Summary of Employee Free Choice Act

· The Employee Free Choice Act is legislation that will give workers back the freedom to bargain for better benefits, wages, and working conditions.

· The Employee Free Choice Act will provide much-needed, common sense reform by making what amounts to rather modest changes in the National Labor Relations Act .

· The Employee Free Choice Act does not eliminate the secret ballot. There are currently two ways that workers can form a union, and that wouldn’t change under this legislation. Workers can form a union through a majority sign up process or they can form a union by an NLRB-sponsored election. Today, however, employers decide HOW workers form their union, regardless of the workers’ preference.
o The Employee Free Choice Act lets workers, not companies, decide HOW the union is formed. Let me be clear - - the Employee Free Choice Act does not take away the secret ballot. The section of the Act, which deals with elections, is still in there. The Employee Free Choice Act adds another, separate section which allows workers to form a union through majority sign up. The choice will be up to the workers - - as it should be.
o The current system is badly broken. Employers pull out all the stops - - companies harass, intimidate and even fire workers for exercising their freedom to form unions.
o Majority sign up is a common and effective procedure already used by workers and employers. Businesses like Kaiser Permanente, AT&T, and Harley Davidson all use majority sign up.

The other provisions of the Employee Free Choice Act:

· Increasing penalties against companies that break the law during organizing campaigns.
· Provides for first contract arbitration and mediation.