Basic Provisions: EFCA amends the NLRA to change the procedures for union certification and first contract negotiation. The primary components of the act are as follows:

• Allows NLRB certification of a relevant bargaining unit upon authorization card showing from 50% plus one of employees bypassing the NLRB-supervised secret ballot election.
• Mandates initial collective bargaining contract be negotiated within 120 days of union certification. If no contract is reached, the first contract is produced by an arbitrator through an interest arbitration process. The first contract covers employees for 2 years.
• Imposes sanctions on employers who engage in unfair labor practices during a union representation drive including $20,000 per violation and double back pay awards for discharged employees.

The RESPECT Act changes the definition of supervisor under the NRLA to allow working supervisors to become union members. Working supervisors are those who don’t spend a majority of there time in strictly management activities. Working Supervisors have there current status as supervisors as a result of assigning or directing the work of others.

 

Employment Implications: EFCA is a monumental change to the NLRA which eliminates the employer’s campaign to rebut a union organizing drive following the filing of a petition with the NLRB. Authorization cards are an unreliable mechanism for determining employee union interest. Interestingly, there are no changes to the decertification process in EFCA. To get rid of a union, employees must file a petition with the NRLB and go through the traditional secret ballot election process.

 

Much has been made of the abrogation of the secret ballot election, but equally dramatic are the limitations placed on collective bargaining and contract determination by an arbitrator if no agreement is reached in 120 days of negotiations.  Reliance on arbitrators to craft a contract where none has existed before is ridiculous. The arbitrator will likely be unfamiliar with the business and the result will likely be a cookie cutter agreement that ignores important operational issues.

 

If enacted, EFCA will result in unprecedented organizing activity with employers losing their ability to demand a secret ballot election and engage in hard bargaining over a first contract. With the RESPECT Act, working supervisors will gain the right to organize and employers will lose one of their primary avenues to influence employees and obtain information.

 

Obama Administration Views: The Obama Administration’s transition website (Change.gov) states that the Administration will "fight for the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act" and supports the passage of the RESPECT Act.