Now, union leaders plan to collect on their investment in early 2009 by pushing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) through Congress. EFCA contains the most aggressive changes to federal labor law since the passage of the National Labor Relations Act more than 70 years ago.

Currently, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) holds a confidential vote several weeks after at least 30 percent of a company’s employees sign authorization cards. But EFCA would do away with the voting process entirely – if 50 percent or more of your workers sign those cards, boom: You’re unionized. No more campaigns, no more voting – signatures alone will be enough to get the job done. Also, EFCA would give federal arbitrators the brand-new authority to impose labor contracts in your workplace if you fail to reach agreement with union locals within 120 days of the union’s formation.

Like many employers around the country who’ve fought and resisted every effort to unionize their workforces, you’re probably understandably worried about how to prepare for EFCA. Join us on Dec. 8 for a very frank, practical discussion of EFCA and its potential impact on your workplace.

Our speaker – a former NLRB field attorney who’s now an experienced management-side labor lawyer - will share strategies for preparing in advance for this legislation and safeguarding your workforce against unfair union organizing tactics. You’ll learn what you can – and cannot – do to protect your organization without running afoul of the law, and why now is the time to get prepared.

You and your colleagues will learn:

• How the EFCA promises to eliminate traditional union organizing campaigns and secret-ballot elections if it becomes law
• How Obama’s win will affect the bill’s chances of passage when Congress returns to work in January 2009
• The current legal do's and don’ts of resisting union organizing drives – and how this new legislation would change those rules
• Your options under the EFCA if union organizers succeed in gathering signatures from at least half of your workers, including whether you’d still be able to force a secret ballot after the signatures are collected
• Other troubling provisions within the EFCA that threaten employers – for example, the use of federal arbitration boards to dictate terms if you can’t agree on a contract with the leaders of your new union
• The steps you can lawfully take right now to teach your workers about the dangers of unions, without violating NLRB rules in the process

Maria Anastas, Esq., is a partner in the San Francisco office of law firm Davis Wright Tremaine, LLP. She provides legal support, strategic advice, training, and communications guidance to employers during traditional union organizing drives and corporate campaigns. She represents employers before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), negotiates collective bargaining agreements for employers, provides contract administration advice, and defends employers during grievances and arbitration hearings. A former NLRB field attorney, Anastas has been named “One of the Top 100 Labor Lawyers in America” by the Labor Relations Institute. She earned her law degree at Tulane University.

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