LOS ANGELES and NEW YORK - The Writers Guild of America, West (WGAW), the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), Screen Actors Guild (SAG), Directors Guild of America (DGA), and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) have united in their collective support of the Employee Free Choice Act (S.1041), a "card-check" bill that would improve the process for workers to form and join a union.
Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass) and 46 co-sponsors recently introduced the bill in the U.S. Senate. Aimed at reducing strong-arm tactics by employers, the bill would give workers - including writers, actors, directors, broadcasters, recording artists, and other industry performers - the freedom to choose whether to join a union without employer interference and enable them to bargain for improved wages, benefits, and working conditions.
The WGAW, WGAE, SAG, DGA, and AFTRA today issued a joint statement in support of the EFCA legislation:
"Continuing our shared commitment to uphold the right of all employees to form and join a union, the guilds and unions strongly support the Employee Free Choice Act that would allow workers a chance to collectively negotiate with their employers for a better livelihood, positively impacting American workers, including creative artists, and their families. This legislation would ensure that workers are allowed a free choice and a fair chance to form a union by leveling the playing field with employers. An affirmative Senate vote will send a strong signal that organized labor is winning the fight on union rights."
"By establishing stronger penalties for violation of employee rights when workers seek to form or join a union, providing mediation and arbitration during negotiations and internal disputes, and allowing employees to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation, the Employee Free Choice Act helps mend America's dysfunctional bargaining system by supplying workers with necessary tools to make their own voices heard, without the obstacles of corporate interference."
Perhaps the most important U.S. labor law reform to emerge in the last 70 years, the House of Representatives passed the Employee Free Choice Act on March 1 by a margin of 241-185. With a scheduled vote on the House-passed bill, the Senate will likely bypass a committee mark-up - although President Bush has previously threatened to veto the measure when the House passed it in March.
The bill would allow for union certification of employees as a bargaining unit through a card-check procedure in which organizers present their employers with authorization cards from a majority of workers - if a majority of workers sign up, a union will be formed. The measure would also levy stronger penalties against employers attempting to block union organizing, as well as require binding arbitration between new unions and management if both parties cannot reach an agreement on a first contract - a provision many see as necessary as many employers have no incentive to bargain in good faith with a newly unionized workforce without a deadline.
Under current law, employers have the option of rejecting the card check and calling for a National Labor Relations Board Election, which often slows down the process by a year or more, allowing employers to harass and threaten employees for union activity. S.1041 would effectively make these so-called "secret ballot" elections obsolete, as many view the current election process skewed in favor of employers attempting to prevent unionization.
