AFL-CIO head says wage inequality demands labor law reform
By Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published August 26, 2008 at 11:36 a.m.
Updated August 26, 2008 at 11:36 a.m.
COLORADO CONVENTION CENTER - AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said the growing pay gap between CEOs and workers can be tied directly to the increasing difficulty in workers' ability to form unions.
In an interview after delivering remarks at the Colorado Convention Center, Sweeney said his labor federation would again push for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would offer protections for U.S. workers who face employer intimidation or firing during union organizing campaigns.
Unions represent a much smaller percentage of workers than they did in their heyday in the 1970s. And Sweeney blames income inequality on workers' relative lack of collective bargaining power.
The Employee Free Choice legislation, opposed by most businesses, would also allow workers to choose whether they want to hold secret ballot elections or sign up workers through "card check" campaigns. Once workers decide to organize, it would also require employers and employees to agree on an initial contract within three months, putting an end to the delays that Sweeney and others say currently make it difficult to form a union in less than a few years' time.
"The employers who are opposing it don't want workers to have an easier way to join a union," said Sweeney, who will address delegates this evening from the podium at the Democratic National Convention.
Sen. Barack Obama has pledged to make the legislation a priority if elected to the White House. He co-sponsored it in the Senate but the bill only passed through the U.S. House.
Sweeney acknowledged that "to achieve the legislation we need to be stronger politically."
But he also said union members have become energized about the political process this year and he predicted they would turn out in greater numbers at the polls this fall.
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August 27, 2008
9:23 a.m.
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cathy.hall writes:
---"The employers who are opposing it don't want workers to have an easier way to join a union," said Sweeney, who will address delegates this evening from the podium at the Democratic National Convention. ---
Amazing bit of writing here, Joanne. Unfathomable that a business wouldn't want their shop unionized, considering unions habit of driving business and productivity in the ground (steel? autos? anyone?), demanding higher wages despite company perfomance and/or current economic conditions, and the fact that Unions have dropped to under 8% of the private workforce.
And why is that? Because they do not reward the most innovative or hard working of the workforce. Rather they reward those with the longest tenure or tightest ties to their union steward or local. Unions are outdated and anti-capitalist.
The Employee Free Choice Act is a Big Labor power grab, and of course the Dems support it, b/c the Dems recieve 97% of Union political donations. They plan to do this by removing private ballot elections from the unionization process, and streamlining the ability to unionize to a laughable extent. Mark Udall supports this bill, and until he pledges to work against it, I will not give him my vote.
August 27, 2008
10:09 a.m.
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brad.lowe writes:
AFL-CIO head Sweeney says that labor needs to be more powerful politically? I sure hope not, with only 7% or so of workers being in unions. That is not a big voting block. Should this legislation pass, which definitely sounds fishy with the secret ballot thing, it will be clear the Mark Udall and the rest of the Dems are in the pockets of the Unions...
August 27, 2008
10:09 a.m.
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Ian74 writes:
So glad to see that the Rocky is finally covering this controversial issue. It is definitely going to be one of the most important issues of this election cycle, primarily in the US Senate race. And I have to agree with Cathy that I will not support Mark Udall’s senatorial bid, merely based on this one issue. Colorado workers deserve the right to vote privately on unionization. If Udall is going to take that away from me, than I am going to take my vote away from him.