June 25, 2009 11:59 am ET
In a new video, the misnamed Coalition for a Democratic Workplace (CDW) makes several false claims about the Employee Free Choice Act.
CDW Video: "America's economy is in crisis. Unemployment is soaring. But some special interests want to put a huge new burden on the economy. It's called 'card check,' a radical plan to take away the secret ballot when workers decide whether to join a union. Card check: costs would soar; small business would be hurt; 600,000 jobs lost in the first year alone. Card check: It's poison for jobs." [Coalition for a Democratic Workplace via YouTube, accessed 6/25/09]
As Media Matters Action Network has noted, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace is a deceptively named lobbying organization whose members include notorious anti-worker giants like Wal-Mart, the National Association of Manufacturers, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
CDW Video: "It's called 'card check,' a radical plan to take away the secret ballot when workers decide whether to join a union." [Coalition for a Democratic Workplace via YouTube, accessed 6/25/09]
CSM: "The Proposed Law Gives Workers A Choice Of Forming A Union Through Majority Sign-Up ('Card Check') Or An Election By Secret Ballot." According to the Christian Science Monitor: "The proposed law gives workers a choice of forming a union through majority sign-up ('card check') or an election by secret ballot. The current election process, governed by the National Labor Relations Board, strongly favors employers, unions say. The bill also beefs up penalties for employers that discriminate against workers for their union-organizing activity, including treble back pay for workers found to have been illegally fired." [Christian Science Monitor, 3/11/09]
PolitiFact: Employees "Could Ask for a Secret-Ballot Election." According to PolitiFact.com: "Just like before, if unions got more than 30 percent of the employees to sign cards, they could ask for a secret-ballot election." Additionally, the site wrote: "As a practical matter, secret-ballot elections would be far less frequent if the Employee Free Choice Act were passed. But they would still take place under certain circumstances..." [PolitiFact.com, 3/24/09]
NYT: "Business Groups Have Attacked The Legislation Because It Would Take Away Employers' Right To Insist On Holding A Secret-Ballot Election." As reported by the New York Times: "The bill would give workers the right to join a union as soon as a majority of employees at a workplace signed cards saying they wanted one. Business groups have attacked the legislation because it would take away employers' right to insist on holding a secret-ballot election to determine whether workers favored unionization." [New York Times, 11/8/08, emphasis added]
CDW Video: "...small business would be hurt..." [Coalition for a Democratic Workplace via YouTube, accessed 6/25/09]
House Labor Committee: "Small Businesses Stand To Benefit From The Employee Free Choice Act." According to the House Committee on Education and Labor, "Large employers are more likely to be the subject of organizing drives than are small employers. When workers organize, wage and other gains made by employees will mean more money in their wallets to spend locally. When workers spend locally, they stimulate small businesses. Moreover, when small businesses are organized, these businesses reap rewards - like partaking in apprenticeship and worker training programs and competitive multiemployer health and pension plans, which they would have been unable to provide on their own. This has been the experience particularly in the construction industry." [House Committee on Education and Labor, "EFCA: Fact vs. Myth," accessed 4/13/09]
Many Small Businesses Are Exempt from the National Labor Relations Act. According to the House Committee on Education and Labor, "[M]any small businesses are exempt from the NLRA and the Employee Free Choice Act altogether - some 5.5 million workers are not covered by the NLRA because their small employer is considered too small to be engaged in interstate commerce." [House Committee on Education and Labor, "EFCA: Fact vs. Myth," accessed 4/13/09]
SBA: Unionization Reduces The Probability of Business Closures. A 2005 study by the U.S. Small Business Administration concluded: "Surprisingly, state unionization rates significantly reduce the probability of business closures." [U.S. Small Business Administration, "A Spatial Model of the Impact of State Bankruptcy Exemptions on Entrepreneurship," July 2005]
CDW Video: "...600,000 jobs in the first year alone." [Coalition for a Democratic Workplace via YouTube, accessed 6/25/09]
The 600,000 figure presumably comes from a study by Dr. Anne Layne-Farrar, which was paid for by the business lobby. However...
Study Claiming 600,000 Job Losses Is "Crackpot Economics." According to the Bureau of National Affairs: "Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, told BNA that the study amounted to 'crackpot economics.' 'I don't find it credible at all,' Mishel said. Mishel said that with union membership decreasing over the past 30 years, by using the study's logic, the United States would have 'negative unemployment.'" [Bureau of National Affairs via SEIU, 3/11/09]
There Is No Clear Link Between Unionization And Unemployment. On March 13, 2009, the Center for Economic and Policy Research's Dean Baker wrote: "While some of the research does find a correlation between unemployment and unionization rates, much of more recent research finds no link between unemployment and unionization rates. In 2006, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) did an exhaustive analysis of the research on this topic and concluded that there was no link between unionization rates and unemployment. It is easy to find examples of countries with very high unionization rates and low levels of unemployment. For example Norway and Denmark have unionization rates near 80 percent. Before the current crisis their unemployment rate was under 3.0 percent. ... Until someone can show cause to question this OECD analysis, there is no reason to accept the employer claims that the Employee Free Choice Act will cost jobs." [Center for Economic and Policy Research, 3/13/09]
A Unionized Workforce Leads To Greater Productivity. According to the Economic Policy Institute: "The dramatic drop in unionization in the United States from 1979 to 2005 did not lead to faster productivity growth than in the seven largest European countries with union density greater than 60%. In fact, those countries' average annual labor productivity growth of 1.7% equaled productivity growth in the United States. Output per hour worked is higher in the Netherlands, France, and Belgium, where more than 80% of employees have union contracts (compared to the United States' 12% unionization)." [Economic Policy Institute, 6/20/07]
Higher Wages Create Consumer Activity. The Center for American Progress Action Fund notes, "One of the primarily reasons why our current recession endures is that workers do not have the purchasing power they need to drive our economy. Even when times were relatively good, workers were getting squeezed. Income for the median working age household fell by about $2,000 between 2000 and 2007, and it could fall even further as the economy continues to decline. Consumer activity accounts for roughly 70 percent of our nation's economy, and for a while workers were able to use debt to sustain their consumption. Yet debt-driven consumption is not sustainable, as we are plainly seeing. What is sustainable is an economy where workers are adequately rewarded and have the income they need to purchase goods." [Center for American Progress Action Fund, 2/18/09]
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