Ready or not, here it comes…probably. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal featured an article outlining President Obama’s prediction that EFCA, or “card check” will pass. I don’t doubt it. President Obama is using his equity while he has it to push through his agenda, and make no doubt about it, EFCA is part of his agenda. And by the way, he really believes it is part of the solution to our economic woes.
Lots of companies have heard lots of stuff about EFCA. Too bad it’s the wrong kind of stuff. If you are busily calling your Lawyer to check on the state of your non-solicitation policy, you really don’t get it. EFCA represents a sea change for the labor movement in the U.S. Everything changes under EFCA. No more secret ballot elections (or very short cycles for same), no more negotiating to impasse (after 90 days with no contract an arbitrator will create the first agreement). In short, EFCA represent a potential windfall for the labor movement.
It’s easy to get employees to sign a union authorization card. All they need is one bad day and one compelling (or attractive) organizer to get them to sign. Lots of promises get made, and so lots more employees sign cards. Under the current system, once 30% of employees sign cards, the union could petition for a secret ballot election. Typically, 45-60 days later, the secret ballot election would be held. In the interim, companies get the opportunity to tell their story and explain about the “other side” of the union equation.
Most of the time the company would win. Because of this fact, unions tended to target bigger organizations to make the cost and effort of the campaign worthwhile. After all, why risk the expense of an organizer and a campaign for a small group of employees. At the end of the day, the “juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.” EFCA changes this by eliminating the barrier of the costly and protracted campaign. So even though you weren’t a target before…congratulations, you are now.
So the game has really changed, and so must your game plan. But if you are willing to get ahead of the game, you can turn these circumstances to your advantage… the subject of my next entry.