Free Choice and Prosperity are Intimately Connected
John Durso - Thu, Apr 23, 2009
Long Island Business - Featured Posts, Opinion
With wages dropping, health care costs rising and pensions disappearing, working people more than ever are concerned about their future. The gap between union members and workers not connected to labor organizations continues to widen. Those associated with unions earn 28 percent more than unaffiliated workers. Union members are 52 percent more likely to have employer-provided health insurance, and 77 percent have defined-benefit pension plans through their jobs, compared with only 20 percent of other workers.
For the last 29 years, ever since Ronald Reagan took on PATCO and signaled a scorched-earth approach to unions in America, labor organizations have been losing ground. Employer discrimination, threat of firing, intimidation and delaying negotiations have made joining a union difficult and dangerous for employees. At the same time, America has seen her manufacturing base slip away, and has watched while inequality rises. Chief executives’ compensation has exploded while worker pay remained steady, or should I say has declined, due to the soaring cost of living. Adding to this disparity is that some 43 million Americans are without any form of medical insurance.
In the past, the expansion of labor unions had a lot to do with the growth of American prosperity. Our economic recovery must start with the strengthening and growing of the middle class and we cannot have a viable middle class without a strong labor movement. The bottom line is this: When workers are doing well and wages are up, they spend the money that drives our economy.
The Employee Free Choice Act, recently introduced in Congress (H.R. 1409/S.560) would ensure that workers have a free choice and a fair chance to form a union. This legislation will allow workers to once again choose to form unions without the fear of being fired. It will open the door for employees to bargain for health care, pensions and fair wages, restoring their economic security and reversing the wage stagnation that has contributed to a weak economy.
When it comes to bringing a union to the workplace, our current laws are weak and have failed workers. Once workers form a union and notify the employer that they authorize the union to negotiate on their behalf, many employers call for a National Labor Relations Board election before they will recognize the union. They then, through legal maneuvering, delay that election for many months. During that time, in clear violation of the law, companies routinely intimidate, harass, coerce and even fire workers who support the union. The unfortunate truth is that that our laws have made it easy for them to do so. Currently the penalties are so slight for breaking labor laws that corporations simply consider it the cost of doing business. In 2007 alone, the federal government found that companies violated the rights of 29,559 workers who attempted to organize a union in the workplace.
The Employee Free Choice Act will go a long way towards correcting these unjust labor laws. It will create circumstances that will allow workers who desire a union a fair chance at achieving one. By giving the workers card check recognition (50 percent of employees plus one signing authorization cards with a union) and eliminating the NLRB elections, workers who desire a union in their workplace will be able to form one without fear of retaliation from the employer. Once passed, the Employee Free Choice Act will not only level the playing field for workers to form a union, but it will ensure that the employer negotiates a contract in good faith. The Employee Free Choice Act mandates the employer to negotiate an initial contract within 120 days of union certification, after which a federal arbitrator could be brought in to help resolve or even impose a contract. The legislation would also dramatically raise the penalties for unfair labor practices by employers, such as intimidating workers or firing organizers.
The truth is communities with strong unions generally have higher living standards and a strong middle class. The Employee Free Choice Act will reverse the trend of corporate greed that has consumed the past three decades. Unions restore the balance between the employee and employer. They give the workers a path to the middle class by offering an opportunity to earn higher wages, better health care, a secure pension and a sense of job security. The road to the middle class runs through union halls, it always has. Where unions are strong the middle class is strong and the buying power of our communities is even stronger. Now more than ever this country needs organized labor to grow, and we need the Employee Free Choice Act.
John R. Durso is president of RWDSU Local 338 and international vice president of the United Food & Commercial Workers. He is also president of the Long Island Federation of Labor.
