Employee Free Choice Act: How to Bail Out Workers Without Spending Taxpayer Money

AN ONGOING BUZZFLASH SERIES ON THE GOP ECONOMIC WAR AGAINST AMERICAN WORKING FAMILIES
by Meg White

A lot of economic news coverage these days includes the obligatory working-class person grabbing the mic and asking, "Where's my bailout? Where's my stimulus package?"

Unfortunately most of that coverage is now focused on the "tea parties," which are inventions of well-off conservatives who are upset by President Obama's plan to end Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy and who feel the need to make up stories about fascism to attract followers to their anti-tax cult.

The reason for the made-up stories is that the American people don't really believe the rich need any more financial aid. Contrary to Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-MN) worries, we are not running out of rich people in this country. We are simply running out of conspicuous wealth.

The working class, on the other hand, does need a bailout. But the attendees at the tea parties aren't going to let that happen.

"Deficit spending is out of control!" they'll wail. "You're taxing my unborn great-grandchildren to death!!"

Whether they have a point hidden within their incoherent railing is immaterial. Congress and the White House will listen to it because they're afraid of being accused of spending too much.

So what do we do? I propose a working class bailout that won't cost a dime of taxpayer money. Passing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is the answer to at least some of the economic woes facing the American working class today.

The EFCA, also known as "card check," would allow workers to unionize in an additional way. Opponents say it would take away the secret ballot that workers who are considering organizing use to tally support for a union, but really it would simply add an additional avenue. Workers under the act could gather signatures indicating support for unionizing.

There's mounting evidence of companies taking advantage of the recession to lay off workers who are too costly and replace them with cheaper newcomers or part-time/ contract employees (read: no costly benefits). In a job market where this kind of treatment occurs with impunity, unions are more important to have, but less likely to form.

Julie Green, a history professor at the University of Maryland notes that taking workers' needs into consideration paid off last time we were in such a dire economic situation:

The National Labor Relations Act, passed in 1935, included the same strategy for allowing workers to exercise their rights to a union; it resulted in millions of workers joining unions, and the higher wages they won as a result helped the U.S. recover from the Great Depression. Corporate campaigning and careful partnerships with conservatives resulted in the undoing of this measure in the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. The Employee Free Choice Act would simply restore rights that workers long ago fought hard to win, but then lost.

She calls the EFCA "a stimulus package from the bottom up," noting that employees who are paid fairly are able to then spend more, stimulating the economy in a way we haven't yet seen in this recession.

Speaking of stimulus, the $787 billion recovery package is starting to create jobs, many of which will be filled by private sector employers. In order to make sure this stimulus takes hold in the long term, the jobs created now need to be sustainable. Part of the longevity of any employment comes from benefits and a livable wage, two things that are much more likely to be included in a job if it is protected by union representation.

There are two hidden categories of unemployment in this nation that could benefit from the passage of the EFCA. Underemployed and discouraged workers are not counted in the official unemployment number, but they are effectively without jobs that pay the bills. If discouraged workers knew they could get union representation at their next job, perhaps they wouldn't decide to just drop out of the job market. Further, if unions were able to ensure employers don't take the "easy" way out by hiring part-time workers so they can avoid paying benefits, the number of underemployed could also decrease.

The EFCA is an important tool to have at the ready when we emerge from the recession. The process through which new jobs are created and old ones are restored needs to be guided by at least the specter of unionization. Unions aren't perfect for every job, but they tend to keep the American workplace as a whole more competitive.

Infrastructure investment isn't just building bridges and roads, and it doesn't mean throwing money at crumbling institutions. In the case of the EFCA, we can prop up our crumbling employment landscape with new tools of worker organization. If we want to, we can come out of this economic crisis with a more robust and equitable employment landscape.

Along with the "Where's my bailout?" inquiries, I've also heard a great deal of union bashing lately, as if people being paid a living wage is the reason we're in this economic crisis. But these two complaints are no doubt related. Perhaps some people are a little jealous?

But there's no need to be. We can all have greater freedom to organize if we rally behind the Employee Free Choice Act. Or as I call it, the tax-free bailout.

AN ONGOING BUZZFLASH SERIES ON THE GOP ECONOMIC WAR AGAINST AMERICAN WORKING FAMILIES

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