Written by Bill Lakin | 01 August 2009

Obama has a lot on his plate – the worse financial disaster since the depression, two wars, an out of control health-care non-system, a worldwide environmental disaster looming, chronic unemployment and a disappearing middle class. I don’t want to sound like Chicken Little but we have a very narrow window for getting these things done.
Today we have a house majority and a filibuster-proof Senate, however, things could change by the end of 2010. Just one loss or defection of a Senate seat and we’ll end up with non-stop filibusters and an ugly stalemate. The GOP, the party of No, has their sights on the 2010 elections and needs to show that Demos can’t get anything done.
That means, if legislation isn’t passed in the net few months, our next opportunity to fix our country could be years away.
Mike Papantonio’s terrific article in the July issue of Info Press pointed out that Obama and the Demos must step up and get single-payer health care passed.
Let’s continue with a look at legislation that helps workers unionize. Legislation that will help rebuild the middle class--the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) (H.R. 1409, S. 560).
Unionizing in a deep recession, with its promise of increased wages and employer paid benefits, may sound counter intuitive. Actually higher wages will pull us out of this recession by increasing buying power. The first minimum wages laws were passed in 1935 for just those reasons. Even Henry Ford, back in 1914, paid his workers twice the prevailing wage to decrease employee turnover and absenteeism costs while creating buyers for his Model-T.
Today, only 7% of the work force is unionized, This is the result of:
- A shifting economy that has lost most of its high paid, union jobs to overseas competitors and has gained - employment in traditionally non-union white color jobs and in the hospitality industry.
- A Federal government that is pro-business, (and therefore anti-union), that has allowed employers to bully, intimidate, coerce and harass workers and union organizers. Employers routinely fire pro-union employees and threaten plant closures with impunity, knowing that fines, if any, are miniscule.
Unions face a daunting task when organizing and certifying a union. Employers can legally delay elections, hold mandatory anti-union meetings, hand out anti-union literature and require mandatory anti-union counseling. Even if the union wins an election, employers have no time period requirements to recognize a union.
The EFCA provides for mandatory injunctions for unfair labor practices during organizing efforts and for other purposes. It would require the National Labor Relations Board to certify the union as the bargaining representative by giving workers an option of signing cards (“Card Check”) or holding a secret ballot election.
If both parties are unable to reach an agreement within 90 days EFCA also requires binding arbitration. Presently, an employer can delay signing a contract—forcing demoralized workers to vote again. It works, an MIT study showed that only 56% of unions who won elections never signed a contract.
The needed legislation helps to level the playing field and lets workers enjoy some of the fruits of corporate success unlike our present system of having workers subsidize executive salaries and investor dividends through low wages.
Passing the Employee Free Choice Act is not a given. It was filibustered in 2007 and currently all Senate Republicans are lined up against it including Democratic Senators Ben Nelson and Arlen Spector.
Of course the Senate’s corporate masters and the Chamber of Commerce have launched a multi-million dollar smear campaign and have demonized EFCA as a “Fundamental threat to society,” “Firestorm bordering on Armageddon,” and “The demise of civilization.”
Hey, anything Big Business hates that much must be good!
Call or write Obama, Capps, and Feinstein today and tell them to get on the stick and get this important legislation passed. Soon!
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