Union Disappointment: A “No” on Card Checks

Legislation coveted by unions isn’t likely to get the nod this year, though a compromise stands a good chance next year.

By Martha Lynn Craver, Associate Editor, The Kiplinger Letter

August 26, 2009

Congress will likely deal unions a disappointment on labor law reform this year. Prospects are dimming for a vote in the Senate on legislation that would allow labor groups to organize via card signing campaign instead of a vote. The House of Representatives has not yet approved the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) but is expected to do so this session. The holdup is in the Senate. Although talks to craft a compromise, led by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), continue behind the scenes, more-urgent legislation is threatening to push consideration of any compromise into next year. Health care reform is now expected to consume a good part of the fall, along with cap and trade legislation, financial services reform and spending bills. Progress is also hindered by the recent death of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and the continued absence of his pro-labor ally, Robert Byrd (D-WV), who is in ill health.

What’s more, any compromise worked out will mean a much more modest bill than the original draft of EFCA -- a version similar to a bill overwhelmingly approved by the House last year. That bill would make union organizing much easier -- an important goal of organized labor, which has seen its membership drop to about 7% of private sector employment. But employer groups, and their Republican allies in Congress, adamantly oppose the provision, and a number of Senate Democrats are now wavering in their support. Those senators are concerned that the bill would rob workers of the right to cast their votes in secret and could subject them to pressure from union organizers as well as employers.

To satisfy them, supporters will have to water down the bill, probably simply requiring that elections be expedited. “Whatever Sen. Harkin works out will be quite a bit different than the original bill,” says Marick Masters, director of the Douglas A. Fraser Center for Workplace Issues and Labor at Wayne State University.

Also likely to be stripped from the bill: a provision that would allow federal arbiters to impose a first contract if an agreement is not reached between the new union and management within a set period of time. Instead, unions will probably get stronger penalties if employers don’t engage in good faith bargaining. According to a recent study by Kate Bronfenbrenner of Cornell University, after the first year of union recognition, 52% of workers are still without a contract, and 37% remain without a contract two years after the election. “There is no incentive now for companies to sit down and bargain with workers in good faith. Changes are needed to keep companies from delaying the process,” says one labor spokesman.

Even employer groups admit privately that some employers don’t always negotiate in good faith for a first contract and that the penalties for not doing so are not strong enough to discourage the practice. So, though business interests are fiercely opposed to much of EFCA as drafted, a way to keep parties at the table until there is a first contract is within reach.

Despite Congress’ preoccupation with other issues, labor groups say they intend to keep the pressure on lawmakers to pass labor law reform this year. “If workers don’t have the freedom to bargain, when the economy recovers, the profits will just go to CEOs and Wall Street, not the workers,” says a labor spokesman.

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