Group says EFCA would benefit Granite State

A New Hampshire health care group says that the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would help the state’s economy and workers.

“The bill could provide a major boost to the economy by helping workers share in the prosperity that they help create,” the group NH for Healthcare wrote in a press release. “A report released last month from the Center for American Progress showed that if even 5% more of New Hampshire’s workers joined unions, $82 million would be pumped into the state’s economy each year.”

According to the group, The Employee Free Choice Act “restores the option of ‘majority sign-up,’ in addition to elections, to ensure that workers, not employers decide how to form a union. That is, when a majority of workers sign cards saying they want to form a union, this legislation levels the playing field so they have a fair chance to do so. It creates meaningful penalties for employers who break the law to harass or fire workers. It ensures that workers have a fair chance at winning a contract guaranteeing their wages and benefits.”

In New Hampshire labor organizations such as the New Hampshire AFL-CIO, AFSCME, SEIU, and NEA, as well as community organizations – the New Hampshire Citizens Alliance, Sierra Club, Granite State Organizing Project, and Working Families Win are helping to push support for EFCA.