The 'Revised' Employee Free Choice Act

Over the past several months, behind-the-scenes “legislative wrangling” has led to several proposed modifications to the poorly titled Employee Free Choice Act (“EFCA”), a bill currently pending in both the House and Senate. These modifications apparently will result in the elimination from EFCA of the “undemocratic” provisions concerning card check (as the sole way to determine if employees want a union) and the restoration of secret ballot elections as the primary means of determining if employees desire union representation. In doing so, however, legislators will likely modify the bill by significantly shortening the period in which elections are held after a union requests an election (from the traditional 42 days to approximately 10 days). The rationale behind such a move is that while card checks obviate traditional democratic principles, shortened periods for union elections will permit unions to operate stealthily and curtail management's options for presenting its own case of why workers should not join unions. It is obvious that the significantly shortened election period is intended to increase the current success rate of union organizing efforts.