WSJ Take Two

by | Oct 24, 2008 | News

The Wall Street Journal wins the prize for best labor-related stories today. In addition to the wonderful editorial on union dues, the news department has an interesting story on the fight being waged in DC over card check, with a special emphasis on the role of the US Chamber. There is no doubt that the story is not framed properly when it’s viewed solely as a labor v business battle — EFCA is primarily about basic fairness to workers. The WSJ story would have been better if they would have also interviewed many workers who have been involved in card check campaigns and walked away disenchanted with labor. But it’s also true that employers would be negatively impacted by the legislation in a big way and it’s good to see that an advocacy organization for employers is taking the fight seriously. What’s most stunning is the Washington insider gossip the story reveals. Senator Chuck Schumer from New York supposedly doesn’t like the Chamber playing such an active role in politics and personally called them and asked them to cut it out. The Chamber didn’t back down, which is good for them. No matter your politics, the hard reality is that one party is opposed to EFCA while one has supported it — overwhelmingly. It’s worth pointing out that in the not-so-distant-past, Democrats were trying to distance themselves from organized labor and instead promote a more free-market style economics, albeit with some caveats (that were largely acceptable to the business community). It was Bill Clinton and his team of economic advisers that passed NAFTA, after all. But the Democratic Party has unfortunately taken a hard tack to the left on labor and economic issues over the last 8 years. Asking the Chamber to sit out the election when there is an issue like EFCA that will impact their members so profoundly is akin to political malpractice. It’s somewhat galling that Senator Schumer would even ask. The major flaw with the WSJ story though is their description of card check as a process that would “streamline” the election process. I guess that’s technically right, but streamline usually means changing something in a way that makes it more efficient without losing fundamental fairness. Card check and EFCA go way beyond “streamlining” — it’s a wholesale, one-sided, change of well-established labor law. It should not be masked.

INK Newsletter

APPROACHABILITY MINUTE

GET OUR RETENTION TOOLKIT

PUBLICATIONS

Archives

Categories