Labor Organizing as a Civil Right

[marmar]

from Dissent magazine:



Labor Organizing as a Civil Right
Richard D. Kahlenberg and Moshe Z. Marvit - March 13, 2012


On January 20, 2009, when Barack Obama assumed the presidency, labor found the stars aligned to pass meaningful labor law reform. It had a friend in the president and vice president, with both Obama and Biden having been co-sponsors of the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) when they were in the Senate. The Democrats had a majority in the House and a near filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, if one counted the independents that caucused with the party. They even had a Republican on board who had previously voted for cloture on EFCA (then-Republican Arlen Specter), providing the possibility that the legislation would not only pass but would have the all-important veneer of bipartisanship. EFCA would have made several moderate, but important, amendments to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). These included card-check (which would have allowed a majority of workers to sign cards to organize a union, rather than proceed under the more difficult National Labor Relations Board–supervised election process), mandatory interest arbitration on stalled negotiations, and increased penalties for employers that commit violations of labor law.

Even under these optimal conditions, which are unlikely to repeat in the near future, EFCA was not even put to a formal vote in the Senate. EFCA’s defeat marked the fourth time since the 1947 passage of the Taft-Hartley Act, which diminished labor rights under the NLRA, that Democrats controlled the presidency and both houses of Congress, pushed for labor law reform, and failed. Under Lyndon Johnson, Democrats fell short in a Senate effort to modify Taft-Hartley. Under Jimmy Carter, labor law reform that would have enhanced penalties for unfair labor practices failed by two votes in a Democrat-controlled Senate. During Bill Clinton’s first term, legislation to outlaw the permanent replacement of strikers stalled. And EFCA, which many called “labor’s last stand,” died the slow death of the silent filibuster. Republican-controlled bodies of Congress are unlikely to support efforts to strengthen labor under any circumstances, but progressives need to begin developing a new strategy now so that when they do regain full political power, they do not miss a fifth chance to revitalize labor.

It is time for supporters of labor to try an approach to reforming labor laws that does not involve a national conversation on the pros and cons of procedures like “card-check”—which most Americans know little about—and instead focuses on the fact that labor organizing is a civil right and should be written into our civil rights laws. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which extends the public protections for fundamental rights articulated in the Constitution to the private sphere, is the appropriate legislative vehicle to reform labor law. The result of an amendment to the Civil Rights Act would be significant: just as it is now illegal to fire or discipline someone for race or gender or national origin or religion, it would be illegal under the Civil Rights Act to fire or discipline someone for trying to organize or join a union. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://dissentmagazine.org/online.php?id=589

[nodak401]

1. It should also be a civil right to not join the union if one doesn't want to

[uppityperson]

2. Did you read the article? What do you think about this part...?....>>>

" just as it is now illegal to fire or discipline someone for race or gender or national origin or religion, it would be illegal under the Civil Rights Act to fire or discipline someone for trying to organize or join a union."

[midnight]

3. K&R

[TBF]

4. Solidarity. nt

[yortsed snacilbuper]

5. The republikkkan party spent billions of dollars on anti union adds,

it convinced a lot of people to be against their own best interests, the unions are our last best hope of not becoming a third world country, thats why the cock brothers are financing republiKKKan governors like walker to destroy collective bargaining!