More than 250 business and community leaders from eight states traveled to Washington, D.C., on March 1 to inform members of Congress that there is no room for compromise on the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), also known as card check.

Business owners from eight states listen to Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) during a Chamber-organized fly-in to oppose card check legislation.
 

Among those attending the U.S. Chamber’s fourth Workforce Freedom Airlift was Steve Morris, owner of Gem Theatre Inc., an independent movie theater employing 20 people in Kannapolis, North Carolina. Said Morris, “EFCA certainly opens the door to unionization and encourages situations that in my opinion could cause frivolous unionization among some folks who may not even find it in their best interest to do so. Particularly in today’s economy, EFCA could be the end of many small businesses.”

Morris was joined by business activists from Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Indiana, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. “They are flocking to Washington to say no to an anti-employment agenda in Congress and at the National Labor Relations Board,” said Steven J. Law, Chamber chief legal officer and general counsel.

Due in part to the Chamber, which held three similar fly-in events in 2009, and its members, support for EFCA has diminished in Congress; however, it remains a real threat as labor unions and their supporters continue their efforts to craft compromise legislation.

Sen. John Thune (R-SD), who addressed the business activists at Chamber headquarters before they departed for Capitol Hill to lobby their representatives, pointed out that Vice President Joe Biden recently predicted that EFCA would be passed this session. Thune also noted that several senators have said they will vote to oppose final passage of the bill but would vote yes on bringing the bill up for debate, which would create more opportunities to draft a compromise that would still put small businesses as risk. Thune called on Chamber members and small businesses to tell their members of Congress to “say no to EFCA, no to cloture, and no to compromise,” adding, “We cannot let up on this issue now, we’ve got to remain vigilant.”

The controversial card check bill would effectively strip workers of a private vote in union organizing elections, allow federally-appointed arbitrators to impose wages and working conditions through binding arbitration, and impose one-sided penalties on employers. Certain “compromise” proposals floated by some members of Congress would essentially achieve the same results by instituting quick-snap elections to form unions and last-best-offer arbitration in contract negotiations.

The Chamber opposes any legislation that compromises employers’ flexibility or relationship with their employees.

Sign on to the Chamber's "virtual march" on Washington to save the secret ballot.