Employers told to prepare for Free Choice law

As union leaders press for passage of the federal Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), business leaders are opposing the change while positioning themselves to head off the perceived increased likelihood of unionization if the measure becomes law.

Labor leaders recently organized a demonstration by dozens of workers outside the Commerce Building in South Bend while inside the Chamber of Commerce, lawyers gave a workshop on the act to more than 30 business leaders.

A similar bill failed in 2007, but both labor and employers believe that a new administration and changes in the composition of the Senate increase the likelihood that some version will become law.

Major provisions of the bill would:

Allow unions to organize with a “card check” system, replacing the common secret ballot approach. A union would form when a majority of workers sign a legal document, similar to a power of attorney, indicating they want the union.

Set time limits on the process of contract negotiations that could trigger federal mediation or binding arbitration if the management and union cannot reach agreement on items in the contract.

Significantly increase the penalties on companies that violate the National Labor Relations Act.

Much of the national attention on the proposal focuses on the elimination of secret-ballot votes for forming unions – in conversation, business leaders refer to EFCA as “the card check legislation.”

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W.Va. labor unions pick up members in 2008, report says

Labor union membership in West Virginia increased last year, according to an annual federal survey.

About 101,000 employed workers in West Virginia -- 13.8 percent of the total -- were members of a labor union in 2008, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. In comparison, about 97,000 or 13.3 percent of employed workers in the state were members of a labor union the year before, the bureau said.

Kenny Perdue, president of the West Virginia AFL-CIO, said, "I think there was a gain in just about every union. I know the service industry has increased, such as in health care. There was an increase with the Teamsters in their organizing of Overnight Trucking. As I look at those numbers I think of the American Federation of Teachers, which brought the West Virginia school service personnel in. That may not show up yet. Those are jobs in the public sector.

"There has been a continuous effort to organize in West Virginia," Perdue said. "It has not stopped and it will not stop. It is our belief that workers want respect in the workplace. Typically it only comes from being involved in a union. We do think workers want to better themselves and have a decent wage and pension and health care. It is going to be our effort to give them that chance."

The percentage of employed workers in West Virginia who carry a union card has fluctuated in recent years, from a low of 13.1 percent in 2003 to a high of 14.4 percent in 2005.

Perdue said declines can be traced to the loss of large unionized manufacturers, such as steel mills in the Northern Panhandle and chemical plants in the Kanawha Valley. Those businesses offer good-paying jobs with health care benefits and pensions, but many of those jobs "are gone maybe forever," he said. "That's not only a loss for our membership but for the per capita income in West Virginia. It hurts across the board." Full Story..........

Union float to reflect America

'Mt. Labormore' of average Joes

One of the first things artists David Hatch and Melanie Devlin did after receiving orders last month to create the labor movement's first float for an inaugural parade was to take a paring knife and chainsaw to carve a row of four heads from a large chunk of foam.

But when word reached the leaders of Washington labor unions that the float would feature the four presidents depicted on Mount Rushmore, they insisted on less Americana and more attention to working people.

There will be no shortage of Americana during Barack Obama's inauguration, but only one float is likely to deliver as insistently political a message as the 24-foot rolling confection completed in a warehouse here Friday.

"For everyone in the labor movement, this is a wonderful historic opportunity," said Chris Chafe, executive director of the Change to Win coalition, which is partnering on the float with the AFL-CIO and National Education Association. "It's nice to be acknowledged as an active part of American life."

With new orders, Hatch and Devlin turned the four Mt. Rushmore chief executives into proletarians: Lincoln became a bearded welder, Roosevelt a redheaded doctor, Jefferson a cook standing at alert, and Washington a construction worker with vaguely aboriginal features.

"We're calling it Mt. Labormore," said Hatch. "They were pretty ardent about just leaving it the American people - average Joes."

Four years after a tempestuous rift - five large unions led by the Service Employees International Union, quit the AFL-CIO to create Change to Win - the movement has found itself uncommonly united.

Unions played key roles on behalf of Obama and other Democratic candidates in November and now are trying to leverage that clout as they push Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers to organize. Once rivalrous elements of labor are working so closely that there are rumors that the Change to Win's renegade unions may be negotiating to rejoin the AFL.

"There's a high degree of collaboration and strategic planning," said Chafe. "It's far too early to speculate what the structural outcome will look like . . . There's going to be ongoing unity within the labor movement."

The challenge of putting that agenda on wheels fell to Proof Productions, a union scenic shop that specializes in theater stage sets and has long contributed floats to local Labor Day parades. Owner Stephen McEntee rented a yellow Penske flatbed truck and wrapped its cab in vinyl stars and stripes with the slogan, "Honoring America's Workers." A large wooden panel would be erected in the bed, perforated by five rotating stars each preaching part of labor's legislative agenda, including "Health Care For All," "Good Jobs Green Jobs" and an explicit "Free Choice Act."

Typically, Proof designs floats for optimum visibility between 50 and 100 feet. After determining that the president's riser was likely to be 150 feet from the float when it passed, McEntee's crew went outside, measured 200 feet with a laser, ensured Obama would be able to read the slogans.

"There's some concern that has popped up here and there that EFCA might not be high on the agenda right out of the box," said Jonathan Tasini, executive director of the Labor Research Association, using the acronym for the Employee Free Choice Act.

The float was to be reassembled last night by local stagehands so that a local teamster could drive it down the Pennsylvania Avenue parade route, surrounded by 250 union members.

Afterward, the float will be taken apart again, and its components returned to New Jersey. "For a future use to be determined," said McEntee. "I would think the AFL-CIO would want to use it in a Labor Day Parade."

Obama settles on Rep. Hilda Solis as labor chief

President-elect Barack Obama's choice to be labor secretary, Democratic Rep. Hilda Solis of California, is expected to advocate greater union influence in the workplace and more "green" jobs.

Solis, the 51-year-old daughter of a Mexican union shop steward and a Nicaraguan assembly line worker, is in line to be the second Hispanic nominee in Obama's Cabinet. Obama planned to announce her nomination on Friday, said a labor official who spoke on condition of anonymity because an announcement had not been made yet.

The lone member of Congress of Central American descent, Solis would replace Elaine Chao, the only original member of President George W. Bush's Cabinet still in office.

Unions, which contributed heavily to Obama and Democrats this year, expect Solis to be an advocate for them and for workers. They expect her to press for legislation that would force businesses to recognize union representation once more than 50 percent of a company's eligible work force signs union cards, instead of waiting for secret-ballot elections.

Unions claim mangers coerce and intimidate workers into rejecting unions in secret ballots at work. Employers say workers often are coerced themselves by their peers to sign union cards and that a secret-ballot election is the only way to determine their true wishes.

"Unions are vital to the health and strength of our communities, and our workers are the bedrock of our economy," Solis said in 2007 while advocating for the Employee Free Choice Act. "In this day and age when the number of women and new immigrants is increasing in the work force, it is important that they become a part of the American fabric and one of the ways is to be a member of a union."

Solis' father was a Teamsters shop steward in Mexico.

"We're confident that she will return to the Labor Department one of its core missions — to defend workers' basic rights in our nation's workplaces," said John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor organization.

Solis in 1994 was the first Latina elected to the California Senate, where she led the battle to increase the state's minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.75 an hour in 1996.

Andy Stern, president of the 1.9-million member Service Employees International Union, recalled marching with her in Los Angeles — well before she was elected to Congress — to seek higher wages and benefits for janitors.

"We were with her fighting for the rights of people who work from the beginning and we're so proud that she's been chosen to be the labor secretary," Stern said.

Environmental groups noted that while in Congress, Solis wrote a measure that authorized $125 million for work force training programs in areas such as energy efficiency retrofitting and "green building" construction.

"We can think of no better person to help President-elect Obama implement his plans for an economic recovery fueled by the creation of millions of new green jobs," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. "Hilda Solis also understands that green jobs must also be good jobs and has worked to make sure that the clean energy economy is one that lifts up all workers."

Business groups, ready to assume a more defensive posture during Obama's administration, responded cautiously to the news about Solis.

"There's a new sheriff in town, but they'll still have to deal with the business community and they know it," said Randy Johnson, vice president for labor issues at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "We would hope she will continue to support programs that help educate employers about voluntary compliance with the law rather than pursue heavy handed enforcement," he said.