Priority #1 for Working America -- Make It Easier to Unionize

By Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times. Posted November 18, 2008.

One of labor's main goals was to help the Democrats capture 60 Senate seats, with an eye to overcoming a Republican filibuster against the card-check bill, which the House approved last year. In the Senate, there were 51 votes for the bill, but it failed because supporters could not overcome a Republican filibuster.

Democrats gained at least six Senate seats on Tuesday, giving their caucus at least 57 seats, but they are likely to fall short of 60. (In three races, the winner has not yet been determined.)

Even without 60 seats, many labor leaders want to press ahead with the Employee Free Choice Act. The service employees union has pledged to mobilize tens of thousands of members to urge Mr. Obama and Congress to enact that bill and universal health coverage in the 100 days after Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.

"I don't think that just because we have 40 Republican senators or some higher number means we can't get EFCA passed," said Tom Woodruff, director of strategic organizing for Change to Win, a federation of seven unions that quit the A.F.L.-C.I.O. "There are a number of Republicans who, in order to save our economy, can be brought around to supporting the act."

One Republican senator, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, has co-sponsored the bill.

While the Chamber of Commerce seems ready to cooperate with organized labor to back an economic stimulus package, Mr. Donohue, the chamber's president, said it would be unwise for Mr. Obama to embrace the Employee Free Choice Act when the economy was in such bad shape. He said the bill -- along with other labor-backed bills that would raise business costs, including one that would guarantee most workers seven paid sick days a year -- would hurt companies when many were struggling.

"The president has one barrel of challenges," Mr. Donohue said, "and he should read the doctor's oath to make sure in the first 100 days he does no harm."

Chamber officials voiced confidence that they have the backing in the Senate to block the bill, a move that might cause business and labor to negotiate a version with compromises. Among the compromises floated would be keeping the secret ballot vote, but holding the vote just a few days after the union requests an election. Other ideas are to give union organizers access to workplace sites and to limit employers' ability to campaign against the union.

But Mr. Stern of the service employees said today's hard times for workers increased the urgency to enact the bill, without compromises. "We have to solve the problems of sliding wages and increased inequality, and you can't compromise on solving those problems," he said.

Businesses oppose another provision in the bill: if a newly recognized union and an employer fail to agree on a contract within 120 days, there would be binding arbitration to determine what should be in the contract.

"The card-check provisions and the arbitration provisions are a nonstarter with the employer community," said Mr. Johnson of the chamber. "The idea that government arbitrators can set every term is ludicrous and unacceptable."

Union officials say they do not dislike the secret ballot, but rather the lengthy, expensive, adversarial campaign before the vote in which companies often fire union supporters and use videos, large meetings and one-on-one sessions to pressure employees to vote against unionizing.

"Their focus is maintaining their right to wage an aggressive campaign against the union," said Mr. Samuel of the A.F.L.-C.I.O. "That's what we're trying to protect workers from."

© 2008 The New York Times AlterNet is making this material available in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107: This article is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.

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