More than 200 business and community leaders from four states traveled to Washington, D.C., on June 2 to participate in the Chamber's third Workforce Freedom Airlift and to let member of Congress know that the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is a threat to small business.

The airlift is focused on generating opposition to union-backed legislation that would scrap the federal law that protects both businesses and workers during union organizing drives. The bill would deny employees the opportunity to vote in private when deciding whether to have a union in their workplace. Instead, employees would be subject to various pressure tactics by union representatives to sign cards approving a union. The card check bill includes a binding arbitration provision that would let the federal government dictate wages and benefits under a union contract and deprive workers of the chance to vote on that contract. 

Attendees from California, Indiana, Wisconsin and South Dakota heard from Sen. John Thune (R-SD) and met with their members of Congress to discuss the real world impact of card check legislation during the two-day airlift. Two similar events were held in March.

Due in part to the effort of the Chamber and its members, support for EFCA has diminished in Congress; however, the threat remains very real as labor unions and their supporters continue their efforts to craft compromise legislation. The Chamber opposes any legislation that compromises employers' flexibility or relationship with their employees. "I don't see a compromise that the business community would support and that the labor community would feel went far enough," Randy Johnson, Chamber vice president of labor policy recently told the Wall Street Journal.

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