Workers demand Free Choice
Business, Rep. Dent step up attacks on organizing bill
by Gregg Potter,
Communication Workers, Local 13500
President,
Lehigh Valley Labor Council
However, the Employee Free Choice Act brings us all together. All of organized labor’s future rests on giving workers a voice on the job, expanding the middle-class and building our membership.
By leading the charge against the Free Choice Act, Charlie Dent has once again chosen the wrong way to vote and he should pay for this intentional slap in the face to the thousands of working families in his district.
Dent continually parrots the Chamber of Commerce and their message that the proposed bill would “eliminate the secret ballot.” This statement has been improperly used and misused over and over and over again. The sad thing is that the average non-union – and unfortunately union – worker will begin to believe this nonsense unless we bring the true facts to light. Repetition breeds belief.
There are three points I wish to make to expose the fraudulent statements expressed by those opposed to this measure. First, this legislation does not eliminate the secret ballot. The current path to union representation and collective bargaining no longer works for workers. One of the most respected human rights organizations in the world, Human Rights Watch, studied the process in the United States and concluded that it is hopelessly broken: In a system replete with all the appearance of legality and due process, workers’ exercise of rights to organize, to bargain, and to strike in the United States has been frustrated by many employers who realize they have little to fear from labor law enforcement through a ponderous, delay-ridden legal system with meager remedial powers.
A study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that one in five active union supporters is fired because they want a union to bargain for a better life. Inevitably, when a worker who has supported the union is fired, fear is instantly injected into the workplace. Other workers are afraid the same thing will happen to them if they support the union. This fear devastates the organizing campaign. And the fear persists because fired workers are rarely returned to their jobs as lengthy legal delays are common.
Second, the majority sign-up process is superior to the current National Labor Relations Board representation procedure. The NLRB process determines representation based on a majority of workers who vote in an election; majority sign-up requires that a majority of all employees in the workplace designate the union as their representative before union representation is achieved.
Workers must select a union twice under the NLRB process; once when they sign cards supporting union representation and again when the labor board conducts an election. Majority sign-up eliminates the second step by honoring the workers’ choice when they first authorize the union to represent them.
Furthermore, the majority sign-up process avoids the confrontational, divisive behavior that the current NLRB practice encourages. Currently, it is legal for anti-union consultants to train supervisors to treat pro-union workers as traitorous troublemakers whose union support is anti-company and disloyal. In contrast, majority sign-up campaigns are associated with significantly less coercion by either companies or unions than under the NLRB representation process.
Finally, the Employee Free Choice Act will not lead to union coercion as the Chamber of Commerce suggests. In fact, the evidence is to the contrary.
A review of 113 cases cited by the Human Resources Policy Association as involving union fraud and coercion revealed only 42 decisions in the 78 years since the Act’s inception that actually found misconduct in the signing of authorization cards. That’s less than one case every two years.
Compare that with the 29,559 instances of managerial abuse, including illegal firings and other discriminatory acts against workers, just in 2007. That’s a ratio of almost 50,000 to one.
Contrary to the suppositions of the Chamber, there is no evidence that the Free Choice Act will generate union coercion. And there certainly is no evidence that it will engender the kind of endemic, proven coercion that companies routinely inflict on workers in the NLRB representation process.
Long time union activists have seen this misinformation campaign before. Throughout 1993 and 1994, the Clinton Administration tried to initiate health care reform. Unfortunately, insurance companies and their lobbyists were successful in spinning the message to favor them. They created the infamous “Harry and Maude” commercials that beat down the laudable efforts to create a national health care plan.
Corporate interests opposed to workers having a voice on the job have adopted the same playbook used to defeat reforming healthcare a decade ago. They will be holding meetings in different venues with different faces behind the events. Many times the local Chamber of Commerce is the driving force, other times it is the National Restaurant Association or other not so civic-minded groups.
In response, we need to be on point EVERY time the discussion comes up. We need to address this bill not as EFCA, but as the Employee Free Choice Act. We need to talk about majority sign up and not card check. Branding is everything and we need to know and pass on the facts of this legislation.
Besides the information that I have provided in this and past editions of our newsletter, I suggest you visit the Human Resources Policy Association’s website at hrpolicy.org. Click on their “White Paper on the National Labor Relations Act.” And of course, check out our website lehighvalleyclc.org.
In conclusion, the Employee Free Choice Act would reform labor law so workers can choose union representation and collective bargaining without fear and intimidation. When a majority of workers demonstrates their choice to form a union, their representative could be certified by the labor board without the need for the delay-ridden, coercive and divisive NLRB election process. Federal labor law finally would guarantee workers their right to bargain for a better life.
Before I close on our February 26th event, I want to send a special thank you to Bill Newhard, president of our area’s Building Trades, and the Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe and Pike Counties Building Trades Association for their unprecedented mobilizing for the Hotel Bethlehem event. The number of construction trade workers in attendance was recognized by everyone.
News Item… Organized Labor comes through BIG for Big Brothers & Big Sisters of the Greater Lehigh Valley. More than 16 teams of bowlers flooded Jordan Lanes on Sunday, March 1, 2009. We brought to the table over $8,000.00 of donations to a wonderful program that provides mentors to children who have none. The Lehigh Valley Labor Council pledges our support in the coming years to make this event better and better.
News Item…Rep. David Argall beats Democratic competitor Steve Lukach. With 62.4% of the votes from a special election in the 29th Senate District, David Argall will fill out the entire term from recently deceased Senator James Rhoades. Argall, was a 13-term Republican House Member from the 124th District. The 29th Senate District covers all of Schuylkill County and parts of Berks County, the Lehigh Valley and the Southern Poconos. Special thanks to Mike Galio, Business Manager for the Carpenters, Local 600. Mike allowed the AFL-CIO bus and members to meet at his restaurant and tavern in Slatington the Saturday before the election and hosted a rally for Steve Lukach. Mike’s hospitality was appreciated and labor’s efforts were crucial to the success that Mr. Lukach did receive.