ABINGDON, Va. – In a two-hour session here Wednesday, lawyers affiliated with the Virginia Chamber of Commerce gave local business leaders an overview of legislation they say could change the way companies do business.
The Employee Free Choice Act, a labor reform bill close to passage in Congress and supported by President Barack Obama, is “one of the most startling and serious issues that the employment community faces,” said Clinton Morse, of LeClair Ryan.
He said the proposed law, which would allow workers to bypass the secret ballot process in creating a union, is “probably the greatest threat to labor-management relations,” and the alternatives if it doesn’t pass are troublesome as well.
The current process requires union organizers to first gather 30 percent of employees’ signatures and then vote in a secret-ballot election on whether to unionize. The bill would require only cards signed by a majority of employees to require a company to recognize a union.
Officials in the labor movement say the change is needed to fix what they say is a system slanted in favor of big business.
“There hasn’t been such a huge disparity between CEOs and workers since right before the Great Depression,” said Alison Owens, spokeswoman for the AFL-CIO. “The Employee Free Choice Act is critical legislation that will help rebuild our middle class and help strengthen the economy.”
Owens says corporate greed is responsible for the national recession – and workers voted Obama into office to rebuild the economy in a way that lets everyone share in the profits of their labor.
“I think it’s very important,” she said of Obama’s election. “For the first time in a long time, workers have a friend in the White House.”
Morse says the proposed legislation is payback for $400 million in labor union contributions to Democratic candidates; Owens contends corporations have mounted a $200 million campaign to oppose labor reform.
Greg Robertson, of Hunton & Williams, the other chamber presenter, said the proposed reforms “just simply aren’t fair.”
“This is not about leveling the playing field,” he said. “It’s about guaranteeing victory.”
Among his concerns with various proposed reforms: an accelerated process could shut out debate in favor of unions; allowing union organizers extra access to employees could interfere with business; employers could lose their right to replace striking workers; and employees could lose their right to work without joining a union.
Each side in the debate accuses the other of intimidating workers to gain advantage, but Robertson says the American economy has never been a zero-sum game – and employees and employers don’t need to be at odds because both benefit from a successful business.
Either way, change is coming that will make it easier for unions to organize, Morse says, and he encourages companies to prepare by hiring positive people and building good employee relations by treating people with respect.
“Whatever passes, better employee relations are great for your company no matter what,” he said. “They help profits.”
dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701
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