FEB. 6, 2009:NWLP
2/3/09
10:12 AM
Page 9
Drawn-out campaign at Oregon bakery attests to need for EFCA
As organized labor prepares to battle
in the nation’s capital for a long-sought
labor-law reform, the story of a year-
and-a-half-long union campaign at a
mid-sized Lake Oswego bakery shows
why reform is necessary.
The Employee Free Choice Act —
the union movement’s number one pri-
ority in Congress — would make it eas-
ier for workers to obtain union repre-
sentation and a first contract.
In short, the law would get rid of the
danger, delay and uncertainty that kill
most union campaigns when an em-
ployer is determined to resist them.
Eighteen months ago, union organ-
izer Georgene Barragan took a job at
Breadsong Bakery, a specialty bakery
in Lake Oswego, to try to unionize the
workers. Breadsong, a unit of a sub-
sidiary of agribusiness giant Cargill,
employs about 30 production workers
at about $11.25 an hour. Some of its
bread is sold under brand-names that
are otherwise baked by members of
Bakery, Confectionery Tobacco Work-
ers & Grain Millers Local 114. The
union wanted to prevent members’
work from slipping away to a nonunion
shop — and give the non-union workers
a chance to earn the significantly higher
union wage and benefit package —
$19.80 an hour and fully paid family
health insurance coverage.
Barragan approached co-workers
one by one, and by September, a major-
ity had signed cards saying they wanted
to be represented by Local 114. Under
the Employee Free Choice Act, that
would have been enough for them to get
a union. But under current law, employ-
ers don’t have to accept that method of
showing majority support, and can in-
sist on an election. That usually means
up to six weeks during which managers
and outside consultants mount a full-
court press to talk workers out of union-
izing.
That’s what happened at Breadsong.
The union filed for an election Nov. 7,
and a date was set — Dec. 19, 2007.
Union organizers will recognize what
followed as a textbook case of the stan-
dard anti-union playbook — a set of
...Rolling out new EFCA campaign
(From Page 1)
ference launching the ad campaign.
It should be easier in the House,
though, where Samuel expects the leg-
islation will pass with a larger majority
than in the 110th Congress. (It passed
241-185 in the House in 2007.
Among elected officials in Oregon
and Washington, support for the Em-
ployee Free Choice Act is particularly
strong. The legislation’s co-sponsors
include U.S. Senators Patty Murray
and Maria Cantwell of Washington,
and Ron Wyden of Oregon; and U.S.
Reps. David Wu, Earl Blumenauer, and
Peter DeFazio of Oregon, and Brian
Baird of Southwest Washington. All
are Democrats.
Newly-elected U.S. Sen. Jeff
Merkley of Oregon campaigned in fa-
vor of EFCA, and newly-elected Con-
gressman Kurt Schrader (D-5th Dist.)
of Oregon signed onto the bill as a co-
sponsor on his first day in office.
Besides the Leadership Conference,
other groups in the pro-worker cam-
paign include the National Consumers
League, the NAACP, La Raza Unida,
People for the American Way, the Uni-
tarian Universalist Association of Con-
gregations, the National Partnership for
Women and Families, Human Rights
Watch, the Center for American
Progress, the Americans for Demo-
cratic Action, and Interfaith Worker
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(Turn to Page 11)
A list of myths and realities about
the Employee Free Choice Act is posted
on the facing page.
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General, cosmetic, and specialty care
election was set — Oct. 10, 2008.
But in the three weeks prior to the
second scheduled election, the em-
ployer offensive ramped up again, says
Local 114 Secretary-Treasurer Terry
Lansing. Over a period of two weeks,
the company held seven mandatory
meetings at which company managers,
corporate lawyers and the general man-
ager spoke against the union. The com-
pany issued an annual wage increase to
workers at other nonunion locations, but
told Breadsong workers they couldn’t
have it because of the union campaign
— and that they might not get a raise
for a year if they vote the union in.
Workers were told they wouldn’t be
able to participate in the company stock
ownership plan if they unionized. They
were told, falsely, that dues would start
coming out of their checks as soon as
the union was voted in. Company rep-
Justice.
Speakers at the press conference
warned the media about a misinforma-
tion campaign coming from business
groups — particularly the U.S. Cham-
ber of Commerce — about the Em-
ployee Free Choice Act. Most notably,
the claim that EFCA would “destroy
the secret ballot” in union recognition
elections. The speakers noted unionists
could still choose the election option,
or majority signup (card-check). That
choice would be up to the workers, not
the bosses, under the bill, they said.
SERVING UNIONS FOR OVER 25 YEARS
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proven tactics that employers have de-
veloped over decades to defeat union
campaigns.
Managers called in workers one by
one and interrogated them about the
union campaign. Almost daily manda-
tory meetings were held, at which man-
agers showed anti-union propaganda
videos and handed out fliers warning
workers about the dues they’d have to
pay. And 12 days before the election,
they fired Barragan — the most outspo-
ken union supporter.
The union cried foul, and filed
charges with the National Labor Rela-
tions Board, asking that the election be
postponed. The federal agency agreed
with the union that the law had been vi-
olated, and put off the election. An
NLRB agent brokered an out-of-court
settlement with the company. Barragan
was reinstated June 24, 2008. A few
months after that, a new date for the
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