At the bottom of this article you will see the following two paragraphs, which i believe are the most important in regard to EFCA ... and why the EFCA should be taken to the polls in 2008.

In a worst-case scenario, the cost of firing a union supporter isn't that much. It includes legal proceedings and remuneration to the discharged employee. At a maximum, discharged employees will receive missed earnings minus any income they have earned in the meantime. The total award usually amounts to less than $4,000, a small price to pay to avoid sharing profits with employees through a union-negotiated contract.

In its vote, the Senate eliminated the opportunity to increase fines and make other changes to labor law that reduce the incentives for illegal employer aggression. But without those reforms, crime really does pay.

You comment "its not fair to just pick on Walmart."  I feel this is just a beginning for the union to take action and show their strength. 

Our strength has weakened for many reasons but I feel if all union members came together and refused to shop at one of the biggest anti union companies, it could only be a good thing. A message would be heard by the board of directors and its share holders.

I personally dont understand how any union member can in good conscience support this company.

Walmart is the only company that I am aware of that on orientation day will show first, an anti union film. All companies I have ever worked for, their first film has always been safety.

If all union members said no to walmart I believe it could make a difference in our fight.  And then if we passed this boycott to our family and friends, imagine the impact we could make. Of course, we wouldnt stop with them.

While we are all aware of the tactics of anti Union employers we cannot ignore the fact that the Unions are busting themselves. The decline cannot be blamed on the tactics of the employer alone. To do so is to ignore the true roots of the decline and therefore never take proper steps for a turn around. The propagandists want us to believe that all of a sudden the employer has come up with a magic formula that has caused the steady decline. Big business has been at this for years and there is no evidence that they have all of a sudden come up with a formula of success. If anything their ability to terrorize the worker like in the old days has decreased. While they still use their usual bag of tricks the decline of Union membership cannot be blamed on them alone. The Unions are responsible for cutting their own throats and to go along with the propagandists and ignore this and other contributing factors the decline will never be reversed. You can have all the card checks you want. It may cause a slight increase in the percentages due to the ability to extort the non Union worker by exposing his choices with a card check you will not see it reverse the decline in Union membership like the propagandists are trying to convince you it will. You have to make the non Union sector WANT to be a member and no amount of card check extortion will cause to happen. You have to convince them that Union membership is in their best interest and it appears by the decline that you have not. To blame that on the employers is just plain bullshit and if you continue to propagandize the issue we will never make positive changes.

How is the Union busting itself is quite clear. It cannot get members and it cannot keep members, I will focus on the Carpenters because I can provide first hand evidence. For years it has been the policy of our Union to keep people out. Many times I have sent people down to join and they have been turned away. We had dinosaurs in charge who could not understand that if you want to control the labor market you had to control the workers by making them card caring members. It is only in the last four years that we have finally gotten wiser. I watched for 15 years as the door sere closed. Opening the doors for the last 3 years is not going to overnight reverse a trend you created over the last 20 years. Union busting itself.

Now we have opened the doors and we continue to screw the non union sector wanting to come in. We have people coming down to join that walk away because they cannot get past a secretary. She runs the hall because our officers and organizers are at the Malta Dinner having breakfast. We have experienced Journeyman Carpenters that leave in disgust because this woman tells them they have to be first year apprentices. She acts as if she could care less if they get in or not. They take the attitude to heart and are never seen again. 27 year old Mr. Smith who had been in construction since he was 16 walks into the hall and walks out a first year apprentice because this “Person” convinced him there was an age limit to be a Journeyman. He was so discouraged we almost lost him. Despite repeated attempts to get our illustrious leaders to fix it they stalled and lied to the kid some more. Why. Because then they can provide the employers with underpaid and over experienced apprentices. THINK about what crooked bastard benefits from this arrangement. How many good Journeymen have we lost who never joined. How many have we lost that gave up after a short period? How man will never attempt to join because the word got back and they are not going to waste their time. Unions busting themselves.

Why can’t we retain members? I have had many conversations with members who have had enough of the theft and corruption and are taking the first train out. No matter how many times you try to tell them that “BY LEAVING. THE SCUM BAGS THEIVES WIN “they are leaving anyways. Our Union has been robbing its members for years and it is only getting worse. We are sitting as we speak waiting for our vacation check because our fund was stolen and they decided they are not paying us this year for another month. We usually get our check on the first of July but this year they decided to do away with our stamps and are keeping our money for another month. When asked for justification they said they didn’t have to give any, they were doing it “Because they could” This is just a small example of the corruption and arrogance in the Empire Council. One of my NLRB cases focuses on the fact that the Union is authorizing dues check payroll deductions without signed authorization forms. This is against the law, council bylaws and the negotiated contract. The council has told members that if they chose direct payment that they had to come in and pay everyday with a check BEFORE they could go to work. Again. Against the law and a clear case of coercion and in my book extortion. Even after the NLRB has ruled the extortion am unfair labor practice the Empire Council continued to do dictate the demand to all council members. The Utica NY BA told a job supervisor for Welliver and McGuire that payroll deduction was mandatory and direct payment was not allowed. He also stated that I should be jailed for telling everybody. Local 1163 in Syracuse tired to force members to sign dues check off and the PAC form as a condition of being placed on the out of work list. The NLRB put a stop to that.Our Local 370 has stolen $1.60 since January 1, 2007 in raises from its members. They held a sham vote on raise allocation without notifying the membership that a vote was taking place. They refused to even consider a dely on the vote until the members could be properly notified. Our illustrious President and Chair William “Mangina” Weir laughed and did nothing while a member was attacked by mindless members for raising this issue ands others. These were some of Local 370s finest idiots and cronies of Mr. Weir. This is just a sampling of business as usual for Local 370. Can you understand why we cannot keep members? Can you understand why we cannot get members to join? The Union is busting itself

Outside factors. My brothers are both Carpenters. One is a punch out man for COs and the other is a Framing supervisor. Both non Union. 20 years ago I was at $18.90 an hour and they were at $12 with benefits. I used to be able to tease them about how much better the Union was and try to get them to join. After 20 years of raises I am at $24.05. Why because my Union STEALS my raise every year. They lie as to the need for more money in our Pension and Health. They refuse to supply us with proof of the numbers and run through sham votes made up of their cronies. My brothers on the other hand are at $21 and $23 with full benefits. My pay increase after theft over 20 years is $5.15. By brothers are $9 and $11. My benefits are the worst bullshit program you have ever seen and declines every year despite more and more money stolen from my wage. While I cannot and will not say that all the labor markets show these increases I can safely say that the difference between pay scales of Union vs. Non Union is not as great as it was 20 years ago . The wages and benefit packages in the non Union sector have increased significantly. This is one of the external factors that we must take into account. This is one of the reasons we have lost membership. Why would a non Union worker fighting a corrupt corporate structure want to jump into another corrupt corporate structure such as the UBC without a substantial benefit increase? The Union busting itself

How do we combat this? Do we clean up our Union and stop stealing from our membership. No. Do we entice the non Union sector?No. Do we remedy the stupidity of secretaries ?No.Do we offer a better deal with more incentives such as paid vacations, the promise of a future or even the lure of Brotherhood? No. Our officers get 10 paid vacations each year.(including a paid Golf Day) and the rank and file does not. Our Officers get quarter million dollar salaries each year and we get our raise taken each year. Our Financial Secretary took $32,000 in raises over a two year period while stealing the raise of the rank and file each year. The Laborers International has 13 Vice Presidents with salaries starting at $225,000 each. The propagandists want to blame the employers. They post article after article about Union busting and other nasty employer tactics. They scour the internet seizing on any story or article that ignores the culpability of the Union and blames the employers and big business. Instead of joining attempts to clean up their Unions and stop the corruption they enable it by doing nothing. Their answer is to cheat the working man and give these corrupt scum the card check. They want to throw millions at organizing so now we can have 1000 organizers instead of 100 trying to coerce unwary non Union workers to join their corrupt organization. Cash McCarron has been throwing hard UBC funds at organizing in this manner for the last 5 years and the decline continues at an alarming rate. Wake up Dougy and your candle burning followers. The numbers have proven that your plan does not work. Yet rather than admitting the problem. Rather than putting an end to the corruption the UBC will lead the way as a shining example of how to bring the Labor movement to its demise.

As long as we ignore the problems within the Unions and fail to recognize their culpability in the fall of our membership we will never start to turn around our membership decline. In the old days of Unionism it was proving to the non Union sector of the advantages of Brotherhood. Proving that Unions could bring better wages, working conditions and health care. Then it was true. As much as the propagandists are still making these antiquated speeches filled with antiquated idealistic reasons for joining a Union we will continue to slide. This is not the modern day cry to Unionism. These antiquated calls to brotherhood is not the realism of Union membership in 2007. Perhaps it is just as simple as proving that we Union members are not the thieving scum bags that is the UBC. As simple as Proving that we rank and file still believe in Brotherhood. As simple as proving that we rank and file are capable of removing the corrupt elements that the non union sector can see is modern day Unionism. While not all Union are in this mold the UBC,McCarron, Stern.Change to Win and Little Hoffa are shining example of how far Union Labor has fallen. If McCarrons vision of Corporate Unionism is truly the future of Organized Labor then we have all lost already.