When introduced, FMI President and CEO, Leslie G. Sarasin said "Legislators who support EFCA will detrimentally harm the most basic tenet of democracies such as ours -- the right to a secret ballot -- and will inflict further damage on the nation's struggling economy. This bill would increase burdens and costs on job creators, invite intimidation and coercion into the workplace, devastate small businesses and result in the loss of millions of jobs," ... "America's highest priority is job retention and the survival and growth of our small businesses, which create the most jobs in our country."

We will continue to keep you updated.

You are welcome, and encouraged, to make this letter more personal by including examples of how passage of this legislation could hurt your business.

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I wish to advise you of my strong opposition to the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (H. R. 1409 - S. 560) that has been introduced in the House and Senate respectively. I am against these proposals because they will deny employees the democratic right to a federally supervised secret ballot election on the important question of whether they want union representation. The secret ballot is the cornerstone of our democracy and it ensures workers will have a fair election, free from interference, coercion and intimidation from employers as well as unions.

In place of the secret ballot, EFCA imposes a card check scheme, and once a union is certified, the employer and the union have only 120 days to reach an agreement before facing the prospects of being forced into binding arbitration. This means federal government arbitrators who likely have no understanding about running grocery stores will impose a mandatory, two-year contract on my company and workers which will dictate wages, work rules and benefits. Neither my company nor my associates will have the opportunity to vote on this contract. I am against the binding arbitration provisions in EFCA.

Finally, the EFCA legislation imposes severe penalties on businesses, but not on unions for violations that might occur during the union recognition process. This is clearly unfair to employers, especially those who are not familiar with unionizing campaigns and the National Labor Relations Act.

For these reasons, I urge you not to support in any way the Employee Free Choice Act. These proposals are terribly flawed and cannot be fixed by amendments or compromise. If EFCA is enacted into law, it will result in job losses and more unemployment at a time when our economy is in a deep recession. Now is not the time to drive up costs on businesses who are struggling to stay afloat. Instead, the time is now for employees and employers to work together to resolve economic and workplace challenges. Reject EFCA. It is an anti-worker proposal.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
March 11, 2009