Today the AFL-CIO announced its latest PR blitz in favor of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act. They claim that over 1,000 employers support the Employee Free Choice Act and have launched a website to state the case called Fair Economy Now. I know you’ll find it shocking, but the Chairman of this front group is CEO of American Income Life Insurance Company whose employees – according to a quick LRI Online search – turns out are represented by OPEIU Local 277. It’s easy to see why once you’re stuck with a union why you’d want to make sure everyone else was too – but I wonder how many non-union employers are on the list of 1,000 Employee Free Choice Act Supporters? I’m guessing not many.
This argument makes no sense. It would be hypocritical for a business to express support for the employee free choice act and unions in general if they were not unionized. It would be like a man recommending which birth control pill worked best for him.
In addition,many employers that do not have unions have more than likely waged anti
I love this comment. Obviously we are coming at this issue from opposite points of view (and I don’t really understand the birth control pill analogy… but I’m dense) but I think your argument is the one that makes no sense. First, if what you are saying is true – that unionized companies support EFCA – then why are there only 1,000 companies on this petition? There are around 50,000 unionized companies around the US (although that number is shrinking rapidly…), so I guess this means that only one in every 500 unionized companies think EFCA is a good idea. I’d guess that is about right – oh, and the unionized companies who do want EFCA will be people like General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, etc. You know, the ones who can’t compete.
Additionally, this whole argument about employers “waging anti-union” campaigns is comical. Any union organizer (or management-consultant) worth his or her salt will tell you that the major negative campaign tactics complained about in these studies don’t work. Working people aren’t stupid (much to the chagrin of most union officials…) and if you treat them like adults and give them facts (not trumped-up studies) they make good decisions. If you threaten them and treat them like children they return the favor. By the way, what is always glossed over in these arguments is that unions win more elections now than they ever have, and that number has actually been increasing over the last 10 years while all these horrible tactics have been being used. Of course that data (which is objectively provable – unlike all the anecdotal crap that is used as “evidence” for the No Holds Barred “study”) is never discussed because it is inconvenient.
What unions don’t like is the fact that the employer gets to talk to employees at all. That’s the whole point of card-check, quick elections, mail ballots and all the other stuff being thrown around in Washington these days. Speaking of Washington, here a couple of other analogies. I just did a study and found that 100% of Republicans wage anti-Democrat campaigns (we’re still collecting data but it looks like the Democrats do the same thing to Republicans). I also understand that 100% of Pittsburgh Penguins fans are waging anti-Detroit Red Wings campaigns this week. Oh, and another study I did says that 100% of union organizers wage anti-company campaigns. I am lobbying my Senators to pass legislation preventing Republicans, Democrats, Penguins fans and Union Organizers from speaking in public. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.