EFCA Authorizes Government Control of 4 Million Small Businesses

EFCA Authorizes Government Control of 4 Million Small Businesses
The Heritage Foundation
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, H.R. 1409, S. 560) does more than take away secret ballot elections: It empowers the federal government to impose contracts on newly organized companies.
The government would set wages, benefits, work assignments, promotion procedures, and any major changes to business operations. Because EFCA has no meaningful small businesses exemption, it would authorize federal control of up to 4 million small businesses employing 39 million Americans. Consequently, bureaucrats with no management experience would effectively control these small businesses.
Four Million Small Businesses Affected
The misnamed Employee Free Choice Act affects both large and small businesses. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) has a small business exception. However, this exemption has not been updated for inflation since 1959.[1] It covers all non-retail businesses with gross revenues of $50,000 a year and retail businesses with gross revenues over $500,000 a year
To put those figures into perspective, the average private-sector worker costs his or her employer $56,000 a year in wages and benefits–before the cost of any capital needed to do the job. A business with one worker earning average pay would not qualify. Consequently, the law has no meaningful small businesses exemption.
The Heritage Foundation used Census Bureau data to calculate how many small businesses EFCA would affect: The act covers 4,180,000 businesses employing 38,934,000 workers.
Consequently, bureaucrats with no management experience would effectively control these small businesses, says James Sherk, the Bradley Fellow in Labor Policy at the Heritage Foundation.
The misnamed Employee Free Choice Act affects both large and small businesses, says Sherk:
* The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) has a small business exception, however, this exemption has not been updated for inflation since 1959.
* It covers all non-retail businesses with gross revenues of $50,000 a year and retail businesses with gross revenues over $500,000 a year.
* To put those figures into perspective, the average private-sector worker costs his or her employer $56,000 a year in wages and benefits–before the cost of any capital needed to do the job.
* A business with one worker earning average pay would not qualify, consequently, the law has no meaningful small businesses exemption.
The Heritage Foundation used Census Bureau data to calculate how many small businesses EFCA would affect: The act covers 4,180,000 businesses employing 38,934,000 workers.

EFCA takes away these workers’ right to a secret ballot vote on joining a union — a consequence that has attracted considerable controversy, says Sherk. However, the bill has a second provision of equal if not greater significance to small businesses that has attracted much less attention: EFCA replaces collective bargaining with government-imposed contracts for newly organized companies. In practice:

* EFCA will effectively eliminate collective bargaining for initial contracts because the system provides no reason for unions not to hold out for a government contract.
* Unions would have strong incentives to make extreme demands and hope the FMCS appointed arbitrator splits the difference between these demands and management’s position.

Granting such a radical amount of power to the FMCS puts control of workplaces in the hands of unaccountable government bureaucrats, says Sherk.

Wild Thing’s comment……..
The inmates are running the asylum.
What the heck is happening to our country?
Everyone of these dangerous beltway initiatives makes me grieve even more for the poor souls that fell on Normandy and everywhere else.
They gave all to fight back evil and preserve our freedom. And those fools in Washington are just throwing it all away.
summary of this BS: aka Communism! or is State control of private business is called FACISM.
You have 2 candidates, the UNIONS and the EMPLOYERS. They both are campaigning for the workers vote. The UNIONS want them to vote YES to unionize and EMPLOYERS wants them to vote NO against unionization. After campaigning for their vote, both go back to their respective corners while the EMPLOYEE decides which candidate they will side with, the UNIONS or the EMPLOYERS. Come “election day,” the EMPLOYEE goes to the “polls” to cast their vote. They enter a PRIVATE BOOTH and pull the lever of their choice, either for or against unionization. What the EFCA will eliminate is the PRIVATE BOOTH in which the EMPLOYEE votes. No longer will the UNIONS have to campaign up until “election day.” All they will have to do is walk up to every EMPLOYEE, where ever they may be, and get them to vote YES or NO. IT would be like Barack Obama going around to every person in America and handing them a ballot and telling them to vote for them right there on the spot while they watch.
The end goal of communism is to have all the means of production in the hands of government. Obama is trying to move the country to that situation as soon as possible.
If these last two months haven’t been reason enough for a revolution, what will it take? I suppose we shall find out as we still have many years left on our sentence.
This is insane. The unions get to tell the employees anything they want; promise things they cannot deliver. The employer does not even get the right to have a say.

….Thank you Mark for sending this to me.
Mark
3rd Mar.Div. 1st Battalion 9th Marine Regiment
1/9 Marines aka The Walking Dead
VN 66-67