Ten on Tuesday -- Labor News Edition

This Ten on Tuesday is brought to you courtesy of the Hightower Lowdown that arrived in my mail box today. You can check it out yourself at www.hightowerlowdown.org. It's run by a Texan named Jim Hightower who was a friend of Molly Ivins. (So you know he must be cool AND smart!)

1. In 1935, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was passed to protect American workers from greedy capitalists who were exploiting them. (And harassing them and firing them, and in some cases even killing them for protesting their exploitation.)

2. Ever since, but mostly since Reagan came into office, corporations have been trying (mostly successfully) to eviscerate the rights that the NLRA gave workers.

3. The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) that is currently floating around in Congress attempts to restore the NLRA to what it was supposed to be: a set of laws designed to protect workers' rights and set limits on what companies can do to keep them docile and cheap.

4. One of the rights that is restored is the option of a "card-check" election, in which a union can come into being when enough employees sign cards saying they want one. This is a system that used to exist, that exists in Canada without problem, and that certain companies in the states still use.

5. CEOs are railing against the EFCA because they say it destroys the right to a secret ballot. What they don't say is that the secret ballot system remains an option under the EFCA.

6. What the CEOS also don't say is that in the secret ballot option, only one side gets to campaign -- them. And campaigning can involve mandatory meetings in which unionization is demonized (92% of companies do this), one-on-one interviews for each employee where management explains to each one why voting to unionize would be a bad career choice (78% do this), and bringing in outside "consultants" (ie. union busters) to demonstrate why a union is a bad idea (75% do this). In no other circumstance, would we consider this a "free and fair" election. So why are they acting like they're out to defend democracy?

7. Another thing the EFCA would do is sharply increase the penalties for employee intimidation and make it illegal to fire people for organizing activity. It also requires triple back pay for anyone who is fired.

8. The U.S. has the widest gap between richest and poorest (and richest and the rest of us) in the industrialized world. 68% of Americans believe that labor unions are necessary to protect working families.

9. There is a massive, heavily funded campaign going on to confuse Americans about what the EFCA will do, acting as though destroying it is necessary to defend the essence of democracy. If you hear anything about it from the following organizations, you might want to ask who is behind the message. Unfortunately, they won't tell you because they refuse to disclose their donors. The names alone make me want to puke.

Here's who you should listen to with a salt lick:
Center for Union Facts
Americans for Job Security
Coalition for a Democratic Workplace
Workplace Fairness Institute
Alliance for Worker Freedom
Save Our Secret Ballot

10. Finally, a red meat quote for a finish with a flourish: Wal-Mart's CEO, last October, on why corporate managers don't want card-check elections: "We like driving the car, and we're not going to give the steering wheel to anybody but us."
Hightower leads off with another great quote from the CEO of Home Depot referencing "the demise of civilization."

Like I said, this is all straight from The Hightower Lowdown, Volume 11, Number 3, March 2009. Check it out yourself. Then call your elected officials. People like that are easily confused. They need you to help them see through the bull. I probably won't call mine, because they know it's bull and they love it that way. But some of you have reps for whom your voice could make a difference. Do it for all of us.