While economic globalization has provided important new sources of jobs and markets for the U.S. economy, it has also made it harder for millions of hard-working Americans to manage their own careers with any degree of security. Traditionally, the right to form unions to collectively bargain for wages and benefits has been an important corrective to the insecurity of any market economy. It is even more important today, especially at a time when Republican policies have helped replace the strong and steady growth and broad income gains of the 1990s with weak and inconsistent growth, rising inequality, and erosion of the social safety net.
Against this troubled economic background, it is clear that the careful balance between employers and employees at the center of our system of labor relations is in peril. Of particular concern are the dynamics surrounding the most fundamental labor right of all: the right of a majority of wage-earners at any specific workplace to choose a union as a collective bargaining agent. That's why we endorse the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) currently gaining momentum in Congress.
The EFCA is an example of how it is sometimes essential to amend the letter of the law to preserve its spirit. Under current law, once a majority of workers petition for organizing rights, employers may petition the National Labor Relations Board for a formal election before recognizing any union. This requirement not only can produce major delays in the opportunity to organize; it also tends to create an unequal struggle between heavily funded anti-union efforts by employers and pro-union employees who must maintain majorities while turning out their vote. The inequities of the situation are made worse by the outdated and relatively insignificant penalties meted out under current law for illegal employer actions during organizing campaigns, such as firing or intimidating pro-union workers or threatening layoffs or plant closings.
EFCA would simplify the whole process by requiring union recognition once a majority of employees have certifiably requested representation by signing a card. It would also prevent long delays in employer bargaining with newly recognized unions, and would make penalties for illegal activities meaningful.
In no way would this reform change the "majority decides" structure of our labor laws. And we obviously do not know if it would significantly add to the number of unionized workplaces. But it would help ensure that the basic right to freely choose collective bargaining is maintained, instead of being contingent on the wealth and resources of the contending parties in any one situation.
We are weighing in on this issue for two reasons. First, support for EFCA is reaching critical mass in Congress, particularly in the House, where co-sponsors of the legislation represent nearly one-half of all members. Anyone who can help give this initiative a bit of a push should do so now.
And second, our endorsement of EFCA is the direct product of an ongoing dialogue between the DLC and elements of the labor movement led by our chairman, Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa. The purpose of this dialogue is to find common ground on issues of concern to working families, and to work together to make positive changes in public policies at a time when a Republican-controlled federal government is taking so many steps to unravel the economic and social progress of the 1990s. It is essential that we regain our competitive position as the strongest economy in the world, generating broad-based prosperity for all Americans. But as Gov. Vilsack likes to say, you can't govern until you achieve a majority, and a united progressive movement is essential to that goal.
