Bill could change the way unions form
The Employee Free Choice Act would make it easier for workers to form unions by barring managers from firing or intimidating them. Employers are trying to stop it from becoming law. John Dimsdale reports.
An AFL-CIO rally on Capitol Hill held in support of the Employee Free Choice Act in 2007 in Washington, D.C. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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KAI RYSSDAL: President Obama's hoping third time's a charm with his latest cabinet pick. Today, former Washington state Governor Gary Locke was nominated to run the Commerce Department.
Yesterday former Representative Hilda Solis was sworn in as Labor Secretary. And her confirmation has brought new hope to advocates for workers' rights. They've been trying for years to convince Congress to pass something called the Employee Free Choice Act. It'll make it easier for workers to organize and stiffen penalties for the companies that try to stop them
Our Washington Bureau Chief John Dimsdale reports now on the latest political struggle between labor and management.
JOHN DIMSDALE: For a sense of what's at stake for both sides, all you have to do is turn on TV.
Ad announcer: The Employee Free Choice Act will let workers choose to form a union to get better pay, health benefits and job security.
Ad announcer: Some union bosses and their politician friends want to effectively do away with privacy when it comes to voting on joining a union.
The number of unionized workers has shrunk from 30 percent in the 1950s to only 12 percent today. At issue here is a struggle over how new unions are formed. Current rules require the government's National Labor Relations Board to run a secret vote for employees to decide whether to create a union. Setting up the election takes a while and that gives employers the upper hand, says Mary Beth Maxwell who runs the union-funded American Rights at Work.
MARY BETH MAXWELL: Tens of thousands of workers a year are illegally fired for trying to exercise their right to form a union. It's an incredibly effective tool to scare people. Because if you can lose your job tomorrow, in these kind of economic times, who feels like they can take that kind of risk?
To discourage that kind of intimidation, the Employee Free Choice Act increases penalties on employers and grants illegally-fired workers more back pay. The Act allows workers to sign cards to petition for a union. If fifty percent plus one of the employees sign the cards, the union is approved without a secret ballot election run by the government. Opponents like Rob Green at the National Retail Federation, say that makes workers subject to intimidation from union organizers.
ROB GREEN:If an organizer shows up at employees house at dinner time or in the parking lot, many cases a card is signed and not an indication of whether or not a union is favored, its just done to say 'Hey I'll signed a card and I'll move on to go back to my job.'
Mary Beth Maxwell says workers don't worry about union intimidation.
MAXWELL: Everybody who gets up and goes to work in the morning knows who has the power at work. It's your boss. That's where workers are experiencing intimidation and harassment. That's what the Employee Free Choice Act is trying to remedy saying we just need to level the playing field so people really can make a fair choice about whether or not they want to form a union.
And the AFL-CIO's Stewart Acuff says without greater collective bargaining protections, nothing less than the American middle class is at stake.
STEWART ACUFF:Corporate America had it their way for thirty years. Our wages have declined, our standard of living has declined. It's time to balance the economy and make an economy that works for all of us and promises to give our kids and grandkids the same kind of opportunity, the same quality of life that we've enjoyed.
But opponents in Congress, like Minnesota Republican John Kline -- a member of the House Labor Committee -- say expanding union membership isn't necessarily good in the current economy.
JOHN KLINE: If you look at the legacy costs of the auto manufacturers, they have union contracts that are weighing them down. And so there are implications for the economy as a whole if this were to pass.
The Employee Free Choice Act -- which passed the House last session, but not the Senate -- will be reintroduced in the next few weeks. President Obama says he'll sign if it reaches his desk.
In Washington I'm John Dimsdale for Marketplace.
Comments
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From San Francisco, CA, 03/04/2009
But unions *are* part of what ails this country. I think there is no denying that there are cases where workers are at a disadvantage, but there are plenty of examples of unions being too powerful or acting in ways not in the best interest of their members.
In California, we saw a couple of prime examples of this in the last half decade. For instance, dock workers went on strike and shut down our ports for months because they were protecting their $120k salaries (come on, is that really what a position like dock worker should pay?) by refusing to allow even the most basic technology into the ports. It costs my company as much to get containers from Long Beach docks to our facility in Los Angeles (60 miles) as it does to get them from the interior of China to Long Beach (thousands of miles). Thanks Unions.
We also saw supermarket workers in So Cal strike for six months in protest of supermarkets wanting workers to contribute *something* towards their health care. Supermarkets were and are competing with Sam's Club and the like which don't have the same overhead in wages and benefits. Many supermarket workers had been in the same job for 20+ years and making salaries of $50k. Granted, that is not a lot for California living, but remember we are talking about a skill that a new worker can be taught in a relatively short time. Result of the union strike: Non unionized competitors like Trader Joe's (where people LOVE to work by the way) saw their business sustainably rise by 30% (with a similar drop in the supermarkets presumably) and the supermarkets eventually replaced striking workers with new employees. Smooth move unions.
If the card check legislation makes it *too* easy to form collective bargaining units within companies, the proliferation of unions where they perhaps aren't necessary will be detrimental to many industries and ultimately hurt workers.
From Albany, OR, 03/01/2009
All anybody is asking for with the passage of The "Employee Free Choice Act" is the opportunity to negotiate on a fair and even playing field. Under the present system with the threats and intimidations from the employers the laws are lopsided. As I have seen it over the years the worker usually approaches the union and asked about unionizing. The vote issue is a none issue in that the employees can decide if they want an election or not. Democracy is not threaten here but reinforced in the fixing of broken laws. After watching the long drawn out political process where the campaigning goes on and on for offices seemingly for ever. There hasn't been any real labor reform since 1933 and it is time to fix what needs fixing. We would be better of debating what really ails this country.
From Naperville, NY, 02/28/2009
The reporting for this story left much to be desired. No attempt was made (or at least it wasn't reported) to relate how an election for union representation actually works. The story, for example, leaves the listener with the impression that it is perfectly legal for employers to coerce workers for union organizing activities and that they are illegally firing 10's of 1,000's of organizers with impunity. It would have been much more helpful if the reporter had contacted the National Labor Relations Board to find out about the law and the process. There are many legal protections for workers who attempt to organize their worksite, and many restrictions on what an employer may do and say during a union election campaign. You owe it to your listeners to take another stab at this topic. Check the facts and check the factuality of the statements made by your interviewees.
From San Francisco, CA, 02/26/2009
As the owner of a small manufacturing business, I find the Employee Free Choice Act alarming.
Last month we decided to scuttle a deal to buy another manufacturing company out of bankruptcy because we discovered that the unionization of the workforce had increased the labor costs by 200+% over similar non-unionized companies and was one of the major reasons the company was in bankruptcy.
If the 75 employees of our current manufacturing company were to organize in a union and costs were driven up the same way, we would have no choice but to move our manufacturing offshore. This is good for employees?
What I learned from my parents is that if I wanted to earn more money, I had to become worth more money. What we don't need is to just pay people more. What we do need is to help people improve their earning power through education and training.
From Portland, OR, 02/26/2009
The National Labor Relations Act currently allows employees to sign cards and if a majority do so than the employer can recognize the union as their representative and sign a contract. The problem is that corporations that do not want a union can, and frequently do, engage in a variety of unfair tactics (ie captive audience meetings; firing union supporters; threatening to go out of business if the union comes in). Study after study shows that union workers make higher wages and better beneifts. If we want to save the American economy, we better figure out how to rebuild the middle class. Allowing workers better access to become union can help us get there. The Employee Free Choice Act would take away from corporations one tool they have to thwart the effort of employees to become union. That is a good thing. Norman Malbin
From Rochester, MI, 02/26/2009
I find Mr. Acuff's comments interesting. Out of one side of his mouth he says his wages have declined and his standard of living has declined. Out of the other side of his mouth he wants his grandkids to have the same opportunity and quality of life that he has enjoyed.
From Hartford, CT, 02/26/2009
I find the potential passage of the Employee Free Choice Act deeply distrurbing. One of the fundamental values of our society is the democratic process of secret ballot elections. Although it may have its flaws, Ms. Maxwell's assertion that "tens of thousands of workers a year are illegally fired for trying to exercise their right to form a union" is an absurd overstatement, and the argument that a petition process would level the playing field is equally ludicrous. It is unquestionable that the card-check process - where co-workers hand you a pen and ask you to sign a petition - is inherently coercive.
Furthermore, although higher wages, benefits and job security are all great to things, how can we impose these higher costs on employers who are struggling - now more than ever- to survive and to compete in a global marketplace?
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