NEWSROOM

The most important labor issue the next President will face will be “Employee Free Choice Act”, also known as the Card Check policy. The EFCA would force employers to recognize unions as their employees bargaining agent based upon a showing of signed authorization cards, with no right to demand a secret ballot election. Senator Obama has endorsed the Employee Free Choice Act, Senator McCain has said he would veto the bill.

The bill would also create a new system of binding arbitration that would force a new contract on employers if they fail to reach agreement with the union after bargaining. The EFCA would dramatically increase employer penalties, including large fines and windfall back pay awards to union supporters who are able to prove discrimination at the NLRB.

While the EFCA has received the most attention, the candidates have also diverged on a series of other union-sponsored bills that could become law in the next administration. The RESEPCT Act would change the definition of “supervisors” under the National Labor Relations Act, with the goal of narrowing the number of managers who could be excluded from unionization. Senator Obama has also personally sponsored the Independent Contractor Proper Classification Act of 2007, which would make it more difficult for employers to enter into contractor relationships with workers. The impact of this bill would be to increase the number of potential employees who have the right, under federal law, to join a labor union, or to engage otherwise in certain concerted activity, with the workplace-related protections afforded by the National Labor Relations Act. The law, if passed, would impose drastic penalties on employers for misclassifying workers.

Finally, the new President will control appointments to the federal agencies that would enforce each of the laws referenced above, including the U.S. Department of Labor, the NLRB, EEOC and OSHA. The President will also appoint new federal judges, likely including to the Supreme Court, to hear appeals from these agencies and interpret the new laws. For all these reasons, the stakes for the merit shop construction industry in November will be very high.