Posted on 03/17/2007 8:33:48 AM PDT by Perseverando
WebMemo #1393 Labor activists argue that Congress should pass the Employee Free Choice Act because employers routinely intimidate and fire workers who try to unionize. Employers, they claim, have retaliated against pro-union workers in one-quarter of organizing elections, discriminating against or firing more than 31,000 workers who wanted to join a union in 2005. This compares, they contend, to just 42 cases of union intimidation of workers in the past 60 years.
All these claims are false.
Union Allegations
Unions allege that employers systematically violate the law by threatening and firing workers who want to join a union. Their proposed solution is the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA, H.R. 800), which would replace secret-ballot organizing elections with "card checks" in which workers join a union by publicly signing a card. Card check could expose workers to pressure from both employers and union organizers. Labor activists contend, however, that such union intimidation is exceedingly rare. Nancy Schiffer, the AFL-CIO's Associate General Counsel, presents the unions' case:
(Excerpt) Read more at heritage.org ...
I worked for a company many years ago when the IBEW attempted to organize some of the employees. The owner of the company understood the law. He called all the involved employees together and told them they had the right to organize, but........he also told them that if they did this, they would only get what the union fought for.....nothing more, nothing less. Within 30 days of organizing, the union went on strike. The owner of the company told all strikers that they were more than welcome to come back to work at any time. Basically, he broke the back of the union by just taking the side of his employees. It was a good company and there was no need for a union but the IBEW just wanted in. In my profession, if we didn't like a company, we simply left and went some place else.
I never had a problem with my union itself. We even had it written into our bylaws that we 'WILL NOT STRIKE' simply because it harms union members and company alike. My real problem came from the laziness of a few individual members.
Unions exist to protect the worst workers. With 4.5% unemployment workers have choices. That is their best defense from bad employers. Good employees can walk. Bad employees can't or don't want to. They do very little and ask the union to protect their jobs. Companies rarely fire good workers.
Unions exist to protect the worst workers. With 4.5% unemployment workers have choices. That is their best defense from bad employers. Good employees can walk. Bad employees can't or don't want to. They do very little and ask the union to protect their jobs. Companies rarely fire good workers.
One thing I liked about that shop was the zero tolerance policy for probationary hires. Even 1 minute late during the 90 day probationary period brought an automatic dismissal. It really helped to weed out the problems early in the game.
I personally believe unions should have to operate as if they are independent contractors. They should not be guaranteed of employment and should have to compete with other unions and companies who might wish to fill the jobs. I've never belonged to a union and know of many who would rather not but because of their civil service or public job have little choice without risking promotions.
The one thing that I know from my Father's experience as a coal miner is that unions place the hard worker on the same tier as the laggard. The alcoholic is defended by his union with disregard of how he or she places his fellow workers at risk. I also know from my own experience that the union allows countless numbers of union civil service workers to offer little performance for considerably high pay and benefits while soldiers, border agents, and other government workers have capped pay and face strict monitoring of their time and attendance.
I don't mean to generalize because most civil service workers are capable and want to do a good job and to be fair the system does not encourage "out of the box" thinking. Individuals are at the mercy of their management and I've seen cases where doing a better job or more efficient job has actually resulted in the individual being berated.
I think unions were a response to a bad work environment and corporations that viewed their employees as if they were nearly slaves. The idea that the best protected union workers are probably government workers illustrates how very far the idea of unionization has fallen.
It is amazing how exposure to a bad union campaign can create a lifelong disgust for unions, and this proposal will generate many people who will never want to hear the word "Union" again, because they will see the worst of union behavior.
In the 1960's I worked at a manufacturing company that had fairly good relations with its workers, but for some inexplicable reason, a unionization attempt was made by the HOD CARRIERS' Union.
It was a dirty campaign, and daily at quitting time one had to run the gaunlet in the parking lot of organizers handing out literature.
The organizers were the worst example of trashy, verminous, flea-bitten lowlives I had even seen. Their literature was essentially 1920's style clip art of the Employer's Heel Oppressing the Poor Worker&etc.
The entire effort and the organization exuded an aura of sleaziness, dirtiness, foulness, and desperation.
Years later I did work for a union company, and it was not all that bad; The union was pretty much managed by the company on the golf course, so it was fairly benign, except for throwing away the dues.
At a time of low unemployment, a condition that will probably endure as the boomers retire, there will be no need for unions, because people will simply quit a place they do not like. I always did.
If this passes, more companies will move off shore. The government will become more corrupt, and unemployment will climb. Productivity will decline and costs will go up.
Also, repeal the Davis-Bacon Act.
Look what the NEA has done to our schools - need Vouchers!
bttt
I was physically intimidated by the union steward of a mobbed up union when I was in a local. Maybe unions were good in the 20's, but today they are a racket - think of all the pension scandals.
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