And You Would Belong to the Union Why?

This got some play on a radio show yesterday, so I thought I would mention it again. The SEIU, the Service Employees International Union, is being struck by the union that has organized the workers of the SEIU. Say what?? Yes, that is true. the Union of Union Representatives has filed unfair labor practice charges against the SEIU, according to the Washington Post article, which said "The workers union's leaders say that the SEIU is engaging in the same kind of practices that some businesses use: laying off workers without proper notice, contracting out work to temporary-staffing firms, banning union activities and reclassifying workers to reduce union numbers." The quoted a union official ""It's completely hypocritical," said Malcolm Harris, president of the workers union. "This is the union that's been at the forefront of progressive issues, around ensuring that working people and working families are taken care of, but when it comes to the people that work for SEIU, they haven't set the same standards."

The article further quoted Harris saying "... his union's understanding is that the layoffs are the result of budget troubles faced by the SEIU, which, on top of the California dispute, spent $80 million during the 2008 election and is planning to spend tens of millions more to advocate on behalf of Obama's health-care plan and card check." The article also mentioned that "Fewer than half of the workers at SEIU chapters are unionized, and Harris's union's contract with SEIU forbids it from trying to help organize SEIU employees in local chapters."

My first question is, if the SEIU is so great why is it necessary to have their workers represented by another union?? My next question is, why would anyone want to be represented by a union who mistreats its own workers? The SEIU seems to be more about making Andy Stern a powerful man as opposed to making things better for workers. He is on a power grab, waging war on other unions. But it seems that his "better world" may be falling apart on him. Some of the unions that broke away from the AFL-CIO following the SEIU have gone back or are considering so. Regardless, any company being organized by the SEIU certainly needs to use this example of how the SEIU treats its own workers as a picture of what the world really looks like.

Employee Free Choice Act AGAIN: If You Are Not Scared Now You Should Be!

There has been some increased exposure to the Employee Free Choice Act (note: bill proposers are good at calling something it isn't. Paycheck Fairness is the same way) because WalMart made the news talking to employees about it. The Wall Street Journal wrote about it (see here) and I have exerpted this paragraph that puts it in a nutshell for HR managers and businesses.

"The bill was crafted by labor as a response to more aggressive opposition by companies to union-organizing activity. The AFL-CIO and individual unions such as the United Food and Commercial Workers have promised to make passage of the new labor law their No. 1 mission after the November election.........Both supporters and opponents of the Employee Free Choice Act believe it would simplify and speed labor's ability to unionize companies. Currently, companies can demand a secret-ballot election to determine union representation. Those elections often are preceded by months of strident employer and union campaigns.

Under the proposed legislation, companies could no longer have the right to insist on one secret ballot. Instead, the Free Choice, or "card check," legislation would let unions form if more than 50% of workers simply sign a card saying they want to join. It is far easier for unions to get workers to sign cards because the organizers can approach workers repeatedly, over a period of weeks or months, until the union garners enough support."

If you are in HR or run a business and that doesn't scare you, then you need a wake-up call.

Update on Crummy Tactics

After I wrote yesterday's post about the picketers outside my window I came across this article entitled Carpenters Union Hires Stand-Ins for Picket Lines. There was a good reason all these picketers look like homeless people, they are! They go by, pick them up, pay them $8 per hour then drop them off again.

Pretty low-life way of conducting a labor dispute. How do hardworking carpenters feel about being represented in that manner? I would not be too happy if I were one.

Crummy Union Tactics

I live in an apartment near an office building in the Atlanta area. For about the past three weeks there have been picketers everyday at the office building. They are protesting, as best I can figure out, an attempt to not pay carpenters an increasing wage and something about lowering area standards. All well and good you say, that is their right. The problem with this group of protesters however is that I don't believe there is a single carpenter among them. They arrive on a carpenter union bus, carrying signs that look many years old, they walk in circles, yelling, whistling, banging on buckets and raising their signs in the air. There is no indication who they are picketing (kinda hard to influence decisionmakers if you have no idea who they are.) Looking at the group closely it looks like the union has rounded up a bunch of homeless people and have given them jobs picketing. I would wager they are not even members of the union, let alone bonafide carpenters.

Further down the street at an actual construction site is another protest. Two guys standing by a banner that says "Labor Protest. Shame on So and So". No union identification, no company identification, just a person's name. And the material they used, the banner, the PVC holder and even the wording is identical to another I saw about 20 miles away. BUT, that sign had a different person's name on it. I don't get what they are protesting, who they are protesting against or what they want.

So are either of these protests being successful? I don't see how. There is not enough information to raise the general public's interest or knowledge. If I were sympathetic how would I know who to pressure or influence? Instead they are a nosy nuisance. Their appearance does not say much for them. I certainly would not want any of them working on my place. So I don't understand what these operations are trying to gain. And I think it is pretty underhanded to have stand-ins.

Just a thought.