Barack Obama and Unions

Posted September 5th, 2008 by gestroud • 4 views • Print • Email

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It’s crystal clear Barack Obama will pursue economic policies that benefit workers if elected president, and if he has a House and Senate that supports him, we may well see changes in labor laws that will super charge Organized Labor’s ability to unionize workers in America. If these “ifs” materialize, these changes can translate to reality almost immediately.

Consider this. Currently, the preferred method for determining whether or not employees want a union to represent them is a private-ballot election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board. The NLRB provides detailed procedures to ensure a fair election, free of fraud. Employees cast their vote confidentially, without peer pressure or coercion from unions or employers. Union activists claim widespread employer abuse during organizing drives, but the NLRB found that employers abuses are the rare exception, not the norm, in organizing elections.

However, labor activists (including those in New Hampshire) argue that a card check system that would replace the current private-ballot system is needed to protect workers’ free choice as to whether to join a union. By replacing private-ballot elections with “card-check” elections, the legislation would let unions organize a workplace if a simple majority of workers signed a card. Thus, the “Employee Free Choice Act” (EFCA),” is the No. 1 priority for organized labor. The pending bill does not require the secret ballot vote unless at least 30 percent of workers call for it. Seen by the AFL-CIO as a way to boost union rolls by hundreds of thousands, the hotly-contested and emotionally charged bill has become this year’s No. 1 election issue for organized labor. Mr. Obama has promised union bosses that the Act will become law in 2009 if he wins the presidency in November.

If statistics to the contrary are incorrect and most employees really do in fact believe Congress should replace private ballots with publicly signed cards to protect workers’ choice, then the nature of union organizing could be subject to radical changes almost immediately. But without the protection of the secret ballot, workers could well be subject to coercion and deceptive practices by pro-union forces. Mandatory card check union drives will mean that millions more American workers could be forced to face a “choice” between 1) joining a union and paying union dues or 2) being fired. Obama, of course, is a strong advocate of this as it ensures him strong union support in his campaign for the presidency.

While my personal take on this is admittedly biased since much of my adult working life was spent representing employers in Labor Relations matters, two things strike me: first, a “card check” system, which effectively requires employees to declare publicly their support or opposition to unionizing suggests to me a greater likelihood for coercion than a secret ballot method. Second, and taking a realstic view, the reason employers are so worried about card check is that the ability to conduct a strong pro-employer (and possibly even anti-union) campaign will be negated. Still, numbers don’t lie. In 2007, the number of workers belonging to a union accounted for 12.1 percent of employed wage and salary workers. In 1983, the first year for which comparable union data are available, the union membership rate was 20.1 percent. Were it not for successful unionization in the in the public sector and in education, it is clear unions as a force would have become a historical footnote. Whether this is the result of employer abuses (as the anecdotal stories of activists would have you believe) or the fact that workers simply don’t want unions, the fact remains that under Obama, organized labor will have its greatest opportunity in years to change the membership landscape.

I personally believe that most workers do not want the government to force them to reveal their choices to anyone and want the right to keep their votes private. But again, I have a strong bias here.

Predictably, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business lobby, has launched the Workforce Freedom Initiative, a counteroffensive against the AFL-CIO’s efforts. This is un-American,” said Chamber President Tom Donohue whose annual salary is somewhere over 1.8 million American dollars and who has aggressively transformed the Chamber into a pro-business and pro-Republican powerhouse–a transformation that has not received unanimous acclaim, but that’s a story for another column.

Barack Obama is pro-union. Being pro-union means being pro-card check. And a card check system means it will be easier to organize employees into unions even if the workers impacted do not want it. The House passed the card-check bill last year by a 241-185 vote, but it was blocked in the Senate where Democrats fell nine votes short of the 60 votes needed to end a GOP filibuster. If the “if’s become reality, look for this to change.

Ironically, in the end, the voters will decide by secret ballot.

. . . it’s been a long time since we had a president who said unions are a good thing – Barack Obama

. . . We’re ready to play offense for organized labor. It’s time we had a president who didn’t choke saying the word ‘union.’ A president who strengthens our unions by letting them do what they do best: organize our workers. – Barack Obama

. . . We plan to build a grass-roots business organization so strong that when it bites you in the butt, you bleed. – Tom Donohue

About the author: Ted Sares, PhD, is a private investor who lives and writes in the White Mountain area of Northern New Hampshire with his wife Holly and Min Pin Jackdog. He writes a bi-weekly column for a local newspaper and many of his other pieces are widely published. URL: http://www.tedsares.com/

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photo credit: Barack Obama