot election if they want one. FACT: U.S. law has permitted workers to form a union upon a showing of majority support since 1935. But since then, the law has been weakened, giving employers the power to require workers to participate in a secret ballot election even after a majority show support for a union. The Employee Free Choice Act would restore the right to use majority sign-up to millions of Americans. FACT: Workers are routinely subjected to employer intimidation when they try to form a union. During union organizing campaigns, over 94% of employers resist their workers’ efforts to form unions, 51% of employers illegally threaten to close down a worksite when employees try to form a union, and 30% even fire union supporters. FACT: Laws in 13 states grant workers the right to choose majority sign-up as a fair and direct method of forming a union. And, since 2003, more than half a million Americans formed unions through majority sign-up–including workers at companies like Kaiser Permanente, UPS Freight, and AT&T. |