Today is Labor Day, the federal holiday that we honor all those workers, past and present, that built our country and fought to bring dignity, living wages and a decent standard of living to these United States. As voters, we have a chance this fall to elect officials who will pass the Employee Free Choice Act. I know that many of you are already die hard democrats and probably I am preaching to the choir. But the opposition has made a great deal of the fact that this act will "rob the worker of their god given right to a secret ballot." I have some modest experience in organizing workplaces and would like to share with you why this is just another lie promoted by the party of big business.
The places that were attempted to be organized were not department stores or Wal-Marts. They were industrial areas that required skilled workers with a lot of training. They had decent jobs, but lately wages and benefits were cut, not because the business was losing money, it just was not making enough money. Our local was asked by several employees to come help them organize. They obtained signed cards from about 70% of the workforce. We helped them to file with the National Labor Board and went to management to request that they recognize the union on the strength of the signed cards. Management refused, as they always do, and hired a union busting consultant that sent a team of lawyers. The lawyers immediately filed an objection to everything in sight, from the cards to the size of the bargaining unit. This allowed the Labor department to hold everything up for several weeks. The lawyers then put on training classes for the bosses, teaching them how to get the workers into a one on one meeting and then squeeze them. The squeezing was everything from calling the employees "bad family people" because the union would take them out on strike and their family would have no income, to outright threats of firing them if they voted the wrong way (all that is illegal by the way, but our wonderful Labor Dept. has looked the other way most of the time for the last, well pretty much since Jimmy Carter was President) They also have the carrot, by offering them supervisor jobs and transfers to a nicer location. These consultants send video tapes the employees homes to scare their families into thinking that mom or dad is going to lose their jobs. After all this, by the time the election is finally held, less than 30 percent vote for the union. Well thank god they had the "secret" vote. If we had the Employee Free Choice Act, those guys would have a contract right now and a much better standard of living. I have been involved with trade unions for many years and I have never seen anyone have their arm twisted to sign a card. Management uses the secret vote as both a delaying tactic to allow them to bully and bribe people and also as a way to hide the people who changed their vote. People generally sign the card because they are tired of not having a voice in the workplace and want a change. So please do not buy the arguments of the right on this issue. Happy Labor Day!