Walter Olsen at the blog Point of Law provides a list of links to current arguments about the proposed Employee Free Choice Act, most of it negative, since this is a right of centre blog. There’s a shorter editorial piece by Richard Epstein linked.
The link also references Doorey’s Workplace Law Blog for the completely incorrect assertion that Americans can look to Ontario for the havoc that the EFCA would cause. In fact, Ontario does not have a “card-check” model of union recognition (except in the construction industry), which the EFCA would introduce. It has a mandatory vote model. And the point about the York University strike being a reflection of Ontario’s “union friendly climate” is also nonsense and based on a complete ignorance of Canadian and American labour law. In fact, the U.S.’s strike laws are considerably more favorable to unions than the laws anywhere in Canada. In fact, Canada has one of the most restrictive strike regimes of all advanced economic countries. For one example of how American workers enjoy a broader right to strike than Canadian workers, see this Guest Blog by Professor Hirsch. Besides getting the facts wrong, Mr. Olsen is also guilty of doing precisely what his pal Epstein tells us not to do: take extreme cases (such as the strike at York) and then use it as evidence of the failings of an entire model of labour relations.
With all the hyperbole happening in the U.S. these days about labor law reform, be careful what you read. There is a lot of misinformation being bantered about.
Some More (Mis)Information About the American Employee Free Choice Act
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