crossposted from
unbossed
First, some background.
It's a real war out there. Here at home.
Anti-union employers and their advisors have long spent huge amounts of time and money trying to thwart union representation. Unions are a powerful force for progressive causes, and the more unions are cut down, the easier it is for reactionary forces to win.
A recent video, Where Do You Stand? shows just how powerful and relentless this anti-union opposition is. Textile workers in Kannapolis, North Carolina spent decades fighting for union representation. Each time, the employer pulled out all the stops with powerful anti-union campaigns. In each campaign the union margin victory was greater. Meantime, the company was bought and sold over and over.
Finally, in a campaign where the new employer ran a clean election, the union won. A good contract was rapidly negotiated. And the company sent the work abroad to be done more cheaply.
It is hard work organizing workers and keeping them organized these days when it is so easy to send work abroad.
In recent years, the AFL-CIO, its constituent unions, and nonaffiliated unons have decided that the way to fight this problem is to advocate that unions avoid National Labor Relations Board elections and, instead, try to get voluntary recognition from employers. As part of this campaign, they have been campaigning for legislation, the
Employee Free Choice Act, which would require that employers voluntarily recognize unions who can show that a majority of workers support the union - without an NLRB election.
Two things should be clear. While there is nothing wrong with voluntary recognition, it does nothing to deal with the larger issues that spell union defeat:
1. Runaway shops that have every incentive to send US jobs abroad - and can do so easily.
2. The ferocity and protean nature of anti-unionism.
The second of these truths should now be hitting home. Many in the union movement have blamed the National Labor Relations Act and the National Labor Relations Board for their problems. Meanwhile they have left their true enemies - anti-union employers and their allies - off the hook.
The reality is that the NLRA and NLRB were just one battleground in a long, long war.
Now the battle is moving to EFCA and voluntary recognition.
During the past year, lawsuit after lawsuit has been filed to stop voluntary recognition. They have taken it on in myriad ways. The latest is by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation - a passionately anti-union group.
On January 24, the NRTW-LDF filed filed a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) suit against the United Auto Workers and Freightliner LLC for agreeing to voluntary recognition.Adcock v. United Auto Workers, Case No.3:06cv32 (W.D.N.C. 1/24/06).
You can find other documents related to the suit and the overall anti-union campaign, here.
There is no telling where the next battle will take place. The only certain thing is that there will be more battles. And as long as labor decides to do as it has done with the NLRA and NLRB - cede territory to their enemies - labor cannot win.
Folks, this is a battle for the long term. It is not just a side issue. It affects all of us. Friends, it's time to get serious.
