Card check bill fight not over
Congress pushed aside a piece of key labor legislation in mid-2009 to concentrate instead on health-insurance reform.
But local and national leaders representing both unions and businesses said this week that the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make union organizing easier, is far from dead.
United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said Monday that the union plans to renew its fight for card-check legislation, a priority for the labor group as it continues to lose thousands of members.
The union has 355,000 active members, down from a high of 1.5 million in 1979. Gettelfinger said the union, which recently organized 2,500 workers at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, continues to look for members outside the auto industry.
Danny Thompson, executive secretary and treasurer of the AFL-CIO’s Nevada chapter, said the labor group is focusing mostly on the November elections and isn’t homing in on any specific issue right now.
The AFL-CIO isn’t making the Employee Free Choice Act a hot topic during campaign season, but it’s one of several major concerns the group will revisit after November, Thompson said.
“It’s certainly a very important issue, because we believe people should have the right to choose,” he said.
Nor have business groups relented in their opposition to the bill.
Just Wednesday, a statewide group called the Alliance to Protect Nevada Jobs launched to fight the Employee Free Choice Act and other bills its leaders consider job-killers.
The alliance has submitted questionnaires to all Nevada candidates for federal office, asking the hopefuls where they stand on the act. The alliance plans to use the results to let voters know where candidates stand on the bill.
“This issue is very much still alive and a critical one for Nevada’s economy, and its workers and small businesses,” said McKay Daniels, the alliance’s state director. “The national labor unions still keep it as one of their highest priorities, and a number of union leaders have said they’re looking for payback” for the hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign donations they funneled to candidates in the 2008 election.
The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce also remains wary of the Employee Free Choice Act. Fighting the bill is still listed on the organization’s website as one of its policy priorities, and chamber leaders and members had discussions with Nevada congressional delegates about the act during a March trip to Washington, D.C.
“Even though some said (the act) had been put on the back burner for now because of other priorities, we’ve always kept an eye on it,” said Veronica Meter, the chamber’s vice president of government affairs. “It’s very much always been on our radar. We are working closely with our elected officials to make sure they understand the problems it would cause for the business community as we struggle with a deep recession and 14 percent unemployment.”
The act would allow a majority of employees at a company to organize by signing cards. That’s a change from current laws that let employers demand secret-ballot elections before a union can organize. The bill would also boost penalties for retaliation against workers who support unions, and it could require binding arbitration within three months if management and the union can’t agree on a contract.
Detractors say the measure would strip employees of anonymity and enable unions to harass and intimidate workers during organizing drives, while forcing arbitration would drive a wedge between employers and employees. Supporters say the bill would level a playing field that overwhelmingly favors anti-union employers.
Card check has long been a priority for unions, but passing legislation to allow the practice hasn’t been easy. A card-check bill passed the House of Representatives in 2007, but couldn’t survive a Republican filibuster in the Senate. Card check’s latest opportunity for passage faded out in April 2009, after several key lawmakers, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and Jim Webb, D-Va., came out against the bill.
In a more recent setback, a union-backed candidate lost in an Arkansas primary to Lincoln.
Among Nevada’s congressional delegation, Sen. John Ensign and Rep. Dean Heller, both Republicans, opposed the most recent version of the Employee Free Choice Act. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Democratic representatives Shelley Berkley and Dina Titus all signed onto the bill as cosponsors.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.
ALLIANCE PLEDGES TO FIGHT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
A new group launched Wednesday to stop what it calls “job-killing” legislation.
The Alliance to Protect Nevada Jobs said in a statement that its mission is to fight for the workers and small businesses “who are the lifeblood of the state and necessary to turn around its economy.”
The alliance said it has the support of the Reno-Sparks Chamber of Commerce, the Retail Association of Nevada and the National Federation of Independent Business, among other groups.
Though the Employee Free Choice Act is its major focus now, the alliance is eyeing other issues that could affect smaller companies, state director McKay Daniels said. The group is especially interested in federal policies that could expand projects and contracts subject to prevailing-wage rules under the Davis-Bacon Act.
“We’re going to keep an eye on any federal issues or policies that would place undue burdens on small businesses through increased regulation, limits on the freedom of workers or employers or any other legislation or administrative actions that could harm Nevada businesses,” Daniels said.
JENNIFER ROBISON / LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
