Lane Cardwell

Surrender Dorothy

One of the more visual scenes of the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz was after Dorothy and her companions had reached the Emerald City. The Wicked Witch of the West used her broom to skywrite this warning to the citizens of the town. Understandably alarmed, the townspeople and Dorothy went to seek the help of the great Wizard, and were turned away. 

Fast forward almost 70 years, and you have a modern day example of this warning being played out in Washington as unions skywrite their goal, "Surrender Voting," to the workers of this country. It looks like the workers could be turned away by their elected officials. Without intervention, the comically-named Employee Free Choice Act is close to being made the law of the land. 

Access to union representation is a right that workers have long enjoyed in this country. When a group of workers are asked to vote to decide whether they want to be represented by a union, in the past the decision was decided in a secret ballot election by the employees. A vote by more than 50% of the employees for the union commits all employees to representation. The Employee Free Choice Act will eliminate the secret ballot election, and permit union organizers to utilize "card checks" as the preferred method for deciding an election. 

"Card checks" allow union organizers to go directly to individual employees, at work or at home, and ask them to sign a card that is a public vote for representation by the union.  Say no, and you could be asked to reconsider by other organizers or co-workers, since your position is known to everyone. A neutrality agreement often accompanies the card check approach to union elections. Oddly named, the neutrality agreement requires employers to stay silent, while unions are free to make promises of benefits, work conditions, wage rates, etc. that they are not legally bound to keep. The right to a union is not under debate or at risk. The right of employees to vote their conscience in a secret ballot is under attack, and is close to being lost. 

In a payback for union contributions in 2006 of $100 million to help Democrats recapture Congress, the Employee Free Choice Act (which favors card checks over a secret ballot) was passed by the House in 2007.  It requires only a few more "yes" votes in the Senate to become the law of the land. While campaigning, both Hillary and Obama were emphatic that they would gladly sign this new law into reality if they were elected. The true battle is for the hearts and minds of the Senate. 

Over the past decades union membership has declined as rising labor costs have sent many manufacturing jobs overseas. Service jobs cannot be "outsourced," and have become the new battleground for unions who are seeking to replace lost jobs and members with a potentially huge source of new members-the service industry. 

What can you do? Educate yourself about this issue.  The Center for Union Facts, under the Berman and Company umbrella, is an excellent source for information about what is happening, and its implications to your business, and more importantly, to your employees. Sadly, we are increasingly learning, like Dorothy, that there is no Wizard. We have to find our own way home.

Posted by Lane Cardwell on July 28, 2008 | Comments (7)