Affecting Legislation and a Referral to a Great Blog

Michael Moore over at Pennsylvania Labor and Employment Blog has posted about the Employee Free Choice Act. I know you may be tired of reading about this but you NEED TO. It is one of the most significant pieces of legislation that will have an effect on day-to-day HR. In my opinion nothing good will come from this for companies or employees. Only unions, who make their money off of employees, will gain. Mr. Moore has an upcoming list of articles that EVERYONE needs to plan on reading. So bookmark him. (Or keeping coming here, I will have the links too.)

I was thinking about this legislation and other legislation that has been proposed and is likely to pass. I know that many HR types do not like to be political, but you need to be. You don't need to necessarily be espousing your views on particular people to your employees. But I think it is your duty as a representive of your company and employees to pay attention to legislation. DO NOT blindly accept legislation proposed, regardless of which party or legislator it is proposed by.

I think it is your duty to OBJECTIVELY evaluate each piece of legislation. Ask the questions:

• Is this good for my business?


• Is this good for the employees of this business?


• What will be the cost associated with this legislation?


• What will be the benefit to us of this legislation?

Once you have the answers to these questions the next step is to INFORM your personal legislator. Remember, most of these people have NEVER run a business! They do not know what it is like to make a payroll or to have to deal with the recordkeeping, or how to deal with day-to-day empolyee relation issues. So EDUCATE them. Give them a professional assessment of the impact of that legislation. And if you are against it, let them know. If you are for it, let them know.

BTW, the reason you do this with your local legislator is that you have a vote to wield and other votes to influence. And since ALL politicians want to stay in office they listen to their voters. So be political by being involved in the process of helping legislators understand the impact of their actions. Make your voice heard beyond just the ballot box.