rights at work how elected public officials can help protect workers’ freedom to choose a union

Rights at WorkRights at WorkHow Elected Public Officials Can Help Protect

Workers’ Freedom to Choose a Union

Unions are one of the best...

anti-poverty,

equal opportunity,

family security,

middle class-building

programs for working people in America

Union members are...

the largest, best organized, most effective political allies of elected officials who want to make progress on the issues that

matter to working Americans:

Good Jobs, Health Care, Education, Retirement Security

The union percentage of all voters continues to increase

26%

23%

19%

1992 1996 2000

Source: VNS-11/92, 11/96, 11/00

Union Members

Nonunion Households

Source: Lake/VNS 11/00

Union members vote differently

Union Advantage = 45%

+37%

-8%

Gore: 66%

Bush: 29%

Gore: 44%

Bush: 52%

Union Members

Nonunion Households

Source:??

[Example(s) from your state, city, or county????]

Union Advantage = ??%

+??%

-??%

??%

??%

??%

??%

Why do union members vote differently and more often?

Educated on economic issues

Contacted at work

Take part in intensive phone banks

Pool money to pay for outreach

Value union recommendations

But the percentage of workers who have unions continues to fall

1956 2003

32% of workforce

Union

32% of workforce

Union

13% of workforce

Union

13% of workforce

Union

Union membership is dropping even though the number of workers who want unions is rising

In a February 2003 Hart Research national poll of non-managerial, nonunion workers...

“If an election were held tomorrow to decide whether your workplace

would have a union or not…”

47%47% said they would “vote for forming a union”

(up from 30% in 1984)

That’s about

47 million workers47 million workers who want

but don’t have a union!

Cornell University study, 1996

91%91% require anti-union meetings

80%80% train supervisors to intimidate

50%50% threaten to shut down

31%31% fire some union supporters

Why don’t they have a union?

Biggest reason: employer interference

A Human Rights Watch study found...

“ In a system replete with all the appearance of legality and due process, workers’ exercise of rights to organize, to bargain, and to strike in the United States has been frustrated by many employers who realize they have little to fear from labor law enforcement through a ponderous, delay-ridden legal system with meager remedial powers.”

Imagine if workersworkers tried to interfere with employers’employers’...

Choice whether to join an employer association

Choice of their representative to negotiate with workers

Imagine if you had to run in an “election”“election” like a union representation election...

denied promotions,face increased workloads,

or changed work schedules, or increased harassment at work

Your supporters would know that they could be fired,

Local newspapers would predict that precincts that voted for you

would have their economy devastated

You wouldn’t have a voter list until 6 weeks before the

election

Voters would be required to watch TV ads against you for

several hours a day.

They could only get information from you when supporters canvassed door-to-door.

posting a letter after posting a letter after the election saying they the election saying they

won’t do it againwon’t do it again

Officials caught threatening your supporters would face this penalty:

Your opponent could delay the election if he thought

he’d do better later

The election would be held in your opponent’s headquarters

and voters would file by officials who control their jobs

Even if you somehow won, the outcome would be blocked

from taking effect through years of litigation

Hardly any workers survive this process to form a union

Only 84,000 private sector workers win union representation elections in an average year

Only a quarter of those will have a contract in place five years later

Bureau of National Affairs

When employers don’tdon’t interfere, workers win

85%85% when some employer interference

33%33% when aggressive interference

Economic Policy Institute, 1995

Win rate for workers forming union

96%96% when employer neutral

When employers don’tdon’t interfere, workers win

80%80% win rate in public sector, where relatively little employer interference

Less than 50%50% win rate in private sector, where employer interference is the norm

Cornell University study, 1998

Some employers have agreed not to interfere

Neutrality instead of interference

Simple card check or “card count” instead of lengthy “elections”

Card count neutrality agreements protect workers’ democratic rights

The employer doesn’t interfere in workers’ decision

Workers who want a union must get a majority to sign cards

An independent party verifies them

First contract negotiations begin without delay

Card count neutrality...

Is still the standard in most of Canada

Recognizes – similar to sexual harassment law – that management speech has special impact because of the power relationship

Used to be the standard in the U.S. – before employers saw they could control “elections”

Some employers with card count neutrality agreements...

Kaiser Permanente

U.S. Steel

AT&T

Safeway

Anheuser-Busch

UPS

Starwood HotelsHERE: “Card Check and Neutrality”

The public strongly supports workers’ freedom

to choose a union without employer interference

“How important is it to have strong laws that give workers the

right to form and join unions in their workplace?”

Hart Research national poll, Feb. 2003

ImportantImportant

DemocratsDemocrats 84%84%

IndependentsIndependents 71%71%

RepublicansRepublicans 67%67%

“When union elections are held, do you think employers should generally oppose the union and try to convince employees

to vote no, or do you think employers should generally take no position and let

the employees decide on their own?”


Let employees decide on ownLet employees decide on own




NoNo




Are common employer tactics acceptable?

“Firing employees who support the union”


NoNo





“Supervisor meeting one-on-one with the employees he or she

directly supervises, urging them to vote against the union”


NoNo





“Publicly predicting that pay and benefits will be reduced if

employees vote for a union”


NoNo





“Sending letters to employees’ homes urging them to vote

against the union”


NoNo





“Requiring that employees attend meetings on company time at which anti-union presentations are made”





Which reasons “to make changes that would limit anti-union campaigns by employers” are convincing?

“Employees should have the freedom to make their own choice

about joining a union without interference from management”





Which reasons “to make changes that would limit anti-union campaigns by employers” are convincing?

“The right of workers to form a union is a fundamental freedom, like freedom of speech or religion”


What elected officials can do...

1 Reward and spotlight employers who don’t interfere with workers’ free choice


2 Speak out, hold hearings, and appear with workers who are facing employer interference


3 Encourage employers to respect card count as standard procedure


4 Help educate the public — not just union audiences — about the need to protect workers’ freedom to decide without employer interference


5 Help pass laws establishing public employee bargaining rights, and repeal right-to-work-for-less laws


6 Use laws, regulations, and executive action to ensure that no employer receiving support for public purposes diverts money to interfere with workers’ freedom to choose a union

Free America’s workersFree America’s workers to build a better future

for our families and the communities

we serve


rights at work how elected public officials can help protect workers’ freedom to choose a union

Documents

workforce union slide

election slide

union supporters

union percentage

union advantage

union membership

america slide

union representation