URGE KEY SENATORS TO VOTE "NO" ON EFCA AND "NO" ON ANY ALERNATIVE/COMPROMISE 

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 am writing to register my strong opposition to the so-called Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) as well as alternative "compromise" versions that are currently being discussed that still require employees to agree to binding arbitration and ultimately the will of government arbitrators dictating the terms of the contract which they cannot even vote to accept or reject. I am against this ill-conceived proposal (S. 560) and all the "compromise" versions I have heard about.

Under both EFCA and the "compromise" versions I have heard about, once a union is certified, the employer and the union have only 120 days to reach an agreement before 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 binding the arbitration provisions in EFCA.

For these reasons, I urge you not to support in any way the Employee Free Choice Act, S. 560, or so-called "compromise" versions of EFCA with the same bad provisions.

Now is the time for business and labor to work together to keep jobs, not turn important decisions over to outsiders from the federal government. Feel free to contact me if you would like additional information about how this legislation may impact our community, my company and my employees. EFCA is clearly a very bad idea.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
March 11, 2009