Retail groups to lobby against pro-labor bill (that makes it easier to unionize workers)

[Omaha Steve]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081105/election_retail.html?

Wednesday November 5, 3:41 pm ET
By Anne D'Innocenzio, AP Business Writer
Retail industry to step up fight against bill that makes it easier to unionize workers

NEW YORK (AP) -- With Barack Obama's election as president and Democrats controlling Congress, retailers and industry trade groups are bracing for a fight on Capitol Hill next year against legislation that would make it easier to unionize workers.

The labor-backed Employee Free Choice Act would allow labor organizations to unionize workplaces without secret ballot elections. It was co-sponsored by Obama, and opposed by Republican nominee John McCain.

Approved in the House of Representatives last year but left stalled in the Senate, it is expected to be taken up by the new House as early as January and could be up for a vote in the Senate by February.

Retail officials have been lobbying against the legislation for the past two years, saying that making it easier for workers to unionize would create costs they can't afford to incur amid a deteriorating economic environment.

"The issue is not whether unions have a place, but how employees go about choosing whether or not to join the union," said Rob Green, vice president of government and political affairs at the National Retail Federation, whose members include Macy's Inc., Home Depot Inc. and Sears Holdings Corp. "This is bad competitively."

Green noted that the trade group will continue to try to sway lawmakers, particularly in the Senate where they have more of chance of quashing the bill, about the legislation.

FULL story at link.