Thanks for posting this (4.00 / 8)

Unfortunately, this is something that is easy to lie about for the opponents. And the business community and establishment are going to spend millions trying to lie to the public about this come 2009. This is going to be this centuries version of Harry and Louise ads. Make no mistake about it. You already see the banner ads on talkingpointsmemo.com and the like.

We need to get organized and fast on this if we're going to pass it next year.  

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by: adamterando @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 05:22:50 AM UTC

I haven't seen the TPM ads (4.00 / 2)

But I know others are advertising. We're talking about a $120 million campaign by 7 independent, anti-worker groups funded by CEOs and wealthy business interests.

You're right, Employee Free Choice will likely go down as a big battle, right alongside the battle for healthcare.  Entrenched wealthy interests are terrified of a strong middle class, because they'll have their power and money kept in check.

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by: Michael Whitney @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 11:44:26 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

i wish the dems (4.00 / 3)

would start calling out the media outlets that don't report the facts accurately on any issue, until that is done they will continue to slant their coverage toward the gop and their views no matter how inaccurate or extreme.

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by: pc @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 05:56:54 AM UTC

A friend tried to start a union (4.00 / 11)

It was in liberal Santa Cruz where we both lived. He worked at Pete's Coffee and he along with several other employees initiated the unionization process. This immediately triggered Pete's corporate office to dispatch a union-busting team to coach the management and cajole the staff.

A secret ballot was held and they lost, and were unable to form a union.

The service industry was not the omnipresent employer it is today when collective bargaining first took root in this country. It has never been allowed to have its own golden era of unionization. The Employee Free Choice Act is not for industrial and manufacturing workers, it is for the people we see everyday working for low wages at our local restaurants, cafes and retailers. People who work late nights, people who earn low wages with infrequent raises, people who exert more emotional than physical energy to constantly serve the public. People who live on tips, or, in the case of most retail workers, live on the hope of getting a full 40 hours and, if they're lucky, some overtime. They work holidays, they work graveyard shifts, and time off usually means lost wages in the absence of vacation days. If they get benefits, they are often sub-standard.

I live in San Francisco where the cost of living is, by all domestic standards, astronomical. I am constantly amazed at how people manage to support themselves here with food-service and retail jobs. They do it by renting, not owning, and by living with roommates or in in-laws or rented rooms. By living paycheck to paycheck, using credit and not saving. Essentially, by running in place because the industry they work in - this massive and expanding industry - offers too few opportunities for economically meaningful advancement.

But more amazing than that is how so many Americans can frequent these restaurants and shops day in and day out without realizing the inequities between the service industry and most other industries - without realizing that food-service and retail are the forgotten lands of worker's rights. Yet these are the new working class jobs. The jobs you take when you don't have a degree or work experience. An entry level industry, the entry level industry, that employs people like single moms, retirees who can't quite retire, laid off manufacturing and industrial workers and high-school drop outs and grads who didn't or couldn't pursue high education. And, though it isn't attractive to say, it is one of the only lines of work available to recovering drug addicts, ex-cons, former homeless and the mentally and physically challenged. These people more than any others in the modern economy are in desperate need of quality healthcare, job security, increased wages and retirement benefits. But because of anti-union forces in this country they were never given the opportunity to organize and fight for their fair share of the pie.

This turned into a pretty huge comment, so I'll cut off the pro-union diatribe here. But I think anyone who has worked in retail or food service knows exactly what I'm talking about. Even if you only did it part-time or in college, remember those people you worked with who did it for a living. And think about it the next time you hear the media rant on about the poor, oppressed middle class, and remember that there is also a working class in this country, and most of them aren't in the factories anymore.  

"Don't hate the media, become the media" -Jello Biafra

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by: LandStander @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 06:17:21 AM UTC

Great comment (4.00 / 2)

Reminds me how much I like the book "Nickeled and Dimed"

The EFCA is quite possibly the most important priority for anyone who considers theirself progressive and it's going to be a huge fight.

John McCain: Beacuse lobbyists should have more power

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by: Populista @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 06:34:51 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Hear hear! (4.00 / 3)

Everything you said and more.  Excellent commentary.  I think that one anecdote that shows service workers need a fair shake is that so many waiters and waitresses are paid below minimum wage, and their bosses expect them to work their way up to minimum wage through tips.  There is very little respect for hard work these days in our country.

Disclaimer: my day job is an online organizer for the Service Employees International Union, so I especially hear you on what service workers need.  Thanks for the great comment.

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by: Michael Whitney @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 11:47:16 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

You forgot to mention (4.00 / 4)

... that a growing number of US workers say that they would vote for a union at their workplace. In their 1994-95 survey, academics Richard Freeman and Joel Rogers found that 32% of non-union private sector workers would vote for a union at their workplace (and 13% were unsure about their vote). They coined the term "representation gap" to describe this unmet demand for union membership across the workforce.

Pollster Peter Hart has been asking the question for years. In 2003 for the first time, over half of non-managerial non-union respondents said that they would vote in an NLRB election. Anyone who cites the current low levels of union membership in the private sector as indicative of a lack of interest is merely displaying their own ignorance. The demand is there, and it's huge.

Good on Obama! It's more than Clinton was prepared to do.

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by: PeterinNZ @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 08:12:43 AM UTC

60 million would join unions (4.00 / 1)

Thanks for the reminder, don't know how I left out that important statistic.

From the AFL-CIO:

Some 60 million U.S. workers say they would join a union if they could, based on research conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates in December 2006. But when workers try to gain a voice on the job by forming a union, employers routinely respond with intimidation, harassment and retaliation.

During union election campaigns, management routinely coerces employees to convince them not to choose union representation. According to a survey of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election campaigns in 1998 and 1999 by Cornell University scholar Kate Bronfenbrenner, private-sector employers illegally fire employees for union activity in at least 25 percent of all efforts to join a union.

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by: Michael Whitney @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 11:59:41 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I take those survey results with a huge grain of salt (0.00 / 0)

No one assesses workers in a campaign by asking them abstract questions about hypothetical unions.  You get to be a 1 or a 2 by doing something -- signing a card, wearing a button, bringing your coworkers to a meeting, getting your picture taken for the "We're voting yes!" petition.

It's interesting that American workers still want, in the abstract, something that they call a union.  But, as always, the question is how motivated they are to do something about that.  And that's the big question with EFCA, as well -- what will American workers do to fight for their right to organize their own unions without the boss's interference and coercion?

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by: Pesto @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 14:09:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

True, but the will is there (4.00 / 3)

Given the economic downturn, there will be many, many people who will begin to embrace the idea of coming together with their coworkers to fight for better wages, benefits, safeties, and rights on their jobs.  

A poll from a couple months ago showed that 68% of the middle class supports making it easier to join unions, including 60% of middle class people who wanted to vote for John McCain.  We're seeing a significant shift in public attitudes, and while the anti-middle class organizations are dumping $120m+ against the Employee Free Choice Act, I'm confident the views of the American people will prevail.

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by: Michael Whitney @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 14:44:21 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Workers might respond with solidarity (0.00 / 0)

They might also respond with immigrant-bashing and racism.  There'll almost certainly be some of both.  That's how this has generally gone in the past.  I'm not saying that passing EFCA is inconceivable -- I'm saying it's going to involve a massive fight, including American workers being willing to shut down large sectors of the economy/society to defend our rights.

It's possible that they'll do that.  But neither American workers, nor institutional labor, have much of a recent track record in doing that.

On the DMI poll -- again, the question is really how strongly people feel about that.  Congress is perfectly happy to ignore our wishes.  They'll act on our wishes when failing to do so hurts the interests they serve.

There's every difference in the world between, "Yeah, I think it would be nice if we had card-check," and, "Yeah, I'll participate in an illegal sit-down strike or an occupation of a federal office building to win card-check."  

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by: Pesto @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 15:13:51 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Michelle Bachmann used the same line yesterday (4.00 / 1)

and Minnesota Public Radio used it as their "sound bite" -  her opponent and Democrats want to "take away your right to vote by secret ballot in elections" - "Why, that's un-American!" she gasped.

War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength; McCain/Palin 2008

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by: cheesehead @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 11:13:07 AM UTC

Un-American (4.00 / 2)

Ugh, Bachmann.  For anyone talking about "un-American" in relation to unions, I refer you to Ezra Klein's quote above, pulled from his piece earlier this week.  

It's unfortunate to hear that McCain's new line is trickling down the GOP ranks.  Minnesota has been ground zero for the early fight on the Employee Free Choice Act, as outside groups have poured millions of dollars to attack Al Franken for supporting this middle class measure.  They're also attacking Madia and Tinklenberg, who are running for House seats.  The group funding the attacks is run by a guy who used to attack Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the Centers for Disease Control, to give you an idea of who's running these anti-middle class attacks.  You can read more about the group here: Employee Freedom Action Committee

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by: Michael Whitney @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 11:55:59 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

yes - ugh, Bachmann (4.00 / 1)

I heard it from her before I read that McCain was using it.  I'm betting this is coordinated from the puppetmasters.

What PO'd me was that Minnesota Public Radio chose this quote for broadcast, without much context.  Her quip actually sounded pretty good - who can be against democracy and the secret ballot?

except that I had my Bachmann filter on (if MB says it, it's gotta be a load, I just haven't figured out how yet).

War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery; Ignorance is Strength; McCain/Palin 2008

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by: cheesehead @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 12:44:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

EFCA is already a massive uphill battle (4.00 / 1)

Workers have won better labor laws in 2 ways in the US -- by winning the fight in the real world and then having lawmakers adapt the law to catch up (this is largely what happened with the 1975 reforms to the National Labor Relations Act that brought health care providers and non-profits under the Act), or by raising enough unrest that Capital reluctantly agrees to compromise.

I don't see either of these conditions being met so far, so I'm not hopeful about actually passing EFCA.  It seems to me that bosses are much more motivated about stopping EFCA than workers are about passing it, even organized workers.  And the big follow-up plan for SEIU (and, I think, CTW in general) after the election is an Accountability Campaign aimed at passing health insurance reform.

Congress will pass card check when doing so is a way to avoid the worse fate that awaits Capital if they spike the bill.  General strikes, sit-down strikes, that kind of thing.  I think we'll need a whole lot of agitation directed at Capital to get this done.

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by: Pesto @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 14:04:03 PM UTC

More people organize with majority sign-up than without (4.00 / 3)

That's the thing - workers are winning the fight in the real world already by organizing unions through majority sign-up.

In the last 5 years, more than half a million people joined unions by signing cards, which is more than the amount who joined through the traditional NLRB process.  

That figure includes:

   *  64,000 hotel and casino workers
   * 46,000 home care providers
   * 11,000 UPS Freight workers
   * 5,800 public school teachers and aides
   * 225 reporters and editors at Dow Jones
   * 162 nuclear engineers at Pacific Gas & Electric
   * 8,000 farmworkers jointly employed by Mount Olive Pickle and the North Carolina Growers Association

So, condition 1 is met, and now the law needs to catch up to expand this opportunity to people everywhere who want to form unions, not just the few companies where they respect their employees' choice.  

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by: Michael Whitney @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 14:28:45 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Card-check vs. elections (4.00 / 1)

Those are impressive statistics -- though the comparison highlights how incredibly rare it is for anyone to belong to a union any more.

I have no idea where the tipping-point is.  At some point, I'd expect that it might be possible to persuade the public that everyone's doing it already.  It's pretty hard for me to believe that we're at that point now, though -- if we were, we wouldn't need EFCA, would we?

Again, I think it'll come down to how much of an actual fight American workers are willing to wage over this.

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by: Pesto @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 15:26:54 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Nice thread (4.00 / 1)

but if you live south of Mason Dixon it's all moot.

The southern states all have "right to work laws". What that means basically is that it's legal for employers to do what ever they feel is necessary to prevent union formation. The favorite tactic is to announce the closing of a business "for economic reasons", fire all union "troublemakers" and reopen a few days later with new employees.

We're taught from the cradle down here that the big bad unions won't let honest hardworking employees who desperately need the work to support their families work for minimum wage. Unions insist on raises, and thus force the poor businessmen to close their doors and put those poor workers who want that minimum wage job so desperately out of work, which equals slow death down here because of the lack of social services. Unions KILL people!

Yeah. I've seen this shit over and over down here as companies from the north moved into tax havens provided at our expense and used the opportunities to shed their unions. If the workers manage to get a vote, the business fires everybody and hires all new people.

It's gonna be a long uphill battle on this one, especially in red country with the states doing everything they legally can to counteract the federal laws.

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by: Silence Doesnogood @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 14:45:03 PM UTC

But what's nice about the service industry is (4.00 / 3)

it's hard to outsource and relocate. Organizing service workers is the new frontier, and the key to recreating the middle class.

Or, in some parts of the South anyway, creating a middle class for the first time!

Every time I see prisoners in orange jumpsuits doing municipal work, I think about this, how we are still a feudal, slave-based economy in so many ways. In the North, it would be union guys filling potholes, or setting up bleachers for the Christmas parade, and making a middle class wage to do it.

We will get there, though.

Montani semper liberi

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by: Sadie Baker @ Fri Oct 17, 2008 at 15:49:03 PM UTC

[ Parent ]