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Employee Free Choice Act In June, 2007, the U.S. Senate voted 51-48 on a procedural rule to reject the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act,” (H.R. 800/S. 1041), a measure that would have eliminated the right of employees to a secret-ballot election when deciding when a group of employees are deciding "yes" or "no" about joining a union. EFCA will end more than 70 years of precedent established under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935, and it wiil repeal employees’ freedom to vote on union membership in a federally supervised, secret ballot election when deciding whether or not to join a union. A similar measure is sitting in the desk drawers of minority members of the Guam Legislature. If EFCA passes, unions can strong-arm employees individually -- in the employer's parking lot; in bars and restaurants; at home -- to sign a card saying the employee favors the idea of unionizing. EFCA is not about fairness or helping workers. It is about union bosses seeking to increase their power by forcing unwilling employees into a union, where they will be required to pay dues. Union membership nationally has been declining. In 1979, 24 percent of the nation's workforce was unionized. The vast majority of unionization has been government workers, with 36 percent of them unionized nationally, versus 7 percent among private employers. Why? Unionized workplaces are less efficient and competitive...consumers have been voting with their feet. Non-union employers like Toyota, Honda, Southwest Airlines and Wal-Mart have been growing quickly by taking away the market share of GM, Ford and the "legacy" airlines and unionized retailers. Government workers continue to join unions for the same reasons private-sector used to -- incompetent supervisors and managers who have made no effort to gain the trust, respect and confidence of employees who can help an organization grow with products and service that beats the competition. Civil servants are insulated from competition -- if you don't like the taxes the government charges, you can't just walk down the block and take your business to a competing government.
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