Facts
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do Ohioans need the Employee Free Choice Act?
Our laws were meant to protect workers’ freedom to belong to unions, but they haven’t kept up with Big Business: employers routinely harass, intimidate, coerce and even fire workers struggling to form a union. And U.S. labor law is powerless to stop them. Employees are on an uneven playing field from the first moment they begin exploring whether they want to form a union, and the will of the majority often is crushed by brutal management tactics.
- Corporations end up firing employees 25% of the time during union organizing campaigns
- Nearly 80% of big businesses require supervisors to bad mouth unions to workers whose jobs and pay they control
- Even if they do form a union, one third of the time they can’t get a contract.
This isn’t how the system is supposed to work. We need change and the Employee Free Choice Act will help.
What’s the deal with ’secret elections’?
The Employee Free Choice Act gives workers just that - a Free Choice. Workers, not companies, get to decide whether they want to vote using a secret ballot election or a majority sign-up.
If they choose majority sign-up, then 50% plus one need to sign an authorization card in order for workers to have the union recognized by the company.
Corporate groups like the US Chamber of Commerce want to portray the Employee Free Choice as anti-democratic because it takes away the secret ballot, in truth the Act will give workers a stronger voice.
How can unions help?
Union workers in Ohio make an average of $2 more an hour than non-unionized workers. They are also 25% more likely to have health insurance, 50% more likely to have a pension and have greater job security.
This can be the difference between a family being able to raise their kids in a stable household.
Heard enough? Take action.
We're facing a greed problem, not a wealth problem.
