Whether it Passes or Not, Employee Free Choice Act Can Present Significant Challenges to Health Care Employers

Experts in talent communications and labor law host free Webinar to assist health care HR professionals.

New York, NY (PRWEB) April 22, 2009 — Bernard Hodes Group, a leading provider of integrated talent solutions, and Ford & Harrison LLP, a national labor and employment law firm, will conduct a webinar to raise awareness on how health care organizations can best prepare for current and future efforts of union organizing. The session will include a discussion of the current state of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). The webinar, featured on leading industry site hr.com, will take place on Thursday, April 23rd at 3 pm EST. Participation is free and registration can be completed at: http://emarketing.hodes.com/redirects/efca_0409.asp.

More info: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/04/prweb2345814.htm

This would be the third, if not fourth, webinar I have taken on the topic. Interestingly, they are all slightly differerent and offer nuanced information that can help you understand the arguments and counter-arguments surrounding EFCA — which you can later use in postulating your own communications to employees as part of a coordinated campaign internally.

Technorati Tags: employee, Employee Free Choice Act, labor, law, legal

Here’s the description from You Tube:

Former union organizers “spill the beans” on the employee free choice act and the intimidation tactics used by unions to “psychologically batter” employees into signing union cards.

The video describes fairly rough and tumble tactics that will probably fall outside of the normal experience of employee communicators. Hence, it’s eye opening for those in HR and internal communications who are wondering how union organizing might unfold under EFCA, the Employee Free Choice Act.

What are the organizers tried and true tactics mentioned in the video?

• get “in your face”
• peer pressure
• exploit vulnerabilities
• manipulate people
• recruit employee leaders
• show that co-workers have signed cards
• harass people at home
• psychological battering

Video link

Technorati Tags: labor, language, union

So, it is refreshing to run across an online comic that simplifies this complex concept into something easily comprehensible. Produced by the AFL-CIO, it “breaks down” the topic into digestible chunks that just about anyone can understand. That’s important, especially if employees have mixed or unknown educational backgrounds. Legal language can be inscrutable to the average person. I must hand it to the union: they explained this artfully.

That’s not to say the communication is free of bias. It represents the AFL-CIO’s point of view. Employees seem appealing and full of smiles, and employers come across as politicians full of cash and power. It’s stereotypical, but so what? Management communications are tilted toward their point of view too.

Aside from the appealing graphics (by Ken Westphal), the language is succinct and uses analogies effectively. When the AFL-CIO wants to make a pointed remark about management, the type changes color to red… the color of danger. There’s an emotional impact to that color, and they employ it well.

To see the entire online comic, visit this link.

Lawyers are Legal Professionals, Not Creatives

There’s a lesson here. Typically, management calls upon its legal team to draw up a strategy to deal with union organizing. Lawyers communicate for the courtroom, not the court of public opinion. Their communication style is typically intellectual… mixed with legal jargon. That tone falls flat with most hourly workers. Legalese lacks the emotional appeal and simplicity to be effective rhetoric.

That is not to say I would enter a labor situation without an attorney. It just means that I would not practice law, and I would not advise an attorney to practice communications. They think they do a good job, and they do on their playing field. But on my turf, in the hearts and minds of employees, I’d far rather use a comic than a legal brief if I want regular people to understand. (Show me a lawyer who would file a comic brief; case closed).

Stealing the AFL-CIO’s  Thunder

One topic that seems perfect for comic treatment (which does not mean funny… we mean simple) is the education of your employees about the value of their signature on those union authorization cards (”card check”). I can easily image a paycheck stuffer in the style of a comic simplifying this complex concept.

Communication professionals need the full arsenal of creative approaches at their disposal.

Link to full AFL-CIO comic

Technorati Tags: communication, Employee Communications, language

Technically, that appears to be false. What changes is who gets to make the choice. Who chooses whether or not a secret ballot election is held under EFCA? The employee, not the employer. That represents a tectonic shift… a power struggle for control.

Media Matters, a liberal watchdog group, tackled FOX News over this point:

In fact, the legislation would not eliminate employees’ right to a secret ballot; as The New York Times reported, “Business groups have attacked the legislation because it would take away employers’ right to insist on holding a secret-ballot election to determine whether workers favored unionization” [emphasis added]. Indeed, as the Christian Science Monitor has noted, “[t]he proposed law gives workers a choice of forming a union through majority sign-up (’card check’) or an election by secret ballot.”
http://mediamatters.org/items/200903120011?f=h_top

No matter which side of this debate you are on, I strongly suggest you visit the link above for the full analysis. The issue of choice, and whether or not EFCA rescinds it, is the major argument for many pro-business groups.

It appears to me that the issue is not about choice, but rather, about who chooses. It’s a relevant distinction for your communications. Until we sort this out, I would not employ the argument about choice in any statements.

The Media Matters analysis corroborates what I have seen elsewhere:

• Choice is a moot issue
• Currently, employers are not required to hold an election. They can voluntarily recognize a union (few do).
• Under EFCA, employees could request an election if they wanted one. The employer would no longer have this option.
• Critical to understand: the decision on whether or not to hold an election, a.k.a. “the choice”, shifts from the employer to the employees under EFCA.
• Absent an election, the employer has no time frame in which to campaign for itself, against unionization.
• Union authorization cards (”card check”) don’t have an expiration date… organizers could (in theory) hold onto them until they achieved the requisite 50 percent + one count.
• Hence, under EFCA, the culture of employee communications would have to shift to continious education mode.

For now, I still advocate pro-active and preemptive communication about EFCA with your employees. You can’t react to cards that have already been signed…

Technorati Tags: Employee Free Choice Act, language

Video Link

SCRIPT:

SCREEN: Headline: Frantic Day on Wall Street as Banks Fail (Herald Tribune, 9/15/08) Ticker: Bear Stearns… Lehman Bros… AIG… Merrill Lynch

NARRATOR: Corporate greed… it’s caused a meltdown of our economy. Just look at the news or your retirement account. Now greedy CEOs want to prevent workers from joining unions to level the playing field. Their new scheme to keep wages low?

SCREEN: CEOs spreading lies

NARRATOR:  Spreading lies about the Employee Free Choice Act.

SCREEN: Employee Free Choice Act protects workers’ right to choose a secret ballot election

NARRATOR: The truth is the Employee Free Choice Act absolutely protects workers’ right to choose a secret ballot election

SCREEN: workers choose, not bosses

NARRATOR:  but the choice would be the workers, not their bosses.

SCREEN:  www.FreeChoiceAct.org

NARRATOR: That’s the secret big business doesn’t want you to know.

SCREEN: Paid for by American Rights at Work

What’s the Message?

Two are apparent from this ad:

1. Corporate greed
2. CEOs lie

I believe I have seen these same themes employed elsewhere. That would not surprise me, but I need to confirm before making any pronouncements. One imagines that union proponents would adhere to key messages in a coordinated effort. Already, that trend had occurred to me when seeing other advocacy pieces using variations on the same language, “(EFCA) protects the middle class.”

As I told a staunch conservative, who fiercely disputed my opinion, big business (and specifically, financial institutions) gave unions an open door with the financial scandals of late 2008 that continue to plague our economy. The average employee, without access to bonus money and corporate jets, is likely to feel resentful and think that the pendulum of capitalism has swung too far.

His rebuttal centered on union support for Democrats. That’s true too. Seldom is there but one driving force behind a major change like EFCA. Conditions have to be just right… the alignment of multiple factors.

Communicators would be wise to use the reverse tact in internal vehicles, to counter these themes and help establish that:

1. This company runs for everyone’s benefit, not for the greed of a few (catalog why the employer is a good one and tell that story)
2. Our CEO is trustworthy and supports fair wages and benefits, transparency, disclosure, open communications, et al.

The Conclusion of the Ad is Accurate

While you may not like the set-up, the premise about greed and lies, the conclusion of the ad is accurate. Under EFCA, workers would still be able to choose to have an election - just don’t count on it. Proponents are fiercely aligned on this point because it’s a technicality that has been mis-characterized as “no choice.”

The key to this is to understand that the choice would shift to employees under EFCA. Companies would lose the control they have under current law to call for a federally supervised election. Once union authorization cards are signed (”card check”), it’s not likely that employees would call for a vote of confirmation unless they disputed the signatures on those cards.

And therein lies the major change… control. Under EFCA, control would shift to employees and away from management. That pretty much sums up what this entire issue is about. Who will control corporate America?

Technorati Tags: communication, Employee Free Choice Act, labor, Public Relations, union

Text:

• The so-called “employee Free Choice Act” or “card check” legislation would strip away the rights of workers to a federally supervised private ballot election when deciding whether or not to join a union.
• The “card check” system would allow union organizers to intimidate or coerce workers into signing authorization cards. There is no private ballot. There is no free choice.
• All workers deserve the fundamental American right to a federally supervised private ballot election. This right is guaranteed when voting in political elections; there is no reason why this right should be surrendered in the workplace.

I’m on the hunt for other examples of paycheck stuffers relevant for EFCA. Got one to share? Of particular interest is one for employees on the topic of their signature - it’s value, and why signing a union authorization card (”card check”) is an actual vote, not merely an expression of interest under the newly proposed EFCA legislation (i.e., represents a significant change in the law).

Image link

Technorati Tags: avoidance, communication, employee, Employee Communications, Employee Free Choice Act, labor, union, Union Free Workplace

UnionBook is the social networking site for trade unionists.  Unlike other social networks such as MySpace, FaceBook and Bebo, UnionBook is advertising-free, respects your privacy and is specifically designed to serve the trade union movement.  Use it to meet up with friends online, post comments to discussion forums, create a blog, upload photos and so on.
http://www.unionbook.org/pg/pages/view/201/

Another page offers more information on why an alternative was needed. It says that Facebook had already deleted some activist groups and blacklisted some accounts for campaign activity.

Here’s the part that anyone doing employee communication should note:

For example, you can create blogs here.  UnionBook offers free blogs to every trade union member, every branch, every shop steward and every union committee.

You can create groups and the groups themselves can have blogs, documents and discussion forums of their own.  In other words, mini-websites.  And highly interactive ones at that.

If you’re still on the fence about social media, be aware that employees now have their own social media outlet - one free of your messages, your positions, and your control. How will you respond?

Technorati Tags: employee, Employee Communications, Social Media, union

According to CEOs and their front groups, the fabric of our nation may well fall apart, all because of the Employee Free Choice Act.

In reality, the Employee Free Choice Act is a bipartisan, common sense economic recovery for working families that will pump billions into our nation’s economy.

Check out the video. SEUI paints CEOs as hysterical scare mongers.

I’ve seen other uses of social media by unionists and plan to start highlighting them. Note that unions appear to be adept at social media - it’s the next iteration of grassroots organizing. Their YouTube page links to a union-sponsored Web site where interested parties can sign up to receive more information from SEIU.

Technorati Tags: communication, Social Media, union

Then yesterday, there was a blast of buzz following a report on Politico. Both blogs and Twitter lit up in response, with supporters on both sides trumpeting their point of view. A union rally by the SEIU followed, then the president of the union, Andy Stern, appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC to discuss it.

Hmm, looks like a coordinated PR effort here to coincide with the introduction of the bill.

Warren Buffet, the investor, weighed in against EFCA on CNBC, (referring to it by its nickname, “card check”). It didn’t take long for that clip to circlulate the Net. Twitter spiked in traffic - the first real traction about EFCA in weeks.

One tweet dovetailed with my own views about why employers should care:

“Card Check would create a system whereby the employer would have little if any opportunity to campaign against unionizaition.”

It appears that the legislative battle is about to begin. That means it’s time for companies to get up to speed and into a state of readiness. For most, the recommended course of action is talking to your employees about EFCA and educating them about the value of their signature before they are approached to sign cards by union organizers. Because, once those cards are signed…

Technorati Tags: Employee Free Choice Act, labor, union

Someone whose work I admire spoke, and that’s what attracted me. Phillip B. Wilson and his firm, the Labor Relations Institute, have won around 10,000 union elections on behalf of management. Now, that’s a track record!

From the invitation:

Employee Free Forced Choice Act
A two-headed monster that’s bad for business and bad for employees

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn more from our expert panel of labor lawyers, labor relations specialists and public relations professionals on how this proposed legislation will impact business and employees.

http://mcafeetaft.info/09/090224_EFCA_Invite/EFCA_Invite.html

Really, I can’t recommend this overview any more highly. Trust me - if EFCA interests you, this will be sixty minutes well spent. Thanks to all the parties involved for taking a leadership position in advancing this issue - as I am fond of saying: pro-actively and preemptively.

Webcast link (UPDATE Ignore the date and click to play. It is archived and available on demand.)

Technorati Tags: Employee Free Choice Act