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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 2011)
Unions are (not!) destroying America (Editor’s Note: The following is text from Oregon Congressman Earl Blu- menauer’s Sept. 14 speech on the floor of the U.S. House.) By U.S. REP. EARL BLUMENAUER It is unfortunate that we are seeing an attempt in Congress to scapegoat America’s unions for the economic problems that beset us. After all, it was not America’s gro- cery clerks, nurses, teachers, postal workers, and electricians that nearly caused the meltdown of the economy. It wasn’t America’s labor unions that were pushing for tax loopholes that made our revenue system a hopeless, inefficient mess. It wasn’t unions that pushed for shortcuts for worker safety that produced the tragedies that we have seen in our mines. America’s working men and women didn’t engineer poor loans, cheat consumers, and transform financial institutions into giant casinos. No doubt there are some consumers who took unfair advantage of the sys- tem, as well as others who were not as vigilant as they should have been be- fore the meltdown, but the truth is that they were part of an unprecedented economic scheme that played on those weaknesses, gullibility and often greed, turning it into a vast industry. Are there some areas where unions have been too effective in securing ben- efits for their members? It probably de- pends on who you ask about the give and take of the collective bargaining process. The leadership structures of unions are in fact much more demo- cratic than their corporate counterparts. Officials are routinely challenged for reelection, and there are insurgents in even the most powerful and entrenched unions — something one seldom sees in a corporate boardroom. How many of those directors are defeated? It’s not easy to even have opposing nominees through today’s shareholder democ- racy. It’s much less democratic than what happens with unions. There is a very direct remedy in the negotiation process. I’ve been on both sides of this issue and I’ve had ups and downs with some of my friends in or- ganized labor. For 18 years I was a local elected official, part of that time re- sponsible for the collective bargaining program. I like to think that I bargained tough and fair. But the point is that I bargained. I’ve supported collective bar- gaining rights for public employees from my first session in the Oregon Legislature and still believe that honest, tough, principled negotiation will lead to the best results. Having somebody dictate working conditions is not calcu- lated to enhance productivity. It matters how people are treated and how they feel. Employee-owned corporations, particularly those that also have unions, illustrate this principle in spades. One of the best-performing economies in the world is Germany, where they still manufacture and have a huge export market for high-value products. Germans work hard to inte- grate labor and business with govern- ment in the decision-making process, something that is all too rare in the United States. Unions are not the answer for every employee and every company, but every employee and every company deserves to make that choice. The fact is that even nonunion companies benefit from the strength of collective bargaining in our economy. I have had executives at successful manufacturing companies candidly tell me that they treat their em- ployees right because they don’t want them to unionize. Even these nonunion companies’ employees benefit from higher wages, better benefits and a sys- tem that respects the worker because it is a strong part of our culture. Yet, instead of treating employees fairly by allowing them to organize, far too many corporations have chosen in- stead to attack the fundamentals of col- lective bargaining. It is an art form to stall, delay, intimidate, and even to fla- grantly violate the laws of collective bargaining in this country, weak and in- effectively enforced as they are. Col- lective bargaining has been under sys- tematic attack from my Republican colleagues in Congress, and Republi- can administrations have sought to transform the National Labor Relations Board into a toothless, passive entity that is unable or unwilling to protect the rights of employees to organize. This is not calculated to produce a spirit of co- operation, and it is not clear that peo- ple need to cheat the system in order to avoid any excesses of collective bar- gaining. I would argue the opposite is true. It is not just workers who benefit from unionization — it is society as a whole. It was organized labor that spearheaded efforts for a 40-hour work week, and it To The Editor: Thank you to the NW Labor Press for Associate Editor Don McIntosh’s excellent article on prison bread in Ore- gon and Washington school districts. What the article didn’t say was that Don’s 10-month investigation was most likely a main reason all school districts in Oregon, and several school districts in Washington, stopped the use of prison bread in their school districts, thus returning that work back to our Bakers Union members. Don was repeatedly stonewalled in response to his information requests. But I am sure his requests stirred up a hornets’ nest of concern behind the RI LQ 3$,1" 0RVW,QVXUDQFH 3ODQV$FFHSWHG 3 528'/< 6 (59,1* 3 257/$1' : 25.(56 ) 25 2 9(5 < ($56 scene. And as a result of Don’s work, and our Local’s letters, was the return of work for our members, as school districts became wary of the public be- coming aware that they were feeding their school children food made in a prison. Information is power, and I am very grateful we have the NW Labor Press where working family/union informa- tion gets us working family/union power! Terry W. Lansing Secretary Treasurer Bakers Local 114 Portland %HHVRQ&KLURSUDFWLF :RUNLQJ NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS is not just rhetoric when people say that unions were the ones who brought you the weekend. Unions have played a key role in extending health security to mil- lions of Americans, workplace safety to millions of employees, and con- sumer and environmental protections to our families. I don’t pretend that unions are per- fect, and I’ve had some differences with them over the years. But make no mistake: unions are amongst the few who stand up for justice in the work- place, protecting the unorganized, and fighting for a livable minimum wage. It’s important to reflect upon our col- lective bargaining system. I’m all for fine-tuning, but I am adamantly op- posed to gutting the rights and protec- tions of workers. We all should start by acknowledging the debt we owe to unions, and work to stop this wholesale assault on the American worker. Labor Press information has power 7LUHG OCTOBER 7, 2011 O PEN F ORUM KHOSVEULQJWKH UHOLHI\RXQHHG 7UHDWPHQWIRUSDLQGXHWR RYHUXVHDQGUHSHWLWLYHPRWLRQ &KLURSUDFWLFDGMXVWPHQWV 7UHDWPHQWIRUDFFLGHQWDQG VSRUWVUHODWHGLQMXULHV 5HKDELOLWDWLRQH[HUFLVHV 7KHUDSHXWLFPDVVDJH ,QWHUQDOGLDJQRVLVDQGWUHDWPHQW /DEWHVWVDQG[UD\V 'U'DQ%HHVRQ&KLURSUDFWRU 6(7KLUWHHQWK$YHLQ6HOOZRRG &$// PAGE 11
