As if running through the mud over Health Care Reform was bad enough, progressives in the US are now facing a similar experience over proposed legislation to make it easier for trade unions to organise.
The Financial Times reports that President Obama’s ‘most frequent visitor’ during the first few months of office was Andy Stern( President of the Service Employees International Union - SEIU) which along other US unions are pushing for the early vote on the Employee Free Choice Act.
http://m.ft.com/cms/s/0/c87b28c6-fe34-11de-9340-00144feab49a.html
The proposed act is not just about a card count allowing for recognition – although that is very important. The card count element would take away the ability of employers to fully utilise the pressure tactics and victimisation techniques of ‘union buster’ companies in the US to intimidate workers against voting for union recognition. Currently unions have to file for recognition through a secret ballot to the Labor Board – a process that takes up to 3 years and allows the companies the opportunity to sack and intimidate workers joining a union. The SEIU and other unions has taken to avoiding use of the statutory procedure by fighting bitter battles and winning union recognition through weight of numbers. They sign up as many workers as possible and present the cards to the employers.
But the Employee Free Choice Act would provide the opportunity for workers to join unions and have recognition without the current certainty of dismissal and victimisation. It will also take away the US employers opportunity to delay and obstruct union organisation despite the clear wish of the workforce.
No wonder the US Chamber of Commerce and the Republicans are ready to fight it all the way with the same tactics as they used over Health Care.
However the fact that SEIU was able to put out 100,000 volunteers for Obama’s election campaign should make right wing Democrats pause for thought. SEIU and other US unions do not see supporting a Democratic President as a one way street. There are parallels in the UK but not quite as neat as we would hope. The trade unions were never going to be the most frequent visitors to 10 Downing Street under Blair – and haven’t been under Brown. We were told from the beginning ‘no special favours’. We have better trade union recognition laws and some better rights at work. But these focused mainly on individual rights – which do nothing for trade union growth and organisation.
The US unions are right to prioritise their rights to organise – and they will take care of the workforce from there. We will sorely need the same rights over the next few years. The same companies who use union busters in the US are the same ones who win public sector contracts here. The future in the UK this century often reflects developments in the US.
Rights to organise, to recognition, to take strike action, to be protected from victimisation and to make collective agreements - all these are positively put forward in the Employees Free Choice Act. We should watch and learn.
http://www.seiu.org/employeefreechoice/
