LONG WAY HOME: DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA
REBUILD
THE UNIONS
By
Jack Random
“You can’t scare me; I’m sticking with union.”
From
Union Maid by Woody Guthrie
Unions are to
the economic system what elections are to the political system. Without a strong union presence, there is no
counterbalance to the multi-national corporations. When corporations have dominant power they
use it not only to destroy unions and establish a system where workers exist at
the mercy of their employers but also to control the political system through
financial contributions.
There was a
time when unions posed a viable threat to corporate dominance of our democratic
process. There was a time when union
membership and organizational power could almost rival the power of industry
and other financial interests. That
time, however, has long receded into the dusty pages of forgotten history.
One of many broken promises of the Obama administration
was his failure to pass legislation that would protect the right of unions to
organize in the workplace against an onslaught of union-killing statewide
“right to work” laws. In the history of
organized labor, never has there been a more effective weapon against
unions. The so-called Right to Work
mandate is really the right to work in a union shop without joining the
union. It is the right to benefit from
union membership without having to pay union dues. If you don’t have to join the union to gain
the benefits, why would you? From a
purely self-interest perspective, only suckers would join the union. In other word, the “right to work” is the
right to freeload on the backs of union members.
At last count
there are 27 states that have enacted such legislation. They are predominantly red states but include
some purple states like Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Virginia
and Nevada. They also include states
that are moving in a more progressive direction like Georgia and Tennessee.
In August
voters in Missouri rejected a Right to Work law passed by the Republican
legislature with a resounding 67.5% of the vote. Missouri became the first state to overturn a
Right to Work law by referendum.
The fact that
RTW lost in a traditional red state by such an overwhelming margin suggests
that when the issues are effectively explained, the people will vote them
down. It also suggests that the tide is
turning on anti-union sentiment and that labor rights, including the right to
organize, are potentially powerful issues to bring before the electorate in
2020 and beyond.
Why should
voters choose to ban Right to Work laws?
Most recent statistics suggest that workers in RTW states earn at least
three percent less that workers in other states. That is a margin that will only increase when
a union movement gathers strength and builds momentum. At present only an estimate 10.5% percent of
workers nationwide belong to a union compared to approximately 20.1% in
1983. The rate of union representation
is 6.5% in RTW states and 13.9% in non RTW states.
Clearly, where
the right to organize is upheld and Right to Work laws are struck down, union
membership, wages and benefits go up.
Corporate interests have invested great sums promoting misinformation to
pass RTW laws with great success. That
success is at least partly due to the absence of labor rights as a real force
in major party politics.
There was a
time when unions represented nearly one third of the American workforce. The year was 1964 and unions were a viable
threat to corporate interests in both electing our public officials and
investing in the legislative process on all levels. Since then union representation has been in
steady decline and union influence has declined accordingly.
The fact is,
despite repeated claims by the corporate right, unions have never been a
proportionate counterbalance to industry and financial institutions but at
least they were a presence. When
combined with their representation of workers and an effective
turn-out-the-vote operation they could often tip an election.
The truth is
if we had reasonable restrictions on money in politics we would not need to
rebuild the union movement. Without
corporate money both our democratic institutions and organized labor would
thrive. But corporate money has so
polluted the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government that we
need strong unions just to fight back.
Increasingly
conservative and corporate courts, including the Supreme Court in Janus vs.
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, have upheld a
state’s right to enforce RTW and other anti-labor laws, leaving action by
congress and enforcement by the executive branch as the only viable remedy.
The Protecting
the Right to Organize Act would not only reinvigorate a union movement, it
would put an end to a decades-long avalanche of anti-labor legislation. Former president Barack Obama promised to
push through the act in his reelection campaign but he never got around to
doing it. He never really tried. His failure points out the futility of
repeatedly nominating corporate moderates as Democratic candidates for
president. However else we may feel
about them, they inevitably abandon significant pro-labor change in favor of
corporate friendly compromise. They pay
lip service to labor, environment and income inequality but they fail to
deliver lasting change.
Until the
people demand real and systemic change, we will get more and more of the
same. Until workers stand up for the
union, employers will rule the day.
Until we stand together both in the workplace and at the ballot box, we
will slip further and further behind.
The income disparity between the CEO and the lowly worker will only
increase. The protections of labor and
the benefits extended from the generosity of employers will only erode.
There is a
reason organized labor has always stood for democratic reform. There is a reason organized labor fails to
take root in non-democratic nations.
Labor and democracy go hand in hand and each must stand for the other or
both will fall.
“Right-to-work
is wrong for Missouri.” By Janelle Jones
and Heidi Shierholz. Economic Policy
Institute, July 10, 2018.
“Right to Work
States Still Have Lower Wages.” By Elise
Gould and Will Kimball. Economic Policy
Institute, April 22, 2015.
“The Workplace
Legacy of Barack Obama.” By Michelle V.
Rafter. Workforce, January 17,
2017.
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