Tweet

Protecting Your Employees and Company in the Face of Big Labor's Ambitious Legislative Agenda

Written by: Jennifer Loftus

Article Overview: Changes in labor laws are only a few months away. With the incoming Democratic administration and Congress, these laws that were once on the back burner are now at the forefront. Be ready for these changes, and this article will help you prepare so none of the impending changes will affect your organization.

Protecting Your Employees and Company in the Face of Big Labor's Ambitious Legislative Agenda

Following the November elections, the business community has been flooded with recommendations about how to respond to anticipated legislative changes under the new Administration and Congress. Many of these recommendations could be drastic and cost prohibitive, especially during current economic conditions. As an alternative, employers should consider a somewhat more balanced approach, one that will pay dividends, regardless of the specific changes adopted during the coming months.

After devoting huge resources to support President-elect Obama and the new Congress, Organized Labor expects support for its agenda. Among those items at the top of Labor’s priority list is the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which could eliminate secret ballot union elections, enabling unions to organize by convincing or coercing a majority of employees to representation cards; changing the rules of bargaining to impose mandatory interest arbitration on parties who do not reach agreement with 130 days; and subjecting employers to increased penalties and remedial relief. No matter what final form they take, all of these proposals will present significant new threats to employers.

Some pundits project that a compromise bill will pass, retaining secret ballot elections, but allow just 10 days before an election instead of the current 42 days. Such a change would severely restrict an employer’s opportunities to respond to a union’s dubious promises and tactics before employees cast their votes. Even if EFCA does not pass in its present form, employers should be thinking now about how to preserve their union-free environment in the face of the coming challenges. To do this, they must develop a plan, re-enforce their pro-employee track record and educate everyone in their organization, from senior leadership to brand new entry-level, about the Company’s position regarding unionization.

We cannot get into detail in this space, but at minimum, these are steps that every employer should be planning or taking now to prepare to the changes that are coming:

1. It is still not too late to oppose EFCA, through industry groups, Chambers of Commerce and contributions to PACs.

2. Educate senior leadership about the serious impact EFCA can have on your Company’s business future. Failure to act can result in an election being certified and an arbitrator dictating your compensation and benefit levels.

3. Reduce your vulnerability to organizing activity by ensuring that you have effective, responsive employee-communication systems in place; update policies to be sure that they are legal and “fair” (this is no small challenge in the fact of new or anticipated changes in many laws, including the ADA, FMLA, Title VII, Equal Pay Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, among others). Your goal should be to have employees who will come to you, not some outside party, when they have concerns at work.

4. Train supervisors regarding changes in the law and reinforce the critical role they play in maintaining a union-free environment. This training must include reasons why the Company opposes unionization and what supervisors should and should not say in responding to employee questions or signs of union activity.

5. Begin to prepare and deliver communications to your employees about your Company’s position regarding unionization and the reasons behind that position. Employees also need to understand the importance of protecting their signatures and hearing all sides of an issue before making a decision that could affect them and the Company for many years.

The key to success is to be proactive and to make sure that systems are in place to recognize organizing efforts, identify issues that could be exploited along the way, and to effectively address those issues so as to render third party representation unnecessary.

But if employers fail to take preemptive action, they will likely find themselves unionized and possibly presenting information to an arbitrator who will unilaterally shape their work rules, wages, and benefits. The potential traumatic business impact should give Human Resources professionals and General Counsel enough ammunition to persuade all managers and executives to take the threat presented by this proposed legislation agenda seriously.

Kevin Troutman is a former human resources executive and a partner with Fisher & Phillips, LLP, one of the oldest and largest law firms in the nation to devote its practice exclusively to the representation of management in labor and employment matters. If you want to contact Kevin, he can be reached at Ktroutman@laborlawyers.com.

Related Articles
  The agenda
  The Sales Meeting Agenda
  Who sets your agenda?
  Online Business and Freedom in America
  Not Enough Meetings

Article Tags: balanced approach, ballot elections, business community, choice act, compromise bill, dividends, economic conditions, efca, free choice, free environment, interest arbitration, legislative changes, new administration, obama, organized labor, president elect, promises, pundits, secret ballot, union elections



Related Forum Posts
Re: How to be green? - Hi Evan It’s a great topic especially when it comes to going green and saving our planet. We all have a role to play and we are happy about the fact that we are into it. We have recently made our workplace greener and in the process the following changes have been implemented – 1. We provide paper invoices only if customers ask for them. Otherwise, all our invoicing is done electronically (a PDF via e-mail). 2. We have replaced the Paper Cups at our Cafeteria with Mugs for not only our in-house requirements but also for our clients. 3. We have also made it a Company policy to use only eco-friendly electronic appliances and that includes bulbs, air conditioners. 4. We are in the process of putting it into the Policy that the Employees will have to take to other transportation media – other than their personal vehicles – on at least a day per week to office. Hope we are on the right track. Regards,
Different Hats - CEO Sales & Marketing & Leadership Development Company Strategic Vision 10 Alliances & Growth Strategies 10 Hiring & Managing People 8 Mentoring 8-9 Strategic Planning for Clients 10 Execution of Marketing Campaigns 9-10 (i have great people who do the nitty gritty) Financial Management 9 Bookkeeping 3 (outsourced as I really hate the fine details like GST0 Administrative Follow Up 6-7 (again have great staff) Writing & Publishing 9 (getting better all the time!) Speaking 10 (so I have been told) Self Promotion 9-10 Web development & Promotion 6-7 (learning more and have brought on players who are 10+) Babysitting Employees (1 - wont do it, that's why I work so hard to hire and motivate the people I have) Great topic Kevin!! Jude
How to valuate a business - Hi Garth - here is how we did it at Northern Crown Capital when I was helping them raise venture capital for Toronto-based entrepreneurs. Assume the start date is 2003 so 2008 projections are 5 years out: How Northern Crown Capital Valuates a Business 2008 Financial Projections Earnings Before Tax $5,865,000 Tax Rate 42% Taxes $2,463,300 Net Earnings $3,401,700 Amount Seeking to Raise Today $3,500,000 Discounted Value of Future Opportunity, 5 Years Out 2008 P/E Ratio 15 Value of Company in 2008 $51,025,500 Discount Rate Applied 30% Year 2008 $51,025,500 Year 2007 $35,717,850 Year 2006 $25,002,495 Year 2005 $17,501,747 Year 2004 $12,251,223 Value of Company at Investment in 2003 $12,251,223 Less: Investment Amount $3,500,000 Present Value $8,751,223 Discount for Risk & Private Company 40% Less: Discount for Risk & Private Company $3,500,489 Private Company Value $5,250,734 Present Value (What the Owner Keeps) $5,250,734 60.00% Financing (What the Investor Gets) $3,500,000 40.00% Total $8,750,734 100.00% I hope this helps!
Re: Should you hire ambitious workers or employees with no goals - I think its ok to hire an ambitious person,if he doesnt have a personal goal but understands the company's goal and ready to learn the principles of the company.Ambitious workers are always craving for success but they need to be well supervised because ambitious workers don't need much movitation but must be guided by experienced supervisor.
LinkedIn Useless - I've been on LinkedIn for about a year and have found it useless. I've upload a few contacts and have some friends conneted to me but no business has come from it and most of the requests I made got stopped somewhere along the way. Face to face networking is the best way!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Designing Employee-Enhancing Training Programs

What I Really Want Is...

10 Reasons Your SBA Loan May Be Declined

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.