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The Union Busting Business Is Booming, And What Unions are Doing About It... November 7, 2003 At last count, Philadelphia Electric Company relay tester Tom Gallagher has been through four organizing campaigns. Each time, he put his job on the line to support the union, and each time the union has lost, including the most recent election for his transmission and distribution unit by the IBEW that failed by 43 votes last May. "The company tries to encourage people to knife each other in the back to advance themselves," said Gallagher, who has been with the Pennsylvania utility for 31 years. "The atmosphere has been every man for himself. Nobody sticks together. But I think theyre learning that doesnt get them anywhere." A month later, Gallaghers 295 fellow workers in fossil fuel generation overcame the employer-imposed obstacles to win union representation. He said now its a matter of time until his unit also votes union to join the new IBEW Local 614 forming in Philadelphia. When workers attempt to form unions in the United States, they are seeking respect, decent wages and benefits and fair work rules. But more often than not, what they usually get from their employers in an organizing campaign are intimidation, fear-mongering and flat-out lies. The AFL-CIO is planning a massive nationwide mobilization on December 10, International Human Rights Day, to highlight the need for changes to a system that permits routine violation of workers fundamental freedoms of speech and association. The date is the 55th anniversary of the signing of the International Declaration of Human Rights, the culmination of years of work by its American advocate, Eleanor Roosevelt, who was U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. How bad is it? IBEW organizers from the front lines offer several examples of the difficulties workers face on the road to respect on the job via organizing, but their stories only scratch the surface of a system overwhelmingly biased against workers. Some 42 million U.S. workers say they would form a union tomorrow if given the chance, according to a February 2003 survey by national polling firm Hart Research. But when the opportunity does present itself, employees have to contend with hostility, manipulation and unlawful harassment by employers and frequently today, union-busting consultants. Most of the public believes that its wrong and shameful to lie to, spy on and fire workers trying to form unions but most have no idea how widespread and routine these abuses are. Seventh District International Representative Steve Moulin said the union-busting business is booming. "This is a billion dollar a year industry that just preys on employees," Moulin said. "Companies are willing to do anything it takes to suppress organizing campaigns." U.S. Labor Department disclosure forms show one company, Public Service of New Mexico, spent more than $730,000 on consultants during an IBEW organizing drive in 2001. The IBEW lost the election. A power plant company south of San Antonio, Texas, used tried and true scare tactics to intimidate workers to prevent them from siding with the union. They fired an active organizer and convinced workers their existing benefits, wages and working conditions would be goneboth illegal under the National Labor Relations Act. They also used the "futility in bargaining" argument, arguing the union couldnt bargain them more than they have, so it is pointless to vote for representation, said Seventh District International Representative Timothy Bowden. Moulin said a campaign at Oklahoma Natural Gas was moving along well until organizers came up against the Labor Relations Institute, whose web site boasts it is the "nations most active firm conveying the overwhelming disadvantages of union membership." Aggressively using captive audience and one-on-one meetings, they threatened to shut the plant down, outsource every job, and move overseas if the campaign was successful, he said. This years two PECO campaigns were no different than countless others in terms of employer opposition, said Third District International Representative Brian Brennan. To each of the 295 workers in the fossil unit, the company sent videotapes titled "Keep PECO Union-Free," in which they depicted unions as unnecessary outside meddlers who would gamble members wages and benefits away. "They just spread a lot of lies," Brennan said. "They implied these people would lose what they currently have." Filing unfair labor practice complaints to the National Labor Relations Board is the only tool unions have to seek a fair remedy. But the process is long and drawn-out and the penalties for violations are so small they do little to deter companies bent on breaking the rules. "The law is not in favor of employees when youre organizing," Brennan said. "Everywhere else you go to jail when you violate the law." In conjunction with the events of December 10, two of the labor movements biggest champions in Congress, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) and Rep. George Miller (D-California) are introducing the Employee Free Choice Act, which would allow for NLRB certification on the basis of signed authorization cards, provide first contract mediation and arbitration and stronger penalties for NLRA violations during organizing or negotiating a first contract. The message tens of thousands of workers, community activists, religious leaders and elected officials plan to send lawmakers and the public is that workers' rights are human rights. For more background on the events December 10, click on the AFL-CIOs Voice@Work site at www.aflcio.org/December10.
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U.S. Appeals Court Agrees with NLRB: No Workers in Union-Busting Videos Without Consent...
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