Proponents, opponents gird for battle over Employee Free Choice Act

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20090628/NEWS01/906280303/Proponents--opponents-gird-for-battle-over-Employee-Free-Choice-Act

By JOHN S. ADAMS Tribune Capitol Bureau • June 28, 2009

HELENA — Last month employees at Teeples IGA Foodliner in Browning held a secret ballot election to form a union.

Some of the store's employees wanted collective bargaining power so they could negotiate for higher wages and employer-provided health care benefits, similar to those that unionized employees at Vans IGA in Great Falls receive.

Of the 54 Teeples employees, 31 signed union cards, expressing their desire to form a union.

According to union organizers, Teeples managers held a mandatory two-hour in-store meeting two days before the election. During the meeting, managers tried to convince the employees to vote against the union. After the votes were counted, the union was defeated by a two-vote margin.

Sara Thody is the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union organizer who led the unionization effort. She said she probably would have succeeded in unionizing Teeples if a proposed law under consideration in Congress — known as the Employee Free Choice Act — was in place.

"(Current labor law) makes it extremely difficult to have to go through all the processes to form a union," Thody said. "I can't require workers to show up for a two-hour meeting on company time to explain to them how the union would help them. It's not a level playing field."

Teeples managers were unavailable for comment last week.

Supporters of the legislation say the law would level the imbalance between employers and workers, and strengthen the middle class. The measure would do away with the secret ballot in favor of just signing a card. Under current law, employers can request a secret-ballot election, which often occurs months after employees sign union cards.

FULL 3 page story at link.