Monday, December 16, 2019

RECLAIMING AMERICA: Sticking with the Union


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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