Unionizing battle heats up on Capitol Hill

Unions didn't force the Bush Administration to leave office with $10 trillion in debt. $1 trillion+ in tax cuts to the top 5% given on credit. They didn't force the deregulation of the banking sector, they didn't turn Wall Street into a Vegas casino.

The 30 year Conservative Era that just ended has made unions practically irrelevant, meanwhile conservatives have destroyed the economy. Blame low income home buyers and unions if it justifies your beliefs but the rest of the country is waking up to the lies and failures of conservatism.

During the Reagan era I worked at a non union shop that wanted to go union but every time we tried to get up a vote, the bosses would hire their sons and nephews and their friends kids to work one day, the day of the vote. They would all vote against unionization and the next day they were gone. Because there was a secret vote there was no ferreting out who voted. The shop never went union and was bought out.

The Employee Free Choice Act will be a step forward for workplace democracy. That's the last thing the likes of Wal-Mart, the Chamber of Commerce and the wealthy oligarchy loving Republican party want to see happen.

40 hour week? - Thank a Union...

Child labor laws? - Thank a Union

Get lunch breaks? - Thank a Union

Paid vacations? - Thank a Union

Got health care benefits? - Thank a Union

Got a pension plan? - Thank a Union

Today if 50%+1 of union members sign cards to decertify their union and present them to management, the union is gone, no election. EFCA dosen't change that.

Today if 30% of members sign cards to decertify a union, an NLRB election is held. EFCA dosen't change that.

Today if 30% of a bargaining unit sign cards to form a union, an NLRB election is held. EFCA dosen't change that unless;

50%+1 of a bargaining unit signs cards to form a union then the company must recognize and negotiate a first contract. The company cannot reject the will of the workers and demand an election.

Now, after EFCA, after a card check recognition, if the unsupportive bargaining unit members wish to have an election to demonstrate the union viability, only 30% would have to sign cards to mandate an NLRB election.

The true intent of EFCA is to remove the Company
from effecting the outcome of the workers wishes.

The fact that the Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufactures, and Bernie "EFCA will destroy civilization" Marcus are hell bent on defeating EFCA shows how intent they are in maintaining the corporate advantage of influencing and defeating union certifications by delay, intimidation, mandatory anti union meetings, closure threats, and illegal firings, while hiding behind the thin veil of(company demanded) secret ballot elections.

If anyone believes the Republican party and their lobbyist minions are in this fight for workplace democracy, they're delusional

Sorry, no democracy with card check. How is it democracy when ballots aren't secret and union bosses can intimidate voters? I know that is how things work in the socialized cities in this country with one party rule, but that and this card check are not democracy.

Employees can still use a secret ballot...Republicans are such liars and thugs when it comes to trying to bust unions - no lie is too extreme.

What this country truly needs is a 20 year vacation from the Republicans having ANY real power in government, so the country has some chance of repairing the incredible damage the Republicans have caused, with their corruption and greed.

Trying to screw labor is a standing tradition with Republicans and it is completely and simply about GREED. If they could pay skilled labor 50 cents an hour, they happily would do so. (Well, perhaps they would prefer to get the labor performed in China for a considerably lower rate than that.)

2 minor points.
If this card check vote goes through Congress for the Union/nonUnion work force, then what should be attached is the "E-Verify" program to check everyone working is eligible / legal by checking through Social Security.

My other point, when ALL the Politicians stop cutting deals in back rooms or through Exec' order, then maybe. But these people don't have what it takes, to tell the truth to the people about what is really going on.

Perfect example, the E-Verify program to check all SS #'s for Govt' contracts was waived by Pres Obama, by executive order.

Unionize America and you begin the recovery of our economy. 60% of Americans agree with the idea of a worker's right to unionize, but, with the present rules in place, only 6-8% of the workforce is unionized. The workers of America need EFCA, to improve their standard of living, by way of a unionized workforce !! Isn't it enough that the owners, and their lackeys, management, take home most of the profits and higher pay, while it is the fruit of the worker's labor, that produces that wealth !! In all lot of cases, their safety is sacrificed for even more profits and higher pay for the owners/management. That is unacceptable, reprehensible behavior, justified with the excuse of capitalism. Look what deregulated capitalism and greed, did to our economy and guess what, it wasn't the union workers, who robbed America !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.

I've posted many times on this site before about this topic. All unions are not the same, and it is a shame that UAW and the Teamsters gave the other unions such a bad reputation. When talking about unions, you can not make a "one size fits all" statement.

In general though, unions are a great thing for our economy and for our populous. They even make good business sense when used properly, such as the trade unions.

Some of the most prosperous times this country has ever seen was back in the 50's when the unions were at their height and the middle class was at its peak. I believe the middle class is in its lowest points right now, and thus unionism is going on an upswing.

Our forefathers are rolling over in their graves at all the leasons that we are having to relearn due to our ignorance of history.

Change and hope (above) represents the backward thinking of the democrat party and the slanted reporting of Frank James in this post backs it up. Many longtime democrats and TRUE labor leaders have already come out against card check and for every American's right to a secret ballot.
What, exactly, do people like "change N Hope" want? To be able to know exactly how each employee votes in a unionization vote? Why would they want to know that other than to apply pressure and exact retribution against those who don't vote the way they want?
The hyprocrisy couldn't be more blatant, since the convention delegates at this year's democrat convention were chosen by secret ballot!
Private ballot elections, or the right to vote in secret, have been a fundamental article of faith in free societies for so long that it's hard to imagine it ever being otherwise. Americans haven't thought of having it any other way for more than two centuries, and most of us are shocked to hear that there are still places in the world where the right to vote one's conscience is commonly denied (not Mr. Hope N Change, though).
Recent surveys show that 78 percent of union members think Congress should keep the law the way it is. Other surveys show that 89 percent of people believe that secret ballots better protect the individual rights of workers. Even the bill's authors realize that a secret-ballot vote is preferable: they may be calling for a publicly declared vote in forming a union, but, incredibly, their bill requires a secret ballot to disband one!
But don't take it from me Take it from the Godfather of the liberal democrats, George McGovern, who calls card check "fundamentally wrong." Story links to every liberal's favorite network, PMSNBC: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/03/06/1823891.aspx

EFCA is a full-time employment act for management consultants. Employers without unions will engage consultants on a continuous basis rather than merely during elections. Having more unions certainly won't help economic recovery; quite the contrary. Higher wages to cover union dues and political contributions will result in higher unemployment. Finally, union bosses won't intimidate workers to sign cards; workers who support the union will. The difference is, workers won't have the protection of going into a voting booth and voting their conscience without someone looking over their shoulder.

If card check is good enough out here in the private sector, it should be good enough for the federal government. They shouldn't push something they are not willing to open up their own employees to.

I'm totally against this policy!. It puts the rank and file in a no win position.
I worked for 30 years under the Teamsters. And the secret ballot is the only way to go. When we certified the Teamsters it was through a secret ballot and believe me if the company had any idea who was the pushing the the unionization there would have been hell to pay. On the other hand if you were against the unions, that too would put you in a uneasy position.
The only thing I'm concerned with is that they try to tell the rank and file how to vote in election years.

Got to hand it those democrats. They really know how to name stuff - "The Fairness Doctrine", "Employee Free Choice Act", etc. "Free Choice" and ya better "choose" correctly because we know who u r. Bruno and some of the poobahs may pay you a little visit at 3 in the morning. This democracy thing may have just about run its course, Herr democrats.

Since the Republicans are so vehemently against EFCA, we know that passage of EFCA would be good for unions and for the middle class. Funny. The Repugs are acting as though they are the patron saints of unions.

Democracy in the workplace, John D?? Most non-union places are a total dictatorship, so I don't know what the heck you are talking about (as usual).

I was wrong, with the figures I used in an earlier post. It is 62% of Americans, that agree, that workers should be able to unionize, if they want to unionize. While, the number of union workers in America increased by 300,000 workers, from 2007-8, most of the increase occurring in the public sector, the government worker. Also, the percentage of unionized workers is actually 12.7% of America's workforce. Given the discrepancy, between those who agree with the idea of a union and those that actually are union workers, there would seem to indicate that the process, presently in place, seems to prevent the worker from achieving his/her goal, unionization.
As I have posted on the Swamp site before, I was part of union election at a private company and the intimidation and lies that management engaged in, were despicable. All of the old stereotypes, the mobster influence, broken legs, stealing paychecks, the whole gambit, but we didn't buy their propaganda. We voted in a union and the pay slowly, and begrudgingly, began to improve. Owners/ Management have the distinct advantage when they control the election processes, that is what the EFCA will change, for a fairer process. Take a look at the results, when there are no union workers in a given industry. Take a good look at Wall Street and the unbridled greed that was unleashed upon America. If there were union workers in place in those plush, financial houses on Wall Street, I don't think we would have seen our economy, robbed and pillaged, the way the Wall Streeters did our economy !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.

TEST: You want open votes, then stand by your words.
Lets have a vote, kinda.
Anyone who agrees with an open vote (union card check) let's change it just a little and have our own, straight up or down "Anonymous Comments Addresses posted".
Simple, YES, you want your e-mail address, and name posted.
NO, You don't want your e-mail address, and name posted.
Me, NO.

So for all in favor post your addresses and names, and for those opposed, don't.

Union-busting has a long history in this country. It used to be carried out by privately paid armed goons, state militias, National Guardsmen, who literally murdered union organizers and engaged in occasional massacres of strikers.

Then, after losing the battle when the National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act of 1935 confirmed workers' right to organize, there was a gradual shift to more "enlightened" methods of beating back unionization (although violence was not wholly forsaken). One of the first efforts was the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, enacted despite Truman's veto. That act still makes it tougher to form unions than it ought to be.

Ronald Reagan gave a presidential imprimatur to union busting, which, over the past 30 years, has become more sophisticated, using all the scientific techniques, some sugar instead of all acid, as companies hire consultants to do the dirty work for them.

Perhaps, just perhaps, EFCA will be the opening wedge of a reversal of this decades-long (and greatly effective) effort to smash Americans' right to collectively bargain by the right-wing lunatic fringe, their business cronies and lobbyists.

EFCA proponents avoid the question of why they would effectively eliminate the secret ballot election by attacking the motives of employers. The employer is currently a proxy for ensuring an election if there is any question about whether the union has the support of an uncoerced majority of eligible employees. That is because almost no employer wants a union. But step back from the rhetoric and ask yourself a few questions:
Are all employers evil? Who are employers?
Aren't they are our fellow Americans?
Are they all Wall Street bankers and Wal-Mart executives?
If they are not all evil, why don't they want unions between them and their employers?
Could it possibly be for good reasons?
Is it really possible that only 7% of private employees are unionized because of employer intimidation?
If a union can obtain immediate certification with signed cards, when would any union-opposition group collect cards for an election?
Why is it necessary for individual employees to be denied the right to vote unless union supporters want an election?
The National Labor Relations Act was enacted to protect employee rights: not union rights and not employer rights.
It is an employee's right to choose whether OR NOT to be unionized, without threat or intimidation by employers or unions.
EFCA would give unions a right to unionize employees without the protection of a secret ballot.
We know why politicians beholden to the organized labor special interest lobby would support it.
Why would you?

Nice try, think !! Set up all the straw-men, you can !! It does not make the facts go away. Why is it, that, in America, 62% of Americans believe in the worker's right to unionize and yet, only 12.7% of the American workforce is unionized !! Could it be that the union election process is bogus, skewed in favor of the owner/management tag team !!? Of course, it does and all of your phony comparisons, loaded words and outright falsehoods will not make that tag team, the good guys !! As a union worker, retired, I believe the workforce of America would be better off with the signing of the EFCA.They will have some protection from some of the unscrupulous owners and managers, that are out there, over-working and under-paying, many hard-working Americans !! Hard workers, who weren't of that cabal on Wall Street and in boardrooms, that sank our economy and are in favor of suppressing unionization in America, and else where !! Unionize America, it's the fastest way to undo what Corporate America has done to our economy !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.

Who needs a secret ballot? We'll just send a few thugs around with the cards and the people will sign them of their "own free choice." Or else.

I knew the Republicans were dead, as far as national politics, but, after hearing from Hoffa, now I know they are !! Nice try, Jimmy, but, like your Republican Party, you're history !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.

Where are all the open addresses, it's just the same as removing the secret vote. I guess there is a lot more hot air and BS than I thought.
I thought all the pro union people would jump at the chance.
Seems to be a little different when push comes to shove.

So the pro union people have also said NO. Completely undercutting their argument.

I guess I don't need lectures by people who won't stand by their convictions.