Business takes labor debate to grassroots
A shift of power in Washington that's brightened the outlook for labor unions has prompted conservatives and business groups to focus their lobbying in a different direction toward the American people.
As the result of an educational program by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a six-year-old piece of legislation that few outside special interest groups paid much attention to now is gaining household familiarity. The Employee Free Choice Act died last fall for lack of a vote in the Senate, but the campaign against it has only gained momentum since last summer.
North Dakota is one of several states where opponents of the act are working on initiated measures to counter the bill's likely re-introduction.
The Save Our Secret Ballot Campaign is just getting started, according to Dustin Gawrylow, spokesman for the North Dakota Taxpayers' Association, which is sponsoring the campaign. The association promotes a change to the state's constitution to ensure that any ballot election identified in a state or federal law is a secret ballot election, including workplace decisions on unions.
Among its provisions, the Employee Free Choice Act would have eliminated the need for a secret ballot election to put a union in place. It authorized the National Labor Relations Board to automatically certify a union if more than half of employees sign cards seeking representation.
"It's very much like the 'Jim Crow' laws after the Civil War to have people write their names on the ballot," Gawrylow said. "The sooner states can beef up their civil rights protections for secret ballots, the better."
The association wants to collect 40,000 signatures far more than the approximate 26,000 required to get the measure on the November 2010 ballot.
Gawrylow said it could be challenged in court whether a state constitution overrides a federal law, but the taxpayers' union is confident the courts will uphold the states.
The Employee Free Choice Act, first introduced in 2003, grew out of union dissatisfaction with the way existing law is implemented. Union membership, currently at about 7.5 percent in the private sector and 12 percent overall, has been declining. Worker groups attribute this not to lack of interest but to the failure of the National Labor Relations Board to protect employee rights to organize.
"The current system for forming unions and bargaining is really broken beyond repair," said Logan Dockter, business manager for Plumbers & Steamfitters Local No. 300, based in Mandan. "The National Labor Relations Board really is not doing its job, and companies and corporations routinely harass, intimidate, coerce and fire their workers just because they want the freedom to bargain for a better way of life."
Given opposition from President Bush and Republicans in Congress, the act never came to a vote for four years. Then the 2006 election changed the congressional makeup. When bill was re-introduced in 2007, it passed the House 241-185 in March.
Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., voted with the majority. He said the decline of unions is linked to the stagnation experienced by middle-income families. Middle-income Americans have lost wage power while earners in the top 10 percent have seen their incomes rise an average of 7 percent annually, a disparity not seen since the Great Depression, he said.
The Employee Free Choice Act was an attempt, although not a perfect one, to restore some balance to the playing field for unions and employers, Pomeroy said.
"I don't want to swap one undue advantage for another undue advantage, but I do think the status quo is flawed," he said. "I want to have the benefits of productivity growth shared more equally with the middle-income families."
The bill languished in the Senate after Democrats failed in June 2007 to get the 60 votes needed to cut off debate. Sens. Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad, D-N.D., had voted to end the filibuster. President Obama had been one of the Senate supporters and, unlike President Bush, is expected to sign the bill if a new Congress passes it.
That's the worry of the U.S. and North Dakota chambers of commerce. They say the act goes too far, especially in eliminating secret ballots.
"That secret ballot is the cornerstone of this country," said Dave MacIver, president of the North Dakota Chamber of Commerce, Bismarck. "If this were to pass in its present form, the union organizers can contact these people at home, on the street, in restaurants and ask them to sign the cards. In essence, they would be voting but somebody would be standing over your shoulder watching how you vote."
The U.S. Chamber conducted a poll that found 79 percent of Americans, including 80 percent of union members, support a secret ballot rather than the card system of the Employee Free Choice Act.
The Workers Fairness Institute recently joined the state chamber in opposing the act, hiring a representative in North Dakota to educate the public.
WFI is funded by and advocates on behalf of business owners. It states it is not anti-union but favors workforce fairness and freedom from interference from government, union organizers and special interests. Its survey found two-thirds of employed voters and 84 percent of union members oppose changing the way unions are formed.
Opponents of the act say eliminating secret ballots will subject employees to pressure from co-workers and bullying by union organizers to sign cards.
MacIver added that under the present system, employers have an opportunity before an election to share with employees how a union would affect the company.
"The employees can make an informed decision whether or not they want to join. This takes that away because management can't talk to them," MacIver said.
Mark Hager, international representative with the Electrical Workers Union Local 714, Minot, said the proposed act would take away neither the secret ballot nor the right of employers to talk to employees.
"A lot of what they are saying is misinformation," he said. "All this does is give the employees the ability to decide that they want to sit down at the table and bargain with their employer without the intimidation and harassment we see going on right now."
He said tactics used by North Dakota companies to discourage unions have included refusing to bid on jobs so that construction employees are laid off, ostracizing an employee and telling employees that the business will close or cut jobs.
Hager said employees could have a secret ballot under the proposed act.
"It puts the fate of the election in the employees' hands," Hager said. "Right now the employer makes the decision. The employees have no say."
Under current law and the act, an employer must contact the labor board to conduct an election if 30 percent of employees request one. Currently, if union organizers collect signatures of 50 percent of more of employees, the employer can choose to recognize the union but rarely does, preferring to bring in the labor board to hold an election. The act would have made employer recognition mandatory.