Employment Law Report

By Edwin S. Hopson

Earlier this month, President Obama spoke to the AFL-CIO Executive Council at a meeting in Washington D.C.  He had some interesting comments about the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).  He stated, in part:  “[g]etting EFCA through the Senate is going to be tough. It’s always been tough; it will continue to be tough. We’ll keep on pushing.”

The President also commented about the National Labor Relations Board.  “[w]e are going to make sure that the National Labor Relations Board is restored to have some balance so that if workers want to form a union, they can at least get a fair vote in a reasonable amount of time.”

Apparently referring to labor consultants many employers use in union organizing campaigns, President Obama said this:  “[a]nd we don’t want, by the way, government dollars going in to pay for union busting. That’s not something that we believe in. That’s not right. That tilts the playing field in an unfair way.”

The full text of the President’s remarks can be found at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-afl-cio-executive-council.