Alabama and the rest of the South are infamous for employee bashing. The political good old boys know there is lucrative swill in the corporate trough. And kissing the CEO’s ass means you do not have to slum it with the people doing the hard work. But there is a limit to their laissez-faire embrace of the free market. Let me explain.
When workers at a plant choose to become a union shop, they start a unionizing drive. The process starts when some employees form a unionizing committee and begin to work with a union organizer. Once 30% of workers have signed union support cards, they submit them to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to request a union election.
The NLRB organizes the election. If a majority of workers vote to belong to the union, the plant becomes a union shop. Through collective bargaining, those workers can command better wages, benefits, and working conditions — which is why management is anti-union. They fear taking care of workers will reduce the value of their stock options.
However, it sometimes becomes so evident that the workers will win, that corporate management accepts the reality of a union — and does not force a secret vote. This acceptance saves the business the expense of fighting the inevitable. Management also engenders worker goodwill — which, at a minimum, does not hurt.
This accommodation is a cost/benefit analysis MBA candidates learn at business school. And it is a decision properly left up to corporate management. Not that the powers-that-be in Alabama see it that way.
The state’s Republican-dominated political culture may preach free-market orthodoxy. But in their poxy hearts, they are big government socialists. The Daily Beast reported their interference thus:
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) announced Monday that she has signed a bill into law punishing employers that make it easier for their employees to bargain collectively.
The law, known as Senate Bill 231, bars companies from receiving state economic incentives if they voluntarily recognize their workers’ unions, rather than forcing them to vote on whether to unionize in secret-ballot elections. Affected companies could lose grants, loans and tax credits starting next year.
Ivey put a positive spin on her government’s interference in corporate affairs. In a statement celebrating the law, she wrote
When we think about what drives our success as a state, an industry that comes to mind is one of our crown jewel industries, automotive manufacturing. Let me make something clear. Alabama is not Michigan. Huntsville…..Tuscaloosa…they’re not Detroit!
While other automakers have closed plants and had layoffs, the OEMs here in Alabama have continued to grow and thrive. As governor, it’s my priority to keep it that way. This week in Tuscaloosa, we have a secret ballot taking place at the Mercedes plant. It is my hope that every worker there votes – it’s crucial that every voice is heard.
Ivey does not mention that auto manufacturing is heading South because states like Alabama have depressed worker wages with anti-labor measures like deceptively named ‘Right to Work’ laws. They will do anything to prevent workers from unionizing.
This law is not about ensuring that “every voice is heard.” Its purpose is merely to add an extra step, regardless of how business owners feel about it.
Reagan swept to two election victories on the back of the so-called “Reagan Democrats” — white workers who thought the Democratic Party was becoming too colorful, too inclusive, and not church-going enough.
However, auto workers overwhelmingly voted to join the UAW at VW’s Tennessee facility. The Reagan Democrats’ children and grandchildren, along with their southern siblings, may be starting to realize that the GOP does not give a damn about them. We will have a better idea after the vote at the Mercedes plant Ivey refers to.
Conservative women have already voted against the anti-choice patriarchy. Now, another GOP demographic may be suffering from buyer’s remorse. Republicans keep saying they act on behalf of “the American People.” Americans are increasingly realizing that is another big lie.
