The current labor law system in the United States is broken, with the result that working people are routinely denied the freedom to unite with their co-workers and bargain for better wages, benefits and working conditions. Especially in the private sector, corporations regularly intimidate workers--including firing union organizers--to keep out unions, and there is little recourse for workers under the law.

Figures from the AFL-CIO indicate that these problems are widespread. Employees are fired in one-fourth of private-sector union organizing campaigns. When there is a campaign, more than three-quarters of employers require supervisors to deliver anti-union messages to the workers they supervise. Workers who manage to successfully organize, despite the obstacles, aren't even able to get a contract one-third of the time. Among AFT members, nurses and healthcare workers in particular have faced massive and expensive anti-union campaigns.

The most promising approach to leveling the playing field between workers and employers is to reform the labor law system, which is exactly what the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would do. The act, which passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in March with bipartisan support, has been introduced in the Senate and is awaiting consideration, as of early May.

EFCA would do three main things:

• Establish a system of majority sign-up to certify a union. That means if a majority of employees in a unit sign union authorization cards, the employer must recognize the union as the workers' bargaining representative.
• Strengthen penalties against employers who illegally coerce or intimidate employees attempting to form a union.
• Bring in a neutral third party to settle a contract between a company and a newly certified union if the parties aren't able to agree in the first 90 days.

"Millions of working Americans want to form a union for a voice on the job, and for wages and benefits that can support a family," says AFT president Edward J. McElroy.
"EFCA would help ensure that workers have the right to bargain for a better life. By allowing more workers to choose the advantages of having a union, EFCA also will help strengthen America's middle class, which today finds itself caught between stagnant paychecks and soaring living costs."