Wal-Mart Joins Campaign to Defeat EFCA;
Labor Must Widen Appeal to Other Groups

Organized labor Is conducting a very impressive election campaign this year in the hope that, if the Democrats win the White House and enlarge their majority in Congress, unions will be entitled to a significant payoff for their efforts: namely, passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, when the new Congress gets down to business in the spring of 2009.

Unions desperately need passage of the EFCA, because they maintain it is next to impossible to recruit unorganized workers today, due to fierce opposition from employers. That's why most of them are holding off on major organizing projects until they get congressional relief.

But it is clear that Corporate America is determined to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act, no matter which party wins the 2008 presidential elections. The latest corporation to surface as an outspoken foe of EFCA is Wal-Mart, the giant retailer and the nation's largest employer.

Wal-Mart is mobilizing thousands of store managers and department heads to inform their employees across the country that if EFCA passes, they would be forced to join unions, pay high union dues and assessments, participate in strikes and be under the control of union "bosses." Unionization could also mean fewer jobs as labor costs would rise. These are among the usual arguments used by employers to thwart union organizing campaigns.

"We believe EFCA is a bad bill and we have been on record as opposing it for some time," said David Tover, a Wal-Mart spokesman. "We feel educating our associates about the bill is the right thing to do."

An EFCA bill was first introduced in Congress in 2003 and came to a vote in 2007. It easily passed through the House of Representatives but was blocked by a filibuster in the Senate and the threat of a veto by President Bush.

Employers Mount Major Campaign to Defeat EFCA

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has made the defeat of EFCA its top legislative priority. In the past six months, it has flown state and local Chamber members to Washington to lobby members of Congress. The Chamber began airing a television ad in Minnesota and plans to run ads in other states. Right-to-Work groups are sure to become heavily involved in the massive anti-labor lobbying campaign. Some business organizations are said to have raised $50 million to kill EFCA.

Unions have lobbied Congress largely through e-mails, letters and phone calls from union members for at least three years. They are also collecting a million signatures to a petition in support of the Employee Free Choice, which will be presented to Congress. One glaring defect in the campaign is that it is almost exclusively limited to workers who are already union members, and there is hardly any participation from unorganized workers, who have the most to benefit from passage of the EFCA,

The triumph of the Democrats in the 2008 elections may not be enough to ensure that the Employee Free Choice Act will become law. We don't think e-mails and petitions alone will convince Congress to turn a deaf ear to corporate lobbyists and pass the EFCA,

Unions are involved in a high-stakes gamble they can't afford to lose. In the next few months, they must generate broad support for EFCA by convincing the American public that the legislation would remedy a gross injustice to working people. It's a challenge that unions must meet.

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