U.S. House takes action on union organizing bill
As this issue of the Northwest La-
bor Press was going to press, the U.S.
House of Representatives announced it
would vote on House Resolution 800
— the Employee Free Choice Act —
on March 1.
The result of that vote was not
available until after this issue went to
press, however, prior to the vote there
were a bipartisan 233 co-sponsors of
the bill, more than enough for passage
in the House.
HR 800 is a top priority bill of the
AFL-CIO and Change to Win. Its in-
tent is to level the playing field be-
tween workers who want to join a
union and their employers, who most
of the time don’t want their employees
joining a union.
HR 800 would:
• Establish stronger penalties for vi-
olation of employee rights when work-
ers seek to form a union and during
first-contract negotiations.
• Provide mediation and arbitration
for first-contract disputes.
• Allow employees to form unions
by signing cards authorizing union
representation without having to go
through the National Labor Relations
Board. Right now, card check is one
method the NLRB has approved for
union recognition, but only if the em-
ployer agrees. Otherwise, unions and
workers must go through a long, busi-
ness-tilted NLRB elections process.
And though U.S. laws are supposed
to protect workers’ freedom to belong
to a union, employers routinely harass,
intimidate, coerce and even fire em-
ployees trying to gain a union so they
can bargain for better pay, benefits and
working conditions.
Cornell University scholar Kate
Bronfenbrenner said 75 percent of em-
ployers hire outside consultants to run
anti-union campaigns, often based on
mass psychology and distorting the
law. Bronfenbrenner has studied hun-
dreds of organizing campaigns and
found that:
• Ninety-two percent of private-sec-
tor employers, when faced with em-
ployees who want to join together in a
union, force employees to attend
closed-door meetings to hear anti-
union propaganda; 80 percent require
supervisors to attend training sessions
on attacking unions; and 78 percent re-
quire that supervisors deliver anti-
union messages to underlings.
• Half of employers threaten to shut
HEMORRHOIDS
down partially or totally if employees
join a union.
• In 25 percent of organizing cam-
paigns, private-sector employers ille-
gally fire workers because they want to
form a union.
• Even after workers successfully
form a union, in one-third of the in-
stances employers do not negotiate a
contract.
If unfair labor practice charges are
filed, union campaigns can be delayed
even longer. And, oftentimes if an em-
ployer is found guilty by the NLRB,
the punishment is minimal, including
posting a sign stating they won’t do it
any more.
Corporate front groups are waging
a major campaign to stop HR 800,
with support from President Bush.
M cKanna
not have the right to silence the will of
the majority through scare tactics and
intimidation during a National Labor
Relations Board election.”
As it stands, the bill doesn’t have
enough votes to pass the Senate, given
that the Republican minority has
promised to filibuster the bill once it
hits the Senate floor. It requires 60
votes to end a filibuster and Democ-
rats, who hold a 51-49 majority, don’t
have the votes to stop it. A vote in the
Senate has not yet been scheduled.
Oregon Republican U.S. Senator
Gordon Smith has yet to take a posi-
tion on the bill. To talk to Smith or his
staff about the Employee Free Choice
Act, call him from Portland at 503-
326-3386 or go to his Web site at:
www.gsmith.senate.gov/public/.
Bush says he will veto the Employee
Free Choice Act if it reaches his desk.
A group calling itself the “Coalition
for a Democratic Workplace” claims
to be rank-and-file workers who want
to preserve their right to a secret ballot
vote for a union. Reportedly, no rank-
and-file workers are named in the
coalition’s literature, but some 20 or
30 employer groups are, ranging from
the National Restaurant Association,
to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“Bush and some Republicans in
Congress see labor unions as a threat
to the bottom line of their corporate
friends,” said Rep. Phil Hare (D-Ill.).
“Opponents of this legislation have
every right to express their disdain for
unions and the service they provide to
working families. However, they do
B ishop
J offe
&
S ullivan
LLP
is very pleased to announce that effective January 1, 2007,
Gene Mechanic
has affiliated with our firm. Gene has relocated to Florida to work with the
Service Employees International Union on organizing projects in the South.
While he is working in Florida, Gene will be "of counsel" to our firm. We are
proud to be affiliated with Gene and working together for the same cause.
Adam S. Arms
Elizabeth A. McKanna
John S. Bishop, II
Dana L. Sullivan
Elizabeth A. Joffe
Gene B. Mechanic, Of Counsel
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