Small Business Issues in the Ballot Box: the Employee Free Choice Act

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/small-business-entrepreneurs/2008/10/31/small-business-issues-in-the-ballot-box-the-employee-free-choice-act.html

This election could end up changing labor laws to a great degree
By Matthew Bandyk
Posted October 31, 2008

In terms of the issues that small-business owners belonging to any political party care about most, labor is one of the least talked about, taking a back seat to general economic issues, tax policy, energy, and health. But the results of this election could make the difference for the passage of what many observers are calling the most sweeping change in labor laws in 70 years—and one that could affect millions of small businesses for better or worse.

One of the issues where the difference between Republicans and Democrats in this year's election is most stark is the Employee Free Choice Act. The bill contains several provisions that would make it easier for workers to form unions. It passed the House of Representatives on a highly partisan vote in February 2007 but was killed when all the Republicans in the Senate filibustered it, with almost all Senate Democrats supporting it—and the election could flip that balance. But one point on which members of both sides agree is that it is the most significant piece of labor legislation since the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.

Josh Goldstein, spokesman for the labor advocacy nonprofit American Rights at Work, which supports the bill, says, "It's pretty clear that it's one of the most significant reforms of our outdated labor laws." Supporters of the bill say that it is necessary to create a fairer process for forming a union. "It's time to adjust the playing field back to a level where both parties have equal voice," says Goldstein.

Glenn Spencer, executive director of the Workforce Freedom Initiative at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has strongly opposed the bill, agrees on its significance. "It would be the biggest change since the 1930s," he says. But opponents of the bill argue that it would impose unfair and burdensome costs on businesses of all sizes.

Just how much do small-business owners need to be concerned about the Employee Free Choice Act? Some small-business advocacy groups have stressed its potential costliness. Raymond J. Keating, chief economist for the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, has said that "in the long run, both business owners and employees would suffer" if the bill was passed because it would "boost costs, restrain productivity," and make businesses "less competitive."

But others say that this is overstating how many businesses the bill would affect. Dawn Rivers Baker, author of the MicroEnterprise Journal, has written that "the vast majority of small businesses just too small to have to worry about" the issue of unionizing.

FULL story at link.