http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/17003346.htmLabor bill promises to shorten union path
By H.J. CUMMINS
Star Tribune
MINNEAPOLIS
- A labor bill making its way through Congress would outlaw situations like the one at the Walker Methodist Health Center in Minneapolis, where workers who voted for a union four years ago are still waiting to negotiate their first contract.
The Employee Free Choice Act, most known for speeding up the organizing process, would also speed up the negotiating process in places like this nursing home by allowing either side to demand a 120-day limit.
The provision of the Employee Free Choice Act that has gotten the most attention so far is its change to union organizing. Currently, a union collects signatures from at least 30 percent of the employees, and then the labor board administers an election with secret ballots. Under the proposed change, if a union collects signatures from more than 50 percent of employees, the union is in. No vote is required.
The act passed the House of Representatives earlier this month, and was introduced in the Senate on Thursday.
It has wide support among unions, which complain that employers often scare workers away from unions in the weeks leading up to an election.
Business groups oppose the act. Calling it "perhaps the most imbalanced and ill-advised labor legislation in over 30 years," the U.S. Chamber of Commerce argues that the secret ballot is the best way to insure a fair vote - citing union intimidation as the problem.
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