Think Unions Are Politically Powerful Now? Just Wait Till After Card Check
@3. OhReallyQ2009:
“There’s another unspoken alternative – businesses being shut down or moved overseas.”
As if businesses have not been moving overseas for the last thirty years? Gimme a break. Some businesses will possibly move – but on balance unions improve the average living standard of working Americans.
@4. David B:
“What galls me about the proposed EFCA is the removal of the secret ballot. If the unions are so wanted and needed by employees what purpose does it serve to deny that right? Let people freely choose what they want without threats of coercion or repercussion.”
There is no “removal” of the secret ballot. Just the restoration of card check as an alternative.
“Oh yeah, I’m not too hot about the government being able to dictate employment contracts either.”
The alternative is the continued abuse of labor by big business. I prefer timely arbitration.
@5. IP 727:
“The secret ballot is sacrosanct in this country davie boy, and the courts would smack this union good crapola down in a new york second.”
Apparently you don’t understand the history of labor law in the USA. I don’t have the time to engage in remedial education. There is approximately zero chance that EFCA would be struck down by any court.
6. antaine:
“It’s possible for a good thing to turn parasitic and detrimental if it gets too large or powerful. After looking at the auto industry (and others), there can be no question that unions have reached that tipping point.”
I think you grossly overstate the impact of unions on the incompetence of management in the auto industry (and others). To claim that unions are too large or powerful when membership is at historic lows is rather disingenuous.
@7. blotto:
“What happens when the company closes because the owner cannot make payroll??”
If you can show me such a case, I would be interested to learn more. I don’t think any employee union has incentive to run the employer out of business. Quite the opposite – this is an adversarial relationship that, by its very nature, is also cooperative. Mutual dependency is a pretty good motivator.
@8. Fernando:
“Only the right of voting without being intimidated is being removed and we need that right back!!”
If you think that workers are currently enjoying a right to vote without being intimidated, you have not explored the current state of anti-labor practice in the workplace. New laws had to be passed in my state (Oregon) recently to prevent mandatory political indoctrination of employees, specifically in response to employer intimidation regarding organizing.
Study the case of Wal-mart, if you have any question about the lengths to which a corporation will go, within and outside the law, to abuse and frustrate collective bargaining.
@15. tammy:
If you did fire people for organizing, I expect you would lose your business, or a large chunk of cash. You can’t fire people for exercising their rights. Especially when you’ve publicly indicated a willingness to do so.
“Unions are not needed like they once were. We have laws to protect workers now. If you don’t like your job, quit! Shut-up and get another job, or better yet, try starting your own company and see how easy it is.”
You admit that unions serve a purpose, but somehow you imagine that we now live in a world where that purpose is obsolete, and violations of workers rights and safety are simply an occasion to “shut up and get another job”, rather than enforce the laws on the books, or bargain for improvements in working conditions.
@17. Blackwell:
“….the issue is maintaining employee choice: a secret ballot does quite well for that.”
Why should an employer be able to force an election after a majority of employees approve a union? There is no reason I can see for requiring the delay and expense of an election other than employee intimidation on the part of the employer.
@18. Steve:
“David S, employers cannot veto a decision by employees to form a union if they vote in a secret ballot. They can only ignore the vote if it is a public ballot. Get off this site if you are not going to tell the truth.”
They can ignore it to the extent that they can negotiate in poor faith indefinitely. Without mandatory arbitration even a secret ballot election can be effectively vetoed.
@19. Hotpatch 6:
“Hey posters, leave David S. alone – he is just following orders.”
Nobody is giving me orders, but it is obvious that I struck a nerve here.
@27. Concerned:
” – you forgot to mention the mandatory arbitration that is also stuck in the EFC. All the union has to do is refuse to accept the company offer for 90 days and then a government arbitrator comes in and makes a decision. This could cause more companies to fold up a they are stuck with unsustainable contracts.”
There is no reason to believe EFCA will cause companies to fold up. It is more likely that the result will be workers with better wages and benefits, superior working conditions, and a right to organize that is no subject to management review. Union employees have no incentive to harm their employer – only to prevent harm to themselves.
@32. Phoenix48:
“… the new mafia is Big Business not Big Labor.”
Sad but true. Although I am sure that some on this board would rather point the finger at government, it has been unrestrained corporatism that has been the biggest danger to our Republic, and caused the most egregious harm.
Peace.
DS
