The Employee Free Choice Act of 2009 is a legislative proposal introduced in both chambers of the U.S. Congress in March 2009. An identical bill was introduced in 2007, during the Bush Administration, where it stalled in the Senate after passing in the House of Representatives in 2008.
EFCA has three main components:
- It would allow unions to organize and represent workers by simply getting a majority of workers in the proposed bargaining unit to sign a union authorization card – without having to hold a secret ballot election.
- It would require a government-appointed third party to intervene if the employer and the union fail to agree on an initial contract after 90 days of negotiations and one party refers the matter to mediation, and to impose a binding contract for up to 2 years, if no agreement is reached after 30 days of mediation.
- It would impose several additional new financial penalties on employers (but not on unions) found guilty of unfair labor practices during the union organizing and first contract negotiating periods.
Before deciding if you think these changes are good or bad, it may be helpful to be sure you understand how the current union organizing process works – and exactly how EFCA would change that process.
CLICK HERE to learn more details about exactly what will change under EFCA.