JUNE 19, 2009:NWLP
6/16/09
10:05 AM
Page 6
Oregon ‘card-check’ law hasn’t opened floodgate to unionizing
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
It’s been two years since the Oregon
Legislature passed a law giving public
employees the ability to unionize by
“card-check,” and in that time only 110
workers — at six workplaces — have
joined a union through that method. The
largest of those is Klamath Community
College in Klamath Falls, where last
month cards were turned in for a group
of 70 workers to become members of
Oregon Education Association.
Card-check is an alternative to the
conventional elections that are held to
determine whether workers want to
unionize. In card-check, a union is cer-
tified if a majority of workers sign cards
saying they want it.
Four other workplaces, totaling 66
workers, would have unionized via card-
check, except that a provision in the law
forces an election if 30 percent of work-
ers sign a petition requesting one. The
pro-union majority held together in three
out of those four elections. In the fourth,
pro-union office workers at Columbia
Peoples Utility District lost by a single
vote a bid for their unit of 20 to join
Electrical Workers Local 125; a worker
who opposed the union was able to get
several anti-union workers added to the
defined bargaining unit, and that tipped
the balance.
Finally, one other unit of four work-
ers would have unionized by card-
check, but the employer, Crooked River
Ranch Fire Department in Terrebonne,
agreed to recognize the union voluntar-
ily before the Oregon Employment Re-
lations Board verified cards.
That’s not much result for a hard-
fought law that failed the first two times
it was introduced in the Oregon Legis-
lature. Card-check for public employ-
ees was considered a top legislative
achievement for labor in 2007.
“We were given the impression the
floodgates were going to open,” said
elections coordinator Sandra Elliot,
who certifies public employees unions
for the Oregon Employment Relations
Board. “They didn’t.”
Danica Finley, organizing director at
Service Employees Local 503, said
card-check is good policy, even though
her union hasn’t yet used it to certify
regular public employees. Local 503
did use a card-check process to become
bargaining agent for about 4,000 child
care providers and 3,500 adult foster
home providers. But Finley thinks
among state employees, only a few
thousand unionizable workers remain
nonunion, compared to at least 43,000
who are union-represented. And some
nonunion workers are close enough to
unionized co-workers at the same
agency that they use a different process
when they want to join the union — a
“unit clarification” election. Finley said
if a union campaign gains traction at
any of the remaining nonunion state
agencies, such as the Oregon Lottery or
the Oregon Judicial Department, card-
check would almost certainly be the
process used.
Union foes have opposed card-check
wherever it has been proposed. Oregon
ballot measure activist Bill Sizemore
has toyed with the idea of running a bal-
lot measure campaign to eliminate Ore-
gon’s public employee card-check
process. And card-check has been a
central part of the national debate over
the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill in
Congress.
The Employee Free Choice Act is
the most significant labor law reform to
be considered in over a generation. As
introduced, it would require private-sec-
tor employers to recognize a union
through card-check.
Business groups have argued that
card-check is undemocratic because it
eliminates secret ballot unionizing elec-
tions. But Local 503’s Finley says card-
check is more democratic, not less.
“With card-check, you have to have
a true majority,” Finley said, “whereas
in an election, just those who choose to
vote get to decide.”
Brett Nair, community college con-
sultant for the Oregon Education Asso-
ciation, has helped workers unionize us-
ing both methods, and says card-check
is a real leg up for employee rights. Last
month, Nair helped the Klamath Com-
munity College faculty group unionize
through card-check. Nair said it was a
faster and fairer process than the one he
had to use when organizing faculty at
Eastern Oregon University for Ameri-
can Federation of Teachers-Oregon.
The old process was burdensome,
Nair said, because it necessitated a
“double majority.” First a union showed
majority support on cards, and then that
majority had to vote again. At Eastern
Oregon University, employer objections
delayed the election seven months —
and then workers even had to vote a
third time, when a group of anti-union
employees came back later and tried
unsuccessfully to decertify the union.
“With card-check, you don’t have to
establish twice that a majority wants a
union,” Nair said.
And the cards make it clear to sign-
...Seating Minnesota senator Al Franken
is key to passing Employee Free Choice
(From Page 8)
replied to the heckler.
“No,” came the rejoinder. “Your job’s
on the line!”
Specter appeared flustered, but pre-
dicted labor union members will not be
disappointed with his vote.
While backers wait for Franken to be
seated, a group of Democratic senators
are in behind-the-scenes negotiations
over changes to the bill. Labor ally Tom
Harkin of Iowa is leading the discus-
sions, intended to shore up support from
senators who have criticisms of the bill
— Specter; Diane Feinstein of Califor-
nia; Mary Landrieu of Louisiana; Ben
Nelson of Nebraska; Evan Bayh of Indi-
ana, and Blanche Lincoln and Mark
Pryor of Arkansas. Backers may not
need the votes of these conservative De-
mocrats to pass the bill, but they will
need them to stick to tradition and vote
party-line to cut off debate when the
time comes.
The negotiations are about whether
to cut “card-check” out of the Employee
Free Choice Act. Card-check would be
replaced with some other measure to ac-
PAGE 6
complish the same purpose — making it
quicker and easier for workers to union-
ize if they want to do so. Feinstein has
proposed a mail-in election alternative
to the traditional workplace elections.
TheAFL-CIO says it isn’t wedded to
any exact formula. “Card-check” isn’t a
holy grail. Rather, the labor federation
says it will back any version of the Em-
ployee Free Choice Act that adheres to a
set of principles — an easier way to
unionize, a firm deadline for getting a
first contract, and meaningful penalties
for employer lawlessness.
Employers have concentrated their
fire on the card-check aspect of the Em-
ployee Free Choice Act, saying it would
eliminate the “secret ballot.” In focusing
on the provision of the bill that they con-
sidered most politically vulnerable, op-
ponents neglected other parts of the bill
that could have far-reaching conse-
quences — significant penalties for em-
ployer abuse, and certainty that a first
contract would be reached.
Democrats know voting for the Em-
ployee Free Choice Act will arouse the
wrath of business groups, said one
Washington, D.C., labor lobbyist work-
ing on the bill. But the bill is a do-or-die
deal for labor — a core Democratic
Party constituency. Lawmakers want to
get the bill out of the way so they can
move on to health care reform and cli-
mate change legislation.
The timing of the vote will depend
on Franken’s seating. The Minnesota
Supreme Court heard oral arguments
June 1 in a challenge to the election re-
sult, and Franken’s opponent Norm
Coleman pledged no further appeals
once the court rules on whether Franken
won the close vote in November.
Meanwhile, responding to a question
from a reporter at a June 2 press brief-
ing, a White House spokesperson said
President Barack Obama continues to
support the bill, and confirmed that it’s a
priority for the Administration.
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NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
ers that when once a majority have
signed, they get a union — without the
extra step of an election.
“I strongly believe that all non-rep-
resented employees should seek the
E
E
FR
benefits of union organization and
should organize themselves,” Nair said.
“The new law, through card-check, pro-
vides people with an expedited and fair
process to do that.”
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JUNE 19, 2009