EFCA Follow Up

Mike Doyle submitted a comment to my earlier post entitled Holy Unionization, Batman! It's The Employee Free Choice Act wherein he asserts that the Employee Free Choice Act (the "EFCA") "actually keeps the 'secret-ballot' election process and adds the new majority sign-up process alongside of it." My thanks to Mike for reading and posting. However, I must, respectfully, disagree with Mike's analysis.

Here's the pertinent portion of EFCA in issue:

"SEC. 2. STREAMLINING UNION CERTIFICATION.

(a) In General- Section 9(c) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 159(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

(6) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, whenever a petition shall have been filed by an employee or group of employees or any individual or labor organization acting in their behalf alleging that a majority of employees in a unit appropriate for the purposes of collective bargaining wish to be represented by an individual or labor organization for such purposes, the Board shall investigate the petition. If the Board finds that a majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for bargaining has signed valid authorizations designating the individual or labor organization specified in the petition as their bargaining representative and that no other individual or labor organization is currently certified or recognized as the exclusive representative of any of the employees in the unit, the Board shall not direct an election but shall certify the individual or labor organization as the representative described in subsection (a)."

Nowhere in the quoted text or in any other portion of EFCA have I seen any reference to the choice of a certification process. In point of fact, EFCA, in its current form, totally eliminates the secret ballot election and makes plain that the National Labor Relations Board MUST certify the representative upon a finding that a majority of the employees in the bargaining unit signed valid authorizations. Period. End of story. Discretion need not apply.

Keep those cards and letters coming.