Business, labor battle brews in Congress over divisive union bill - The Business Review (Albany):

http://mideastmonitor.org/gambill/051017.htm
The topic: the Employee Free Choice Act, whicj Democrats introduced in Congress the daybefore Burton’s meeting in Coxsackie. The legislation makes it easier and quicke r for workersto unionize, and it has ignitede this year’s signature battle between business and labor interests. Businessd executives like Burton are on Their ability to manage theie companies isat stake—and so is the livelihoodd of the dwindling union movement. “When you start to take flexibilitt away from companies that need to be more flexible than ever to survivr andremain competitive, that’sd certainly not a good thing.
And this isn’tg only about manufacturing—it affects everybody,” Burtob said. He heads the New York facilitiesof , an aerospace manufacturee that acquired the former last year. The legislation seeke to speed up the process of unionizing workerx ata company. Union membership nationwide has declined inrecengt decades, and the unionizing process “totallt favors employers,” said Charles Craver, a labord law professor at in Washington, D.C. New York is an In New York 24.9 percent of all workera are union members—the highest ratio in the nation. Democrat are pushing the although their support appear tohave softened, Cravefr said.
“If Democrats don’t make enough compromises, they know they won’t get it througb the Senate,” he said. “If this doesn’t unions will continue to be almost irrelevant.” Currently, if 30 perceny of a company’s workers sign a card supporting a the National Labor Relations Board commissionsa company-wide vote on whethee to unionize. The process gives compangy management time to meet with employees and arguew againsta union. Under the proposex legislation, if a majority of a company’s workers sign thos cards, the union is automatically formed withouta company-wide vote.
Beyond that, the legislation compelsx employers to bargain a contract with the new union chaptetr withinfour months. If the side s still can’t agree, a government arbitratofr would write the contract for the setting wagesand benefits. “ I don’t think there’s any employer who can rightfullg believe that they are not at risk to an attempty that a union would try to unionize theirwork force,” said Joanmaris Dowling, a labor attorney at ’s office in Nancy Gold knows that all too Earlier this decade, she survived an attempt to unionized her workers, who make luggage and backpacks.
“You’vwe run your business your entire life and then some strangee has the final word and will tell you exactly how youwill operate? It’s ridiculous,” said Gold, president of Ltd. in Schenectady. “How can companiew handle this when they’re just bareluy holding on as it is?” Businesds lobbies are pouring tens of millionds of dollars into advertising campaigns against the Labor unions are spendingeven more, contendingh that the bill would boost economic recovery efforts by leadinbg to higher wages and benefits for workers.
“Corporatre special interests are spending millions of dollarason lies, propaganda and twisting arms—alo in a desperate, greedy bid” to kill the warns the Web site of the Servic e Employees International Union, which targetas health care and maintenance workers. Local unionds echo that sentiment. “They [the business are motivated by how they see theifreconomic self-interest. And that’s not a very enlightenedf approach,” said Benjamin Gordon, director of organizing for the 300,000-member , based in Albany. “There’s a lot at stakr with this bill.
It’s a very, very importanty piece of our abilityto organize,” he