...Republican platform calls for national ‘right-to-work’ law
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to PLAs and calls for repeal of the
Davis-Bacon Act, the 1931 law that re-
quires the federal government to pay
the prevailing wage on construction
projects.
In 2008, the GOP platform affirmed
“both the right of individuals to volun-
tarily participate in labor organizations
and bargain collectively and the right
of states to enact right-to-work laws.”
This year’s platform drops explicit sup-
port of workers’ rights to be in a union,
and outright encourages states to pass
right-to-work laws. It also supports
passage of a national right-to-work law.
The Republican platform also op-
poses the Employee Free Choice Act,
which would have given workers the
choice to unionize via “card check,” a
check of signed authorization cards. It
pledges that Republicans will work to
pass legislation to bar employers from
recognizing the union based on card
check. Card check has been a legal av-
enue to union recognition since 1935;
it’s just that it’s up to employers
whether to recognize unions that way.
The GOP platform also pledges in-
creased enforcement of a federal law
against “labor violence.”
And it pledges to pass the Raise Act,
a bill introduced by Indiana Congress-
man Todd Rokita that would let em-
ployers give “merit-based” bonuses,
raises, or other increases irrespective of
what the union contract says.
The platform also criticizes efforts
by Obama appointees on the National
Labor Relations Board to speed up
union certification elections and recog-
nize some union rights of workers even
when they don’t have a majority in a
workplace.
In a nod to Wisconsin Gov. Scott
Walker, the platform “salutes” Repub-
lican governors who have reformed
laws governing public employee
unions, and urges others to follow their
lead. It says no government employer
should collect union dues or workers’
voluntary political contributions.
The platform calls for the federal
workforce to be reduced, by attrition,
at least 10 percent. It promises to “rein
in” unspecified Occupational Safety
and Health Act regulations. And it says
the government should explore partial
privatization of the U.S. Postal Service,
specifically, “a greater role for private
enterprise in appropriate aspects of the
mail-processing system.”
Flying directly in the face of con-
cerns it expresses about the federal
budget deficit, the Republican platform
calls for reducing the corporate tax rate,
reducing tax rates across the board by
20 percent, extending the Bush tax cuts,
eliminating the estate tax, and eliminat-
ing the alternative minimum tax.
On trade, the Republican platform
specifically praises “free trade agree-
ments,” and criticizes Obama for slow-
ness in completing further agreements,
calls for passage of the Trans-Pacific
Partnership — a NAFTA-style trade
treaty being negotiated in secret among
Pacific Rim nations. And it calls for
restoring presidential authority to ne-
gotiate trade deals that Congress can’t
modify, a provision known as “fast
track.”
DEMOCRATS REAFFIRM
WORKERS RIGHTS , MOSTLY
Only slightly different from the Re-
publican platform’s stance on trade, the
Democratic platform pledges to work
towards “fair and free trade.” The plat-
form calls for more trade pacts between
OCTOBER 19, 2012
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
the U.S. and unnamed Latin American
nations, and pushes for “permanent nor-
mal trade relations” with Russia and let-
ting Russia into the World Trade Or-
ganization, contingent on its human
rights record. It also advocates signing
the Trans-Pacific Partnership “while en-
suring workers’ rights and environmen-
tal standards are upheld, and fighting
against unfair trade practices.”
But in contrast to the Republicans,
the Democratic platform repeatedly af-
firms commitments to workers’ rights
and the value of the union movement.
Under the heading “Standing Up for
Workers,” the platform declares that
unions helped build the greatest middle
class the world has ever known. “Their
work resulted in the 40-hour workweek
and weekends, paid leave and pensions,
the minimum wage and health insur-
ance, and Social Security and Medicare
— the cornerstones of middle class se-
curity.”
“We oppose the attacks on collec-
tive bargaining Republican governors
and state legislatures are mounting in
states around the country,” the Demo-
cratic platform continues. “Democrats
believe the right to organize and collec-
tively bargain is a fundamental Ameri-
can value: Every American should have
a voice on the job and a chance to ne-
gotiate for a fair day’s pay after a hard
day’s work.”
The platform pledges that Democ-
rats will vigorously oppose “right to
work” and “paycheck protection” ef-
forts. It also says Democrats will “fight
for labor laws that provide a fair process
for workers to choose union represen-
tation, that facilitate the collective bar-
gaining process, and that strengthen
remedies for violations of the law.”
That’s code for the Employee Free
Choice Act, though unlike 2008, this
year’s Democratic platform doesn’t
mention that legislation by name.
The platform also pledges that De-
mocrats will “continue” to fight against
the fraudulent misclassification of
workers as independent contractors or
salaried workers, an employer abuse
meant to evade taxes or deny benefits
and overtime pay.
It endorses a constitutional amend-
ment to overturn the U.S. Supreme
Court’s Citizens United ruling, which
says corporations — and unions —
have the same rights to influence polit-
ical campaigns through unlimited
spending as individuals do.
And it calls for raising the minimum
wage, and indexing it to inflation.
The platform fails to say anything
about the future of the Postal Service.
Four years ago, the Democratic plat-
form pledged to “fight to ban the per-
manent replacement of striking work-
ers, so that workers can stand up for
themselves without worrying about los-
ing their livelihoods.” It also specifically
stated support for Davis-Bacon. Both
planks are absent from the 2012 Demo-
cratic platform.
(Editor’s Note: Mark Gruenberg of
the PAI Union News Service con-
tributed to this report.)
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