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Big Business: Two-Faced Talk on Arbitration
The big-money corporate interests against the Employee Free Choice Act are continuing their disinformation campaign, throwing around misleading rhetoric and bad-faith arguments, seeking to confuse policymakers, the press and the public.
The latest Big Business tactic is to attack the provision of the Employee Free Choice Act that guarantees workers who form a union a fair first contract—a vital provision, because more than 50 percent of workers who form a union don’t have a contract after one year and more than a third still don’t have a contract after two years.
Corporations are crying about the possibility they might have to take part in arbitration with employees if they don’t reach a first contract after three months of talks—even though they’re enthusiastic about arbitration in a wide variety of circumstances where they have the advantage.
In a new ad running in key newspapers, American Rights at Work again challenges corporate hypocrisy on arbitration. When it’s a big corporate entity against an individual, as in credit card disputes or personal injury claims, corporate spokesgroups like the Chamber of Commerce say arbitration is a way to settle any sort of dispute “fairly, quickly and inexpensively.” But when it’s time to bargain over better wages and benefits for their workers, these same groups are viciously opposed to even the possibility of requesting arbitration.
As we’ve said before, the Employee Free Choice Act provides a process to help first-time bargainers reach an agreement, through mediation and, for issues the parties are unable to resolve on their own, arbitration. The reason we need first-contract arbitration is to create an incentive for companies to bargain voluntarily with their workers. Arbitration would only occur under the Employee Free Choice Act if either side requests it, after months of negotiations.
Again we ask: If it’s good enough for banks, credit card companies and insurance companies to use in disputes with their customers, why is arbitration so terrifying to corporations when it comes to their own employees? The answer is easy: Because right now, corporations have all the power, and they’re not eager to give workers a share of it.
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2 Comments
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If there was ever a time for the Employee Free Choice Act, that time is now. Not only is it nearly impossible to form a union without fear and intimidation by employers, but union-busting has grown into a $4 billion a year business in the U.S. alone. Companies that previously had good relationships with their union employees have been emboldened by weak labor laws. One of those is the McGraw-Hill Companies. Read more at:
http://nabetcwa54.org
This debate reminds me of organizing drives. The company cannot tell the truth or acknowlege the truth and win. It is all lies and spin. Employers wanting to protect the rights of employees to have a secret ballot steals the show.