Your favorite background check provider recently sat down with China Gorman, Chief Operating Officer of SHRM and discussed a myriad topics including: the challenges the HR profession has faced in the past year, SHRM’s accomplishments since the last Annual SHRM Conference and their plans for the next 12 months. We also talked about China’s enthusiasm for Twitter (check out her page). This interview is a must-listen for human resource professionals.
Take a listen.
Once again we feel it’s important to step aside from writing about background checks and cover this important HR legislative issue. A few weeks back we wrote about the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), here is an update!
This week, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) – a pivotal vote on labor issues and potentially the 60th cloture vote on the Employee Free Choice Act of 2009 (EFCA, H.R. 1409 / S. 560) in the Senate – announced that he plans to oppose EFCA and oppose cloture on the bill.
While this is important news for HR professionals, employees and employers, the effort to pass EFCA and other amendments to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) will remain alive for the foreseeable future. Sen. Specter’s announcement means that EFCA proponents are still only two votes shy in the current Senate of having the 60 votes necessary to defeat a filibuster and pass the bill. There are more than enough House members to pass EFCA, and President Obama continues to support its enactment. Even after announcing his opposition to EFCA, Sen. Specter acknowledged that EFCA, or the “card check” bill, will not go away.
For these reasons, the SHRM Governmental Affairs department has prepared an EFCA Toolkit to help members more fully participate in the advocacy process on the EFCA and other amendments to the NLRA.
The EFCA Toolkit is one component of a larger more comprehensive advocacy strategy on the Employee Free Choice Act. The Toolkit is designed to provide you with the necessary materials to perform your own grassroots advocacy campaign.
Included in the Toolkit are the following:
- Employee Representation Fact Sheet
- EFCA Power Point Presentation
- How to Lobby Power Point Presentation
- Text versions of both the House (H.R. 1409) and Senate (S. 560) versions of EFCA
- Employee Representation Email Alert
- SHRM’s Employee Representation Policy Statement
- Sample Letter to the Editor for your local newspaper(s)
- Myths vs. Facts – This document addresses the common claims of EFCA supporters
We hope you will visit the EFCA Toolkit website because your involvement is critical to SHRM’s advocacy success.
On Tuesday, March 10th, the highly controversial Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) was introduced in both the US Senate and House of Representatives. The bill (H.R. 1409, S. 560), which is sponsored by House Education and Labor Committee Chair Rep. George Miller (D-California) and Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), would amend federal labor laws in several critical areas, significantly impacting how employers address union organizing activity.
As has been reported widely in the media, EFCA allows unions to become employees’ bargaining representatives on the basis of a “card check” process, thereby depriving employees of the right they presently have to vote in secret-ballot elections. A lesser-known, but equally important, provision of the bill mandates arbitration of initial collective bargaining agreements when the parties cannot come to agreement on their own. EFCA also provides triple back pay to employees who are the victims of employer unfair labor practices (“ULP’s”) during an organizing campaign or in the period leading up to a first contract, allows for civil fines upon employers of up to $20,000 per violation for willful and repeated ULP’s committed during the same time period, and enhances the ability of the National Labor Relations Board to obtain injunctions in federal court against employers with respect to organizing campaigns or initial contract negotiations.
Supporters of EFCA claim that the legislation would make it easier for employees to organize, which they believe would lead to greater protections for workers. Opponents argue that the bill would violate workers’ rights and cause substantial economic harm to businesses and consumers. Congress is split on EFCA, mainly along party lines — with Democrats for the most part favoring the legislation and Republicans generally opposing it. President Obama supported previous attempts to enact EFCA when he was in the Senate, and he repeatedly endorsed the legislation during last fall’s presidential campaign.
While passage of the legislation in the House is almost assured, the critical question is whether EFCA supporters have 60 votes to overcome an anticipated filibuster by opponents of the legislation. In fact, many believe that what happens to the bill may hinge upon the as-yet-unsettled Senate race in Minnesota between Republican Norm Coleman and Democrat Al Franken.
I will be in Washington DC lobbying for the background screening industry next week. As a founding member and past co-Chairman of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS), you can be sure this will be discussed. This issue is likely to be raised not because it has anything to do with background checks, but because we are all employers!
On Friday Congress passed the massive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. President Obama will sign this bill into law on Tuesday February 17th in Colorado. The $789 billion package is said to create and/or save more than 3 million jobs. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) the bill will have a considerable impact on its members.
A few areas that will affect Human Resources:
- E-Verify – All provisions for E-Verify were removed from the final version of the Bill.
- Unemployment and Health Care Coverage – A nine month extension of a program that offers an additional seven weeks of unemployment benefits.
- Health Care Technology – Almost $20 billion will be spent to improve the nations health care information technology.
- Trade Protection for Jobs – A provision was added that would extend Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits for at least 160,000 more workers who lose their jobs because of increased imports or because workers move those jobs offshore.
- Executive Compensation – A controversial provision limits compensation packages for businesses receiving TARP funds can offer their executive teams.
There are sure to be more areas of the 1,100 page bill that will impact Human Resources but these will have the most immediate. Background screening companies were looking forward to the E-Verify provision as it allows us to enhance our automated I-9 Services. The program is still available but voluntary for much of the country. Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.
