W Post: Labor Seeks Election Rewards

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/05/AR2008110504137.html?nav%253Drss_business

Union Organizing Rights Could Be Early Obama Test

By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 6, 2008; Page D01

Bolstered by exit polling data showing that union members played a pivotal role in President-elect Barack Obama's victory, the AFL-CIO served notice yesterday that it views the election results as ratification of organized labor's ambitious agenda.

Labor's top priority is passage of legislation that would make it easier to organize unions, which advocates say would help labor groups expand their shrinking numbers and win better wages and benefits for average workers, whose pay has stagnated in the last eight years.

"In an economy that gives corporations far too much power, a union card remains the single best ticket into the middle class," said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. Union membership has dropped from 20 percent to 12 percent of all U.S. workers over for the past quarter century.

The Employee Free Choice Act, which would require employers to recognize unions once a majority of workers sign cards of support, is fiercely opposed by business groups that argue the measure would cost jobs and further weaken the nation's economy.

Currently, employers can demand that workers hold secret-ballot elections to determine whether to form unions, something labor organizers say allows companies to run campaigns that pressure workers into voting against organizing. At the same time, business leaders say the so-called "check card" legislation would deny workers a secret ballot, leaving them vulnerable to being coerced into supporting the formation of a union.

The battle over the measure promises to be one of the early tests of the Obama presidency. Obama has strongly endorsed the legislation, which he has called part of an overdue effort to raise the standard of living for the nation's working class. But with the economy in tatters, some business leaders are stepping up their argument against the measure, saying that now is not the time to put new burdens on business.

FULL story at link.

[d_b]

1. Labor earned it.

The Reagan era is over. It's time to restore America's working class.

[Hope And Change]

2. Yes, I agree.

[billyoc]

3. Revenue neutral, no excuses.

[David Dunham]

4. It's DOA in the Senate. Republicans will fillibuster it to death in the Senate

Some Dems will probably support the fillibuster as well, like both Nelsons

[Omaha Steve]

5. Republican Senators up for mid term reelection (2010) will have to think hard about this

They don't want to loose their seat over this.

[David Dunham]

6. Polls show most of the public opposes the card check program

[Omaha Steve]

7. Links?

Depends on how you ask the question too.

See the act doesn't take away the right to secret ballot. But the question is always phrased that way.

http://www.nhinsider.com/nhi-polling/2008/9/15/results-of-poll-regarding-employee-free-choice-act.html

Results of Poll regarding 'Employee Free Choice Act"
Do you support the 'Employees Free Choice Act' which removes employees right to a secret ballot?
Votes Ratio
Yes, I love Card Check! 32 26%
No, I want a Secret Ballot! 89 71%
Duh, Who Cares? 4 3%
125 votes total

OOPS look at this one.

68% of Middle Class Supports the Employee Free Choice Act

http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/employee-free-choice-act/latest-updates/68-of-middle-class-supports-the-employee-free-choice-act-20080820-631-83-83.html

America's middle class wants to grow. That's the message from a new nationwide poll that shows a clear majority of the middle class supports the Employee Free Choice Act.

Overall, 68% of middle-class adults would have liked their representative in the U.S. House to vote for the bill. Specifically, 80% of Democrats, 60% of Republicans, and 59% of Independents polled were in favor of their representatives voting for the bill.

American Rights at Work Executive Director Mary Beth Maxwell put the poll in perspective:

"This new poll reinforces that a clear majority of Americans - be they Democrats, Independents, or Republicans - want policies like the Employee Free Choice Act that will help working families struggling in this economy. <...> Momentum for the Employee Free Choice Act is real and while anti-union corporations and their front groups are spending millions to mislead the public, Americans aren't buying it."

It shouldn't be any mystery why the middle class supports the Employee Free Choice Act. The bill would help level the playing field to give workers the freedom to choose to join a union, so they can earn better wages and benefits and have greater opportunity towards achieving the American Dream.

In its description of the poll results, the Drum Major Institute (DMI) includes this interesting tidbit:

60% of those who say they are likely to vote for John McCain for president favor legislation making it easier for employees to join unions even though Senator McCain voted for the filibuster that killed this bill. 60% of middle-class Republicans, and an even higher proportion of Democrats and independents, support the legislation.

The middle class is ahead of even its own representatives in realizing how we can jump-start our economy. Let's make sure Congress gets the message in 2009.

For more information on DMI's first annual survey on the Middle Class and Public Policy, visit http:// www.drummajorinstitute.org/2008middleclasspoll.


And Obama has a mandate, so the story goes.

OS