KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana |Labor bill battle: big labor vs. big business

Labor bill battle: big labor vs. big business

By Carolyn Roy - bio|email

SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) -  It's shaping up to be the biggest battle over labor reform since the Wagner Act of 1935, which first gave power to organized labor, and created the National Labor Relations Board, and the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947, which significantly restricted the activities and power of the unions.  It's the Employee Free Choice Act.

You may have heard it referred to as "card check," and it would allow workers to form a union when a majority of employees sign a card requesting one.  Right now, the law requires unions to collect cards signed by 30% of their employees to trigger a "secret ballot" election.  If the majority approves, the employer has to recognize it. 

"This measure would do away with that confidential vote," says Dick Bremer, President of the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce, "It would basically allow union representatives to visit with each and every employee and ask them if they would sign a card and put - I think - undue pressure on the employee to sign that card."

"I think that is a scare tactic companies use," says Laird Evans, Retired President of the Teamsters Local # 568.  Evans says it will it's the employees who need protection from employers intimidation and manipulation, "The company can drag out contract negotiations literally for years, to the point that the employees are scared to join a union, don't want anything to do with them.  Companies threaten to fire them.  Now you might think that won't happen, yes it does happen." 

Secretary, Treasurer and Business Manager of the Teamsters Local Union #568 says if it does pass, there will be interest in organizing new local unions.  "There will be some, yes." says Robert Watts, "I know certain locations, because that would give them an opportunity to do it quickly, without the company's intimidation."

Watts won't say specifically who, but did indicate it would not just be in the manufacturing sector.  As union membership has dwindled nationwide, organizing efforts have are expanding to include "white collar" service and administrative sectors.  "There's only about 8% in the private sector that's organized labor now in this country. Lowest it's been.  This legislation is going to make it easier for those locations that want to become unionized."

That could include administrative assistants and local casino workers, for example. Local AFL-CIO President Roosevelt Smalley says employees at a local casino showed interest in organizing back in 2000, "We had one of the casinos came to us. We went in and tried. They intimidated them folks 'til we backed off.  'Cause we didn't want 'em to lose jobs."

And that's just the debate over how the bill will change how unions are formed.  Opponents of the measure say it will give unions too much power, and allow federal intervention into negotiations that could be bad for their bottom line.  "This is not good for Louisiana or it's employers OR it's employees," says Kara Lowerie, Vice President of Government Affairs for the Bossier Chamber of Commerce. 

Shreveport Chamber President Dick Bremer warns that with ECFA passed, "the requirements that would be opposed on companies would be SO ONEROUS that Company owners are gonna do everything to REDUCE employees, not add employees, and therefore jobs would be lost."

"That's not necessarily true at all," counters Evans, "Why would I want to negotiate a contract that puts my company out of business?"

Both "big labor" and "big business" have spent hundreds of millions of dollars on lobbying over it, and will spend millions more before it's over.  From dueling ads on television to a U.S. Chamber of Commerce campaign sending business owners from across the country to Washington, D.C. to lobby against it, it's a hotly contested issue. 

It's a very partisan debate that's sure to rage on, and might even intensify, now that Republican Senator Arlen Specter has announced that he will oppose the bill. Unions were hoping he might be the crucial 60th vote needed to overcome an expected GOP filibuster of that would stop the measure in it's tracks - even if Democrat Al Franken were to be seated in the contested seat from Minnesota.  An original co-sponsor of the bill when it was first introduced in 2005, Specter is now siding with business arguments that increasing union membership would lead to increased job losses at a time when the economy is already on shaky ground. 

In a conference call Thursday attended mostly by members of several Louisiana Chambers of Commerce and companies that oppose the legislation, Sen. David Vitter, (D-La) called Specter's decision a "victory" and "big step forward."  But he warned it's not over yet, encouraging an aggressive lobbying campaign to convince fellow Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu (D-La).  "She is one of those potential swing votes, one of those four or five Democrats who could conceivably vote against cloture, so I would encourage everybody to really strongly lobby Senator Landrieu against the bill."  Vitter went on to encourage everyone on the conference call to keep getting the word out and to tell everybody, "including Senator Landrieu, not to look for any cute or clever compromise, because there really isn't a compromise on this issue."

In a statement provided to KSLA News 12, a spokesperson says, "Senator Landrieu is carefully reviewing the issue. She understands that it is a heated debate and wants to make an informed decision. Part of that process is actively meeting with interested groups on both sides. Senator Landrieu is also reviewing the proposed bill." 

Several conservative Democrats have expressed concerns about moving forward with the legislation amid an all-out lobbying effort by the business community, especially in the face of the recession, including Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said. But Nelson has suggested he could be persuaded depending on how the bill is amended.  Fellow Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor (D., Ark.) has also backed off from his previous support for the bill. Arkansas is a key battleground because it is home to Wal-Mart, a principal target for unions.

The bill was introduced Tuesday, March 11th by Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and House Education and Labor Chairman George Miller (D-Calif.).  Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), one of the bill's sponsors, had said the bill, which is supported by President Barack Obama, could come to the floor next month after the Easter recess.

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