Andrew Stern, president of the country’s largest union, says he believes that the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) will become law by this summer. He believes that there are sufficient votes in both houses of Congress to pass EFCA, also known as Card Checks.
The balance of power between unions and management that has been in force since 1935 as a result of secret ballot elections will have been eliminated.
And if Stern is correct, and we believe that he is, then Corporate America will find itself facing numerous new organizing efforts, driving up labor costs and driving down profits. In fact, some companies may be driven out of business, thus adding to an already dire recession.
Corporate America must learn new and effective techniques for dealing with Card Checks. Such techniques include new strategic communications plans that result in ending the adversarial relationships that often exist between management and workers.
Having spent more than $300-million to help elect Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States, organized labor is beginning to cash in on its investment. President Obama has appointed Wilma Liebman as chairwoman of the NLRB, and organized labor is popping champagne corks or flip-top beer cans. Ms. Liebman is one of the most pro-labor NLRB officials to have been appointed in many years.
Corporate America can expect the NLRB to be decidedly more pro-labor than it has been during the both Bush administrations.
And if the early days of the Obama administration are an indication of things to come, then one should note that union membership has already risen from 12.1 percent to 12.4 percent, reversing a decades old trend. And with the anticipated signing of the Employee Free Choice Act, one can only expect that trend to increase in volume and speed.
Corporate American is facing a difficult four years as a worsening economy and growing demands from unions will place significant burdens on earnings.
President Obama has signed an executive order that encourages all federal agencies to use “project labor agreements.” The Executive Order refers to all construction projects that will cost $25-million or more.
Project labor agreeemnts are, in effect, collective bargaining agreements that are reached by contractors and unions prior to anyone being hired! As with all collective bargaining agreements, project labor agreements establish the conditions and terms of employment for each construction project and for each worker. Mr. Obama believes that the such agreements “would promote economy and efficiency in Federal procurement.”
Since the course of a construction project varies and the number of workers necessary to complete a project often changes as the project develops, project labor agreements will only serve to force employers to maintain superfluous employees and pay salaries for work that will not be done. This is just another example of the new administration’s pro-labor policies, which will serve to drive up costs for tax payers and hamper the profitability of Corporate America.
Project labor agreements are profitable for unions, but not for the rest of the country; the implementation of such agreements during the current recession will make economic conditions worse, not better.
We have known for quite a while that President Obama is pro-labor and that he intends to sign into law the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).
We now have further evidence of the president’s support of organized labor. He recently signed three executive orders that favor unions.
One: President Obama signed an executive order that requires government contractors to offer jobs to employees when contracts change.
Two: President Obama eliminated an executive order signed by his processor, which had required employers to put up signs letting workers know of their rights to limit financial support of unions that served as their collective bargaining representatives.
Three: President Obama signed an executive order that prohibits government contractors from being reimbursed for expenses incurred while attempting to influence workers about union organizing campaigns and collective bargaining.
President Obama affirmed his support of organized labor by stating: “I don’t view the labor movement as part of the problem. To me, it’s part of the solution.”
The newly signed executive orders indicate the direction that the Obama administration has embarked upon, and it portends a difficult labor relations climate for Corporate America.
One can expect President Obama to alter the composition of the National Labor Relations Board so that its decisions are supportive of unions, to expand family leave, and to enact various forms of legislation that will diminish the prerogatives of management, while increasing the power of unions, especially their power to organize and to dominate the collective bargaining process.