[Date]
Dear Senator:
I urge you to support the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). This legislation would fix key problems with US labor law that contribute to the widespread violation of workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively in the United States.
The EFCA would limit the ability of employers to delay or derail collective bargaining negotiations. Workers’ right to bargain collectively is often thwarted by employers who engage in “surface bargaining”—negotiating with no intention of ever reaching an agreement. Even if such illegal bad-faith bargaining can be proven, the remedy is simply more bargaining, where the cycle can repeat itself. The EFCA would help prevent indefinite, superficial negotiations by allowing workers negotiating their first collective contract to seek mediation and, if mediation failed, seek arbitration, leading to a binding contract.
Currently, penalties for violating US labor laws are so weak that they do not deter employers from engaging in illegal conduct. Indeed, employers often consider the penalties a small price to pay for a union-free workplace. For especially egregious conduct, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) can seek an injunction, but it rarely does. In most cases, the NLRB simply orders the offending employer to restore the status quo prior to the illegal activity and post a notice that it will not repeat the unlawful conduct. The EFCA would strengthen the penalties for anti-union discrimination during an organizing drive or first-contract negotiation by increasing the amount due to victimized workers; creating fines for willful or repeated illegal acts by employers; and requiring the NLRB to seek injunctive relief if it reasonably believed such prohibited activity had occurred.
US rules governing union election campaigns favor employers over workers and permit employers to use many tactics to prevent workers from freely choosing whether to organize, including allowing employers to campaign aggressively against union formation while, at the same time, banning union organizers and advocates from company property and denying them a meaningful opportunity to present their message directly to workers in the workplace. The one-sided anti-union campaigning that US labor laws allow during organizing drives would be seen as a travesty of minimum standards of electoral fairness in a political contest where all sides must have an equal opportunity to communicate their messages. It should also be understood as unfair in workplace elections.
While the EFCA would not address all of the rules that unfairly disadvantage workers, it would mitigate their negative impact on workers’ rights and help ensure that workers who wish to form unions can do so.
I hope I can count on your support of the EFCA. Its passage would send a message to workers in the United States and around the world that this country supports fundamental workers’ rights.
Sincerely,