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Secret Ballot Watch

The Right Time For EFCA? How About “Never”?

WASHINGTON, D.C., October 2, 2009 | Alexa Marrero ((202) 225-4527)
The national unemployment rate ticked up to 9.8 percent in September as the U.S. continued to struggle with the worst economic downturn in decades.  

The job loss is worse than experts had predicted; The New York Times has the grim economic details here: 

“The American economy shed another 263,000 jobs in September and the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent, reinforcing a broad assumption that many more months of lean times lie ahead for working people.   

“The latest snapshot of the nation’s job market released by the Labor Department on Friday amplified the notion that the recession has probably ended, as a technical matter. Though the job market continued to worsen, the pace of deterioration remained markedly slower than earlier in the year, when roughly 700,000 jobs a month were disappearing. 

“Yet the report added to the sentiment that the economic expansion, which is probably under way, will be weak and tentative, with scarce paychecks and anxiety remaining prominent features of American life well into next year.” 

Goodman, “Jobs Report Highlights Uncertainty of U.S. Recovery,” The New York Times, 10.02.09

A jobless recovery is not a recovery for American workers. Clearly, enactment of job-killing policies on top of an unsuccessful stimulus would be like pouring salt on the wound of our struggling economy.  

Now imagine if the Employee Free Choice Act, with its ability to kill jobs and force government contracts, were law right now – or even a few months from now.  

The unemployment rate, already well on its way toward double digits, would only climb higher as businesses close their doors or lay off workers. Hopes of job creation would grow dim as American competitiveness and productivity fall.  

With the public still reeling from this morning’s news of worse-than-expected economic news, now is not the time to pass EFCA. In fact, there is no good time to pass an act that would have such a destructive impact on an economy. EFCA should be eliminated once and for all.

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