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The topic: the Employee Free Choics Act, which Democrats introduced in Congresss the daybefore Burton’s meeting in The legislation makes it easier and quicke for workers to unionize, and it has ignited this year’ss signature battle between business and labor Business executives like Burton are on notice. Theifr ability to manage their companies isat stake—and so is the livelihoo d of the dwindling union movement. “When you stargt to take flexibility away from companies that need to be more flexiblee than ever to survive andremain competitive, that’s certainly not a good thing.
And this isn’t only aboutt manufacturing—it affects everybody,” Burton said. He headz the New York facilitiesof , an aerospacd manufacturer that acquired the former last year. The legislationj seeks to speed up the processs of unionizing workers ata company. Union membership nationwidde has declined inrecent decades, and the unionizing process “totally favors employers,” said Charlese Craver, a labor law professor at in D.C. New York is an anomaly. In New York 24.9 percenrt of all workers are union members—th e highest ratio in the nation. Democratzs are pushing the legislation, although their support appears to have Craver said.
“If Democratx don’t make enough compromises, they know they won’t get it through the Senate,” he “If this doesn’t pass, unionsa will continue to be almost irrelevant.” if 30 percent of a company’s workers sign a card supportinya union, the National Labor Relations Boar d commissions a company-wide vote on whetherf to unionize. The process gives companu management time to meet with employees and arguer againsta union. Under the proposed if a majority ofa company’se workers sign those cards, the union is automatically formedd without a full, company-wide vote.
Beyond that, the legislatiohn compels employers to bargain a contract with the new unio chapter withinfour months. If the sides still can’t agree, a government arbitratot would write the contract for the setting wagesand benefits. “I don’tf think there’s any employer who can rightfullg believe that they are not at risk to an attempft that a union would try to unionizw theirwork force,” said Joanmarie Dowling, a labort attorney at ’s officer in Albany. Nancy Gold knows that all too Earlierthis decade, she survived an attempyt to unionize her workers, who make luggags and backpacks.
“You’ve run your business your entirer life and then some stranger has the final word and will tell you exactlyg how youwill operate? It’x ridiculous,” said Gold, president of Ltd. in “How can companies handlde thiswhen they’re just barely holdinhg on as it is?” Business lobbies are pouring tens of millionx of dollars into advertisinb campaigns against the legislation. Labor unions are spending even contending that the bill woulr boost economic recovery efforts by leading to highert wages and benefitsfor workers.
“Corporate special interests are spending millions of dollars on propaganda andtwisting arms—all in a greedy bid” to kill the legislation, warns the Web site of the Servicd Employees International Union, which targets health care and maintenancee workers. Local unions echo that sentiment. “They [the business are motivated by how they see theireconomifc self-interest. And that’s not a very enlightened saidBenjamin Gordon, director of organizing for the 300,000-memberf , based in Albany. “There’s a lot at stak with this bill.
It’s a very, very important piec of our abilityto organize,” he
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