Ministers Denounce Employee Free Choice Act

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by Lesley R. Chinn

Whether it is an election for a politician, school board member or union delegate, all votes are usually kept secret but the proposed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) could change secret ballot elections and the way employees form unions.

Urging Senators Dick Durbin, Roland Burris and other elected officials in Congress to take a closer look at the act before signing off on it, a group of ministers addressed the members of the Chatham Business Associations (CBA) Small Business Development Inc. group on Monday at the Quentis Bernard Garth Foundation on 806 E. 78th St. and denounced the measure, stating that EFCA is not so free at all.

EFCA, a bill designed to amend the National Labor Relations Act, would make it easier for employees to join or form unions or to assist in abor-related activities. The latest ersion was introduced last month in both chambers of Congress.

If passed and signed by President Barack Obama, the secret ballot election would be bypassed and a union would be automatically formed if the National Labor Relations Board verifies that over 50 percent of a companys employees have signed authorization cards.

The ministers, including Revs. James L. Demus III, pastor of Park Manor Christian Church; Roosevelt Watkins, pastor of Bethlehem Star M.B. Church and Leslie Sanders, pastor of Hope Presbyterian Church said they are not against people joining unions and exercising their rights at work but they are opposed to the process of votes being made public.

"Over 140 million U.S. workers will be stripped away [of] their rights to submit private ballots. You should be able to vote privately without people knowing who youre voting for or who youre voting against," Watkins said. "When you vote for or against someone, you often suffer repercussions, intimidations and coercion," he added. By votes being public, employees could feel pressured by the process and may feel like they will "suffer the wrath of unions," when they dont fill out a card, Demus added.

Sanders said that if this bill becomes law, it could have an impact on businesses because if companies and unions dont reach an agreement on the issues, the government could come in and decide with the unions. "Lets say a company offered $12 an hour, the unions says they wanted $14 an hour, the government could come in [and] decide with the unions and order the company to pay employees $14 an hour," Sanders stated.

Sanders also pointed out other scenarios and said if Congress changes the labor laws to make it easier for unions to organize, it could impact on the way large companies handle contractual agreements.

Arguing the bill is unconstitutional, Demus, Watkins, and Sanders said it would take away hard-earned civil rights that Black people have fought for including the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which guarantees protections against voter suppression and intimidation.

Demus said because unions play a large role in the electoral process, the measure could influence elections on the local, state, and federal levels. He pointed out that by making votes public, it could impact on the way people vote in the future. "There is nothing more American in our political process than a secret ballot. Thats the sacred part of voting. I dont have to go into the voting booth and worry if my boss is looking over my shoulder and I better vote the right way or else there will be hell to pay," Demus said.

Recognizing that it could have an impact on all unions whether they involve contractors or not, Cliff Borner, a union member added that if passed, the bill could pose a problem simply because it could pit workers against one another. "This is going to be a headache and theres going to be a lot of fighting. I guarantee you this is what we dont want."

William Garth, chairman of the CBA and publisher of the Citizen Newspapers, said unions and White general contractors are racists because they keep Black contractors "divided" and fighting amongst themselves over "crumbs."

"Black contractors are treated like the house slave and the field slave. The [White general contractors and unions] use them to fight each other by deciding who they are going to put on different contracts. Once they get one Black contractor and another Black contractorif he lost the bid, he cant work with another the one who won the bid and thats slavery. And I think thats stupid because we never get the percentage that we need to get out of these federal and city programs."

Garth added the unions want to see how people are voting. "No one should tell someone how they should vote. You want a secret ballot so people can get along."

Meanwhile, the ministers will bring up the issue again at a regular CBA monthly meeting on April 14 at South Central Community Services, 83rd and Ellis at 8:30 a.m., according to Melinda Kelly, CBA executive director.

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