Union members rally about Free Choice Act

A dozen union members and their supporters rallied outside the state's Chamber of Commerce building Wednesday because they said they wanted to set the record straight on the Employee Free Choice Act.

The act would allow company employees to form unions out in the open, unimpeded by their employers, who currently can demand they vote for union ratification in secret. It would also require employers to negotiate with workers within 120 days, instead of delaying the process.

The National Chamber of Commerce said the act would strip workers of a secret ballot to organize a union and put more power in the hands of the company, according to a statement released Wednesday morning.

That isn't true, the protesters said. They said the act's current language prevents company employers from banning secret ballots, but it does not take the same power from the workers. The protesters said that the NCC is trying to quell the desire of workers to join a union.

The Utah Legislature passed a resolution during the previous session requiring workers to hold secret ballots. But the protesters weren't impressed.

"If the federal government decides to enact it, it's a moot point. It overrules the state level," said protester Kyle Wulle, a member of the United Steelworkers.

About 6 percent of Utah's working population is under union contract, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Protesters attributed the state's low numbers to the difficulty in forming a union under a flawed Wagner Act.

Marci Broumas would have been working Wednesday, but she was out protesting because she said she was fired for trying to form a union at her former place of work, a call center.

Wulle said he thinks the predominant Mormon culture is what makes Utah's case special. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints aren't as confrontational, which overlaps into the relationship between worker and employer, and Mormons believe their community is more in the church than the community at large, Wulle said.

"But I do know plenty of good LDS union members," he added.

E-mail: mmcfall@desnews.com