Opposition_Paper

Employee Free Choice Act As a middle class Americans those who are already in a union, may not be greatly affected by the passing of the Free Choice Act. Just because families may not be affected by a change in the way unions become created that is not to say that friends or other family members may be affected by the change from the National Labor Relations Board to the Employee Free Choice Act. The reason why this issue is important now is because of its highest ranking supporter President Barak Obama. During the presidential race last year, President Obama stated being in support of the Employee Free Choice Act, and if he should be elected President of the United States he would make that the law of the land. Staying true to his word, this year in March the Employee Free Choice Act has been left to Congress to decide its fate. The following will explain the pros and cons of the Employee Free Choice Act and its supports. The action plan of the Free Choice Act is to make it easier for union organizers to create and start a union. There is no doubt that unions help American workers at an unprecedented level before they were created, but before union working conditions for American workers were atrocious. Companies had a great advantage over workers; relative wages were very low, working hours was very high and working conditions were almost hazardous. In places such as; mines or construction, safety precautions for workers were almost nonexistent, and child labor was commonly known before unions. With the presence of unions, the standard of living for American workers, at the work place, dramatically increased. Union regulations implement an age limit for employment, that wages are adequate to job descriptions, and each employee follow Labor laws. In America illegal immigration, has caused a threat to employment opportunities, as some employers may choose to hire an illegal immigrant versus citizens to save on labor cost. Unions help protect American workers from being undercut and ensuring their wages secured. Although unions may seem beneficial there is a downside to this concept. Part of the rules of being in a union is that one must pay union dues, which are deducted from workers salaries. There are countless scandals of union bosses racketeering, paying themselves hundreds of thousands while the medium income of their American union workers is less then a hundred thousand dollars. Unions are victims of their own success, when companies have their own unions their overhead increases due to increase of wages from the unions. The overhead increase will cause company’s total cost to increase leading them to mark-ups causing products to increase. Overall the increases may cause a business’ sales and revenues to decreases causing them to fail, file bankrupt; leaving people unemployed. The Employee Free Choice Act, union organizers would just need to pressure enough people to start a union. The Employee Free Choice Act is anything but a free choice for workers faced with the decision to join a union or not. Under the Employee Free Choice Act if a majority of workers sign a petition for a union card, this is enough to start a union. But under the current law there is an extra necessary step needed to make a union in a company official, the right to a private vote. Under the current law, once 30 % of the company’s work force has signed its union cards then the next step is that a secret vote is held. The secret vote is crucial so that a company’s employee can make an informed decision without pressure or fear of retribution. “Still, the historic election of Obama gave rise to a new level of optimism and expectations among the labor movement, which viewed the confluence of a Democratic president, a Democratic congress and anti-Bush backlash as its window of opportunity for labor reform--particularly passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)” (Cable, 2010). Although the Democratic house is in favor of the Free Choice Act, it is a main concern of various interest groups because of the effect that it is believed to have on American jobs. With congressional elections later in November, the belief that the Employee Free Choice Act will be singed is probable it will not. (Cable, 2010) Overall, the choice to be represented by a union is up to the American worker. Having to contribute to union dues is another form of financially contributing to the spending of so called “representation”. Although there are benefits of being part of a union because of employment security, is it guaranteed' There are various occasions when contracts are not renewed that you have employees protesting for various reasons, such as, medical benefits, cost of living increase. The protest can last months and who supports families in the mean time' Reference Cable, J. (April 2010). Is EFCA's time now' With the Obama administration focused on the economy and health care reform, there's been little movement on the employee free choice act. Still, unions see the next three years as their window of opportunity.  Industry Week, 259, 4. p.26(3). Retrieved July 01, 2010, from General OneFile via Gale: http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com/gps/start.do'prodId =IPS&userGroupName=uphoenix Hunter, P. (2010). NLRB Nominee On Hold as Senate Fails To Act. ENR: Engineering News-Record, 264(6), 9. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database