Many small businesses are immersed in the day to day transactions done to parry competitive moves and maintaining market share.  Still others who have not yet discovered the value of a B2B CFO partner and involved in hiring and firing employees, tracking down accounting entries, scheduling payments of invoices and everything else that distracts from running the business.

It is very important to be monitoring the actions of new legislators despite your particular political views.  One real threat to small and mid-sized businesses is the pending "Employee Free Choice Act".  While Unions contend the Act removes "unfair advantages" of employers, in fact, it removes the fairness and principles of arms length bargaining that has been the hallmark of the National Labor Relations Act.  This Act, passed in 1935, was the vehicle that allowed strong Union growth after World War II.  Depending on your point of view, the unions of that time have done their job so well that many of the changes they advocated have been broadly implemented, leading to a strong demand for union protection.  Without that demand, the businesses that are unions suffer sharp declines in revenue.

Their reaction to this decline is to try to create through legislation a truly unfair advantage to compel companies to accept their services.  The proposed law amends the NLRA in the following manner:

Today - If a union wants to be recognized, it must obtain signatures from 30% of employees asking for an election.  Once it does, the employer (1) may recognize the union or (2) either the union or employer may request a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.  The election normally takes place within six weeks and if the union gets 50% or more of the vote, the NLRB certifies that the union represents the employees, granting a number of privileges and protections to the employees.

Proposed - If a union gets 50%+1 of employees to sign a card requesting an election with no time frame limitation, the union automatically represents all the employees.  You literally could leave work Monday and have a union Tuesday morning.

Today - If a union is certified or accepted, normal good faith bargaining takes place until an agreement is reached.  If no agreement, the union could strike or the employer can lock out workers.

Proposed - If no agreement is reached in 90 days, either party may request a Federal mediator to conduct the negotiation.  If no agreement is reached within 30 days, the negotiation is assigned to binding arbitration where a third party will draft a contract that you must accept for a period of two years.  There is no choice in the matter.

 

Today - If an employer is determined to have committed an unfair labor practice that employer must pay the employee back wages.

Proposed - The Act first makes these charges a priority of the NLRB.  If an employer is found to have committed an unfair labor practice, the penalty becomes triple the back pay to the employee.  It also provides fines of $20,000 per offense against the employer, and here is where the fairness comes in, it provides no penalties to unions who commit unfair labor practices.

The solution to this is to make sure your Senator and Representative know how you feel about the issue.  The next solution is to find a good labor lawyer to help you set up practices to discourage your employees from signing,

Your B2B CFO has years of experience in dealing with these issues and can help you navigate through the ongoing issues.

Many small businesses are immersed in the day to day transactions done to parry competitive moves and maintaining market share.  Still others who have not yet discovered the value of a B2B CFO partner and involved in hiring and firing employees, tracking down accounting entries, scheduling payments of invoices and everything else that distracts from running the business.

It is very important to be monitoring the actions of new legislators despite your particular political views.  One real threat to small and mid-sized businesses is the pending "Employee Free Choice Act".  While Unions contend the Act removes "unfair advantages" of employers, in fact, it removes the fairness and principles of arms length bargaining that has been the hallmark of the National Labor Relations Act.  This Act, passed in 1935, was the vehicle that allowed strong Union growth after World War II.  Depending on your point of view, the unions of that time have done their job so well that many of the changes they advocated have been broadly implemented, leading to a strong demand for union protection.  Without that demand, the businesses that are unions suffer sharp declines in revenue.

Their reaction to this decline is to try to create through legislation a truly unfair advantage to compel companies to accept their services.  The proposed law amends the NLRA in the following manner:

Today - If a union wants to be recognized, it must obtain signatures from 30% of employees asking for an election.  Once it does, the employer (1) may recognize the union or (2) either the union or employer may request a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.  The election normally takes place within six weeks and if the union gets 50% or more of the vote, the NLRB certifies that the union represents the employees, granting a number of privileges and protections to the employees.

Proposed - If a union gets 50%+1 of employees to sign a card requesting an election with no time frame limitation, the union automatically represents all the employees.  You literally could leave work Monday and have a union Tuesday morning.

Today - If a union is certified or accepted, normal good faith bargaining takes place until an agreement is reached.  If no agreement, the union could strike or the employer can lock out workers.

Proposed - If no agreement is reached in 90 days, either party may request a Federal mediator to conduct the negotiation.  If no agreement is reached within 30 days, the negotiation is assigned to binding arbitration where a third party will draft a contract that you must accept for a period of two years.  There is no choice in the matter.

 

Today - If an employer is determined to have committed an unfair labor practice that employer must pay the employee back wages.

Proposed - The Act first makes these charges a priority of the NLRB.  If an employer is found to have committed an unfair labor practice, the penalty becomes triple the back pay to the employee.  It also provides fines of $20,000 per offense against the employer, and here is where the fairness comes in, it provides no penalties to unions who commit unfair labor practices.

The solution to this is to make sure your Senator and Representative know how you feel about the issue.  The next solution is to find a good labor lawyer to help you set up practices to discourage your employees from signing,

Your B2B CFO has years of experience in dealing with these issues and can help you navigate through the ongoing issues.

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