March, 2009

>

On Tuesday, UFCW members and other workers from across the country will be visiting the halls of Congress to speak with their elected officials and urge the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.

Throughout the day, workers will be visiting their respective elected officials to share their stories about forming a union in the workplace, and to urge them to make the passage of the critical bill a priority.

Many of the workers have experienced firsthand the disappointment of being unable to join a union, despite the fact that a majority of they and their co-workers wanted to join one. Darlene Bruzio and her co-workers at Giant Eagle grocery store in Pennsylvania lost their union election, despite having majority support at work, because of employer interference. She said:

When you have more 80% support like we did at my store and still lose an election, you know that the system is broken. Congress has to realize that and pass the Employee Free Choice Act.

Another grocery worker, James Satler, is a former Fresh and Easy worker from California who says he was fired for trying to organize a union at his workplace:

I believe that if Congress really cares about fixing the economy, it should pass Employee Free Choice because it will allow us to have better wages and benefits. Our economy is stronger when more American workers have more money to spend.

>A new Gallup Poll finds that Americans support Employee Free Choice by a wide margin. Of Americans polled, 53% favor the law; 39% oppose it.

Big business has been screaming itself hoarse over the “evils” of Employee Free Choice–and this is the result? Perhaps Americans realize that CEOs and greedy corporations aren’t exactly the most trustworthy messengers right now. Perhaps they realize that Employee Free Choice would help expand the middle class and get our economy back on track. Perhaps that’s what most Americans would like–a level playing field.

Whatever the reason, Employee Free Choice opponents are starting to lose the war of words. So far, much of their argument against the bill has been a panicked call to “save our secret ballots,” even though the Employee Free Choice Act would preserve the right to a secret ballot–just putting that choice in workers’ hands, not CEOs. As AFL-CIO Chief Lobbyist Bill Samuel told Politico:

That argument is not going to hold up when senators see that the secret ballot
is still an option for workers…Now they are shifting their argument,
saying unions are bad for the economy. I don’t think that holds up since a
lot of economists, including [White House adviser] Larry Summers, are saying
collective bargaining helps spread prosperity across the economy.

The new Gallup poll shows that overall, Americans seem to feel the same way–that unions are good for the economy, and good for America.

>

Ahoy, mateys. Welcome aboard the airtight entrepreneurial vessel that is Jim McTague’s version of America. Did you know that you’re probably a buccaneer at heart? And one willing to work for peanuts? Of course you are—you’d prefer it! At least, that’s what he claims in his odd opposition piece to Employee Free Choice:

My guess is that the decline of union membership in the private sector, from about 35% of workers in 1954 to 8% today, according to Epstein’s numbers, owes more to a hearty embrace of entrepreneurship than to union-bashing: Most of us are buccaneers at heart. Who wouldn’t want to work for relative peanuts and stock options for a visionary like Bill Gates, instead of for a steady paycheck and predictable, small-percentage annual pay increase at the local electric utility?

Yes, who indeed? It’s unclear who McTague is insulting more: working Americans with families, struggling to be responsible providers; entrepreneurs who demand more than just “relative peanuts”; or old-time buccaneers, who were in it for the adventure, sure—but mostly for the treasure and blood.

But after you stop laughing, you kind of have to wonder—is this how the business world really sees workers? As some kind of adventurer just working for the sheer fun of it, with no need for hard currency? Do they think workers who want those “predictable” jobs are lazy or unimaginative?

Or is McTague inadvertantly revealing more than he means to about the kind of workers who have, until recently, been most celebrated in today’s corporate America: the ones who acted like pirates and stole the hard-earned savings of honest Americans? Should we all be Bernie Madoffs? But of course, Bernie wasn’t exactly adventuring for peanuts, either.

America was build by adventurous spirits, no doubt. But after the adventuring is done, there are mouths to feed and bills to pay. All workers deserve good union jobs, with retirement security, a living wage, and affordable, quality health care. Big business wishes that ship had already sailed—but we’re going to make sure it stays anchored right here by passing the Employee Free Choice Act.