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eedom to Form UnionsWhy is majority sign-up a better wayto protect employees’ free choice?Majority sign-up minimizes workplace conflict.This process avoids coercion and harassment ofemployees and eliminates some of the delays that frustrateworkers’ efforts to form unions. Majority sign-up has beenshown to reduce conflict, coercion and harassment aswell as the delays, business disruptions and legal costsassociated with the NLRB “election” process.Majority sign-up is democratic. Under majoritysign-up, a union is formed only if a majority of allemployees signs written authorization forms. Employeesvote to have the union represent them by signing theforms. Any employee who does not sign a writtenauthorization form is presumed not to support unionrepresentation.Are workers more likely tobe coerced to sign cardsunder majority sign-up, asopponents say?No. In fact, academic studies show that workerswho organize under majority sign-up feel less pressurefrom co-workers to support the union than workerswho organize under the NLRB election process.Workers who vote by majority sign-up also reportfar less pressure or coercion from management tooppose the union than workers who go through NLRBelections. In addition, it is illegal for anyone to coerceemployees to sign a union authorization card. Anyperson who breaks the law will be subject to penaltiesunder the Employee Free Choice Act.Once a majority of workers indicates they want aunion by signing cards, the company should not be ableto drag the process out for months as they can under amanagement-controlled election process. The will of themajority should be recognized.Who supports the EmployeeFree Choice Act?The Employee Free Choice Act has the supportof hundreds of members of Congress of both parties,academics and historians, civil and human rightsorganizations such as the NAACP and HumanRightsWatch, most major faith denominations and 69percent of the American public. (For a detailed list ofsupporters, visit www.EmployeeFreeChoiceAct.org.)Who Opposes theEmployee Free Choice Act?Corporate front groups are waging a major campaign tostop the Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800). They do notwant workers to have the freedom to choose for themselveswhether to bargain through unions for better wages, benefitsand working conditions. The anti-union network includesdiscredited groups such as the Center for Union Facts, ledby lobbyist Richard Berman, who is infamous for fightingagainst drunk driving laws and consumer and healthprotections, and the National Right to Work Committee andFoundation, the country’s oldest organization dedicatedexclusively to destroying unions.Why Workers Need the Freedom toForm Unions and BargainJoining together in a union to bargain for better wages,benefits and working conditions is the best opportunityworking people have to get ahead.Today, good jobs are vanishing and health carecoverage and retirement security are slipping out of reach.Only 38 percent of the public says their families are gettingahead financially and less than a quarter believes the nextgeneration will be better off.But workers who belong to unions earn 30 percentmore than nonunion workers. They are 62 percent morelikely to have employer-provided health coverage and fourtimes more likely to have pensions.All workers should have the freedom to decide forthemselves whether to form unions to bargain for abetter life.May/June 2008 9