News
January 13 2009
Fall '08 CAHRS Partner Conference In Review: Employee Free Choice Act in Focus
Everyone will be watching President Barack Obama’s first 100 days in office. Most pundits and pollsters say “change” wasn’t just an Obama campaign buzzword—it will define his presidency. But how will that change affect our country’s companies and workers? To help answer that question, CAHRS partners, students, and directors gathered on the Cornell campus Nov. 13, 2008 for the fall partner conference. Over the next few issues, we’ll explore some key topics and discussions from this meeting, and offer opportunities to continue the conversation online.
Defining the New Workplace: Change On the Horizon As Far As the Eye Can See
Hasn’t the “new workplace” been around for a while? Almost every large company has explored flexible work arrangements like telecommuting and job sharing. But at the CAHRS fall conference, keynote speaker John Murabito, executive vice president of human resources at CIGNA, defined a workplace where HR’s role expands again to help mitigate large-scale firm risks, create forward-thinking plans to address potential legal changes, and continually adapt people systems in an business environment where change is the rule, not the exception.
This reality was the backdrop for conference attendees, shaping an agenda that included how upcoming legislative and cultural changes could impact their HR strategies and practices. Top of mind for many companies is the potential passage of the Employee Free Choice Act (supported by President-elect Obama) and how to plan for it.
The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)
Also known as card-check, the PR campaign for this piece of hot-topic legislation is in full swing. It’s described by some supporters as an act that “takes away veto power from CEOs and gives employees the free choice about whether to join a union.” By others, card-check is another name for union coercion. Either way, employers must prepare for what comes next and the impact on their business. To help, CAHRS research assistants A.J. Figliolini, Kelley Joy, and Jared Lucas presented an extensive overview of the EFCA’s context, results from interviews with key constituents, and practical implications for firms.
The students’ findings concluded that the long-term implications of EFCA enactment on the U.S. workforce (and employers) could be profound:
- May trigger a structural shift in industrial and labor relations that would alter the balance of power between employers and employees.
- Lead to trend of increased unionization in more technical fields— engineering, accounting, administrative employees, etc.
- Increased union density means an increased role of unions in the political process.
- Strategic human resource systems and plans can be significantly hindered by the introduction of the union as the broker between employees and employers.
- Surge in labor relations expertise among human resource professionals may be necessary to handle increased unionization.
While CAHRS partner executives work for companies with varying degrees of unionization, all agree the EFCA could change the landscape of the U.S. workplace in dramatic ways. And that they better be prepared.
For in-depth details and analysis, CAHRS partners can download the complete Employee Free Choice White Paper. (Login required) »
Not a partner? Learn more about CAHRS »
Next Issue: Diversity in the 21st Century—The World is Flat, Really!
To some employees, diversity is just another corporate buzzword. But to HR folks, it’s simply an accurate description of our 21st century world—on both sides of the work/life equation. Ron Glover, Vice President, Diversity and Workforce Programs at IBM, offered CAHRS conference attendees compelling examples of redefining what we think of as “diversity workplace initiatives.”