1) The Labor Law Reform We Need
2) Responses to "Further Reflections on AFSCME Election"



The Labor Law Reform We Need

Rand Wilson

July 11,20112

Labor Notes

http://labornotes.org/2012/06/labor-law-reform-we-need

When the next opportunity for labor law reform arrives,
union membership will be smaller and our political
clout even more diminished. If we are to succeed,
future reform proposals must be wrapped in a broader
mantle that will appeal to all workers.

The four-year drive for the Employee Free Choice Act
was the single largest union-backed campaign in decades
and it succeeded in uniting the labor movement as never
before. I doubt there was a steward in the country who
wasn't familiar with EFCA and why we needed it.

The proposed law, which so many members fought for
between 2006 and 2010, would have made it faster and
easier for workers to gain union recognition through
card check, created stiffer penalties for employers who
violate labor laws, and helped workers win difficult
first contracts through binding arbitration.

Many union leaders believed EFCA to be labor's last
opportunity to address the obstacles to recruiting new
members and a rebirth of the labor movement.

While campaigning for EFCA was easy among union
members, once we ventured beyond our ranks it was a
much harder sell.

With faith in democracy deeply ingrained in the
national psyche, it was almost impossible to convince
the general public that card check was as democratic as
a secret ballot election. Every time the opposition
yelled, "Union bosses want to take away your right to
vote," we were put on the defensive and our allies
floundered.


So while EFCA appealed to union members and a small
population of workers who imagined they might one day
like to join a union, it appeared to the public as a
narrow "special-interest" labor bill.

The demise of EFCA closely resembled the fate of other
reform bills backed by the labor movement: one against
permanent striker replacement (1993); a bill for
speedier elections, greater union access during
organizing drives, and relief for illegally fired
workers (1978); and repeal of Taft-Hartley (1966),
where we could not stop a filibuster in the Senate.

WINNING THOUGH SMALLER

Past reforms led by the labor movement have won minimum
wage, health and safety regulations, child labor laws,
and prohibitions against discrimination. And whenever
the labor movement was on the offensive fighting for
all workers, union membership grew.

What's left to achieve that might inspire all
workers--union and non-union alike?

"Employment security" could be the remaining frontier.
A campaign to pass state laws requiring "just cause"
before a worker is fired could also spur union growth,
since one of the top reasons workers are afraid of
organizing is the knowledge they are likely to be
terminated.

Our existing laws have not diminished workers' fears
because the procedures are too uncertain and lengthy
(two to three years at the Labor Board and another two
years in the courts) to provide any assurance. Winning
state "just cause" laws that allow cases to be decided
quickly by arbitrators might give workers more
confidence.

As described in Clyde Summers's important 1976 Virginia
Law Review article on the topic, the United States is
alone among industrialized countries in allowing
at-will employees to be terminated for arbitrary
reasons. Because of union protests and aggressive legal
action, Germany, France, Japan, Sweden, the United
Kingdom, and South Africa require employers to have a
just cause to dismiss non-probationary employees.

One state has also passed such a law. The Montana
Wrongful Discharge from Employment Act was passed in
1987. Applicable to non-union non-probationary
employees, it prohibits discharges without good cause,
allows workers to sue for up to four years of back pay,
and provides a way for workers to recover attorneys'
fees.

Despite fear-mongering by opponents, the Big Sky
state's robust economic growth has not been affected.
Statutes in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands also
prohibit termination without "good cause."

CHAMPIONING EVERYONE

Winning "just cause" legislation will certainly not be
easy. But building a movement on a similar scale to the
effort put behind EFCA would offer union activists an
opportunity to champion an issue that would benefit all
workers and also help union growth.

A "just cause" campaign could potentially engage
working people at many levels. Short of state or
federal legislation, local unions, central labor
councils, and worker centers could seek to enforce a
just cause standard through workers' rights boards and
community pressure.

Communities could declare certain areas "Just Cause
Zones" and fight to enforce just cause as a community
standard--like living wage laws, but potentially much
wider. Political activists could use the proposed
legislation as a litmus test for candidates. We could
hold hearings on the need for just cause and lobby
state legislatures.

If just cause campaigns succeed, workers will have more
security to participate in organizing drives. Montana's
unionization rate reflects its mix of industries and
history of militant struggles, but it's hard not to
notice that the state, at 14.6 percent, has a healthier
percentage of union members than the national average.
Neighboring Idaho has less than half the rate of
unionized workers.

Even if campaigns for just cause do not succeed, they
would be an opportunity to educate millions of
not-yet-union workers about the concept (especially if
the campaign used ballot referendums) and the increased
job security it could bring to their lives.

By popularizing the just cause concept and raising
expectations, more workers may respond by thinking, "If
we can't get this protection through the legislature,
let's get it by forming a union!"


Rand Wilson is organizing director for Service
Employees Local 888 in Boston.


2) Responses to Further Reflections on AFSCME Election


1.From: Sal Luciano <[log in to unmask]> Subject: RE:
Further Reflections on AFSCME's 40th Convention and
Election of New Leadership - A Response to Our Critics

Why the vitriol? I am a Danny supporter for many
reasons. Now the election is over and we need to unite
behind newly elected leaders. This rant does not help.

==========

2. From: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Further
Reflections on AFSCME's 40th Convention and Election of
New Leade...

As a former employee of AFSCME New York City District
Council 37, and as the former treasurer of its Retirees
Association, I know both Greg Heires and Ray Markey,
and I appreciate this commentary.

Shaurain Farber, AFSCME Retiree Chapter 37

==========

3. From: Eddie <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re:
Further Reflections on AFSCME's 40th Convention and
Election of New Leadership - A Response to Our Critics

As Labor Portside monitors, I assume that Mr. Heires
and Mr. Markey would not be willing to accept a
different view. I previously submitted comments that
were trashed.

Progressives had no fondness fot the successful
candidate. Bill Lucy strongly supported Donohue.

AFSCME, under McEntee and Saunders spent millions of
scarce union resources against Barack during his
struggle for the nomination in 2008.

They also wasted union resources in their stupid effort
in the Democratic Party primary in the Wisconsin
Governor's race, money which should have been used to
oust Governor Walker.

As to the authors, no one knows how those in Donohue's
local vote. It would seem (at least from my experience
in AFGE) that there were probably large defections
because Donohue was unable to produce in the last
round.

Eddie Eitches President, AFGE Local 476; President,
AFGE Council 222 (HUD)

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