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What do you think of government making an attempt to take control over 4 million small businesses?

NEW LAW WOULD AUTHORIZE GOVERNMENT CONTROL OF 4 MILLION SMALL BUSINESSES National Center for Policy Analysis The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, H.R. 1409, S. 560) does more than take away secret ballot elections: It empowers the federal government to impose contracts on newly organized companies. The government would set wages, benefits, work assignments, promotion procedures, and any major changes to business operations. Because EFCA has no meaningful small businesses exemption, it would authorize federal control of up to 4 million small businesses employing 39 million Americans. Consequently, bureaucrats with no management experience would effectively control these small businesses, says James Sherk, the Bradley Fellow in Labor Policy at the Heritage Foundation. The misnamed Employee Free Choice Act affects both large and small businesses, says Sherk: The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) has a small business exception, however, this exemption has not been updated for inflation since 1959. It covers all non-retail businesses with gross revenues of $50,000 a year and retail businesses with gross revenues over $500,000 a year. To put those figures into perspective, the average private-sector worker costs his or her employer $56,000 a year in wages and benefits--before the cost of any capital needed to do the job. A business with one worker earning average pay would not qualify, consequently, the law has no meaningful small businesses exemption. The Heritage Foundation used Census Bureau data to calculate how many small businesses EFCA would affect: The act covers 4,180,000 businesses employing 38,934,000 workers. EFCA takes away these workers' right to a secret ballot vote on joining a union -- a consequence that has attracted considerable controversy, says Sherk. However, the bill has a second provision of equal if not greater significance to small businesses that has attracted much less attention: EFCA replaces collective bargaining with government-imposed contracts for newly organized companies. In practice: EFCA will effectively eliminate collective bargaining for initial contracts because the system provides no reason for unions not to hold out for a government contract. Unions would have strong incentives to make extreme demands and hope the FMCS appointed arbitrator splits the difference between these demands and management's position. Granting such a radical amount of power to the FMCS puts control of workplaces in the hands of unaccountable government bureaucrats, says Sherk. Source: James Sherk, "EFCA Authorizes Government Control of 4 Million Small Businesses," Heritage Foundation, WebMemo #2341, March 12, 2009. For text: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Labor/wm2341.cfm For more on Unions: http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=43 "I am expected to read the whole of this copy and paste job?" Yes you are expected to do so. I did. How else do you expect to learn the issues? From simplistic one liner bumper stickers perhaps? I'm not here to provide you with a cliff notes version to make life easier for you. "Oh, well, when the information comes from right-wing think tanks, you know it's got to be unbiased!" The MOST predictable response. Biased or unbiased is irrelevant. Biased sources can be informative. Try not to use your partisanship as an excuse to remain ignorant and uninformed. And when you find an "unbiased" source reporting on thsi same issue, then you go post it. "The Heritage foundation is a well know right wing site.....right wingers HATE unions. The NCPA is a WELL KNOWN anti-union site...that posts biased" And the info contained within the article is all wrong....how? Dont try to use the claim of "biased article" as an excuse not to discuss this issue. If its wrong, then inform us how.

Public Comments

1. Very scary! Govt can't create jobs in the private sector, only free enterprise can do that. Leave the System alone and it work like it is suppose to.
2. Oh, well, when the information comes from right-wing think tanks, you know it's got to be unbiased!
3. Not much at all.. but then we've been paying into the union for over 30 years and it ain't what it use to be!!!
4. The Heritage foundation is a well know right wing site.....right wingers HATE unions. The NCPA is a WELL KNOWN anti-union site...that posts biased, false information all the time.
5. This is nothing but right wing Union Busting propaganda. I don't think you can get more anti Union than your sources.
6. Not shocking. I already knew this...however, this is a good time for people to start READING the bills being passed in Congress. You can also read the ones introduced. I assure you, the things you find in the works there will make you shudder. http://www.senate.gov I try to look at it every day to see what's going on with our elected thieves.
7. That my friend is why most conservatives are fighting this bill with teeth and claws. It is vital that we prevent it. If it passes, the government will in effect own the businesses....even if they never put a penny or a moments work into them. STOP IT NOW> Call or e mail your senator and congressional person.
8. I think this is yet one more piece in a long train of abuses that signify the dire need for at least a constitutional convention, and preferably a complete abolition of the entire federal government! Obama notwithstanding, the government thus far has made a mockery of the idea of liberty. Give our present President a few more years and I have no doubt that he too will join the ranks of authoritarians who have sold us into economic slavery for centuries.