This audio conference was recorded on Monday - February 23, 2009

Credits:

This program has been approved for 1.5 recertification credit hours toward PHR and SPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HRCI homepage at www.hrci.org. The use of this seal is not an endorsement by HRCI of the quality of the program. It means that this program has met HRCI’s criteria to be pre-approved for recertification.

Description:

Barack Obama recently led the Democrats to an overwhelming victory in the 2008 elections. That’s great news for America’s labor unions, which spent more than $400 million and organized massive get-out-the-vote campaigns across the country to support the winning side. In a recent speech to the AFL-CIO, then said he’ll be a “President who strengthens our unions by letting them do what they do best – organize our workers.”

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

This proposed legislation would make it much easier for union organizers to expand into new workplaces by collecting signed cards without your knowledge, instead of holding a formal secret-ballot election. 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, the 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.

Order this very frank, practical discussion of EFCA and its potential impact on your workplace. Our speaker – a former National Labor Relations Board (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 you must prepare right now to keep your workplace union-free.

Speaker(s):

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 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.

You and your colleagues will learn:

• How EFCA promises to eliminate traditional union organizing campaigns and secret-ballot elections if it becomes law
• Why the overwhelming Democratic victory in the 2008 elections has greatly increased the bill’s chances of passage when Congress returns to work this year
• The current legal dos and don’ts of resisting union organizing drives – and how this new legislation would change those rules
• Your options under 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 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