Study finds rise in illegal
firings of pro-union workers
WASHINGTON, D.C. — About
one in five union organizers or ac-
tivists can expect to be fired as a result
of their union organizing, according to
a new report from the Center for Eco-
nomic and Policy Research (CEPR).
The paper, “Dropping the Ax: Ille-
gal Firings During Union Election
Campaigns,” by John Schmitt and
Ben Zipperer, finds a steep rise in ille-
gal firings of pro-union workers in re-
cent years.
“Aggressive actions by employers
— often including illegal firings —
have significantly undermined the
ability of U.S. workers to unionize
their workplaces,” said Schmitt,
CEPR senior economist and lead au-
thor of the paper. “With the legal
penalties for such actions being so
slight, employers can break the law to
head-off organizing efforts and face
almost no real repercussions,” he said
The report finds that firings of pro-
union workers involved in union elec-
tion campaigns are approaching the
peak reached during the 1980s of 1 in
42. The current probability of a pro-
union worker being fired — a 1 in 53
chance — is far greater than the rate at
the end of the 1990s, when it was only
1 in 87. The paper also finds that the
number of successful union elections
have significantly declined, partly as a
result of the increase in illegal firings.
“If only 10 percent of pro-union
workers are active campaign organiz-
ers, almost 1 in 5 union activists were
fired illegally in 2005,” the authors
said.
Using annual data from the Na-
tional Labor Relations Board on its
determinations of “discriminatory dis-
charges” in the context of union-elec-
tion campaigns, Schmitt and Zipperer
were able to estimate the probability
of a pro-union worker being fired ille-
gally in connection with a union-or-
ganizing election, and to calculate
other aspects of employer behavior
and success rates in union-organizing
elections.
The complete report can be found
at: www.cepr.net/documents/publica-
tions/unions_2007_01.pdf
The Center for Economic and Pol-
icy Research is a nonpartisan think
tank that was established to promote
debate on economic and social issues
that affect people’s lives.
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