Building Trades News

Even on Labor Day workers are being attacked by Right Wing, anti-union forces in the United States. Most of the anti-union rhetoric that we constantly hear is bought and paid for by business interest and the rest is made by gullible workers who have come to believe that their own organizations – Labor Unions – are not supporting their interests.

Just before Labor Day, a local newspaper published a letter to the editor from a resident in San Pedro noting that it was unfair that the California State Legislature was supporting a bill endorsing the "Employee Free Choice Act" because it would take away employees’ right to vote if they want a Union at their place of work.

This, of course, is untrue because a majority of employees would have to vote by signing a representation card authorizing their Union to represent them before a non-union company would be required to recognize the Union. It also ignores the fact that most employees never get to vote because Big Business blocks their attempts to have a Union in almost every case. You can tell by the publishing of this single letter that business is continuing its campaign against employee rights.

We know that without Unions American workers have no chance to exercise their rights at work. Without Unions pushing for better wages, medical plans, retirement plans and enforcing grievance rights this country’s business would be exploiting every worker more than they do already.

You may know that the United States Congress is considering the Employees’ Free Choice Act, which would give workers many of the rights that were striped away in the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. That Act was passed by a Republican Congress over the veto of President Harry Truman and began the slow, but steady decline of workers rights to a Union. Immediately following its enactment, businesses began to find ways to block workers from freely joining Unions. They have fired those who were vocal about their support for their Union of choice.

They filed for injunctions against Union workers actions to support their fellow workers, and the courts have happily made decision after decision that has weakened Unions and workers’ rights.

Then came the biggest blow. businesses found that they could hire a whole new breed of strike breakers – the Union Free Consultant. Although these companies and attorneys should have been declared illegal and in violation of the Taft-Hartley Act, the courts ignored their violations, even when these consultants used the courts specifically to block Unions’ organizing efforts.

Unions have survived these attack and remained strong in many areas, including California. But, we still need our laws strengthened so that workers organizations can have a stronger voice in our economy. The "Employee Free Choice Act" changes the dynamics in this country that have done so much to undermine workers’ rights. The most important is that the National Labor Relations Board will once again, after 50 years of ignoring their responsibilities to workers, have to file for federal court Injunctions against an employer that interferes with employees’ rights during an organizing campaign or a first contract negotiations.

With 47 co-sponsors in the U.S. Senate and 234 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, with a new president elected next year, workers in America have an opportunity to see the Free Choice Act passed and signed into law.

But, with that opportunity it is obvious that big business is not going to be silent about workers’ rights. They will fight this legislation all the way to the bank! The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in support of the bill, with 215 Democrats and 13 Republicans voting in favor and 185 Republicans voting against. In June of this year the U.S. Senate voted 51 - 48 to cut off debate and vote on the Free Choice Act itself. With only one Republican Senator voting with Labor, we didn’t come close to the 60 needed. This is a partisan fight!

Over the next year and five months, we can all work toward maintaining a worker-friendly Congress so that in 2009 we can change the worker and employer dynamic to what it was in 1935, when a Democratic Congress and President Franklin Roosevelt injected organized labor with the vigor and legal rights to see workers have a fair chance at the American dream.

Big Business and their party, the Republicans, will fight us all the way, but we can succeed, doing what we do best - working together and getting out the vote.

After this fight no American should have to ask, "Why does Labor always recommend Democrats?"