Restaurants and Institutions

Dennis Lombardi

Employee Free Choice Act – Part 2
July 7, 2008

Thanks for the all the comments.  I wanted to make a couple of clarifications. I am not in favor of underpaying any of our employees. All of them should be making a fair wage and being treated with respect.  If you are not doing that, your labor (and service) issues are, or will be, larger and more difficult.

My bigger concerns with the Employee Free Choice Act (or Card Check) are not about wages, but about other issues, such as:

An increase in payroll costs without a corresponding increase in productivity. 

In fact, contracted work rules may decrease productivity.  Imagine the possibility of a kitchen that has to be staffed with the same number of employees on a slow Monday night as it is on a busy Saturday night. (Related to this is the likely reduction in total industry employment if labor costs rise more than productivity gains.)

It removes employees’ right to a secret ballot.  

That opens up a large opportunity for both subtle, and maybe not so subtle, coercion to have people sign the cards.  It also reduces, or eliminates, the opportunity for employers to state their case to employees before they make their choice.

Anyway I slice it, as proposed, this is not good legislation. Reportedly, the unions are spearheading letter-writing campaigns to their congressional representatives. If we don’t act to express our opinions, it will likely become law. Take a look at where the legislation stands, state by state, to see who had better get moving!

Beyond this immediate issue, operators need to make sure they have employee compensation programs and policies that remove, or at least substantially reduce, their employees' desire to be unionized in the first place. This is a wake-up call! Prevention is always the best protection. That includes a decent wage, as well as competitive benefits and positive relations between employees and owner/managers. Career training and career tracking need to be part of our employee programs. 

From my viewpoint:

There is no excuse to under-appreciate and under-reward our employees. 
The Employee Free Choice Act will benefit labor unions, not our industry— and likely not our employees.

Posted by Dennis Lombardi on July 7, 2008 | Comments (0)