LaborTalk for November 3, 2010

Republicans Gain Control of the House;
G.O.P. Plans to Launch Attacks on Labor

By Harry Kelber


The nation’s voters, angry and frustrated at the failure of President Obama and the Democrats in Congress to solve their persistent economic problems, gave the Republicans control of the House of Representatives. In the wave of popular discontent, as many as 60 long-term, well-known Democrats were swept out of office, defeated by candidates with relatively little political experience

In the U.S. Senate, the Republicans gained at least six seats, but not enough to capture control of the upper house. Harry Reid, the Democratic Majority Leader, won a tightly-fought race in Nevada, but Democrats may have difficulty in holding enough Senators to block the threat of Republican filibusters.

The biggest loser in this midterm election was the U.S. labor movement. Despite spending an estimated $200 million and organizing its best political campaign ever, the AFL-CIO was not as effective as in the 2008 national elections, because many of its members were part of the angry protest movement.

It was now clear that the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), for which the AFL-CIO had campaigned for more than three years as its top priority, was virtually dead. The Federation had repeatedly said that it could not organize millions of workers into unions unless Congress passed EFCA, with its “card check“ feature. Without EFCA, what was the AFL-CIO going to do about organizing new members? Or was it reconciled to a diminishing membership and less political influence?

The morning after the election, AFL-CIO President Trumka advised Democrats and President Obama “to do what we’re going to, because beginning today, we’re going to have three priorities: jobs, jobs and more jobs.” Hasn’t the AFL-CIO been talking about jobs throughout the economic crisis? What does Trumka propose that’s different? More talking about jobs?

Republicans Plan to Declare War on Organized Labor

An important goal of Republicans is to cripple the AFL-CIO’s political influence, because the Federation remains a powerful obstacle to corporate domination of the government. The legislation the G.O.P. will be pushing is to bar unions from spending their members’ dues on politics unless the members first “opted in.” Under such a proposed law, a union would require written permission from each member, before spending his or her dues money on politics. And written permission would have to be repeated annually.

If this legislation were passed, it would cost a union millions of dollars to comply, not counting the staff and resources it would require.. Clearly, unions would be unable to participate in the political arena with any degree of effectiveness.

The Republicans hope to eliminate the Davis-Bacon Act, a 70-year old law that protects construction workers’ ability to command prevailing wages on government building projects, even if they are not unionized. The G.O. P. is also planning to attack Public Labor Agreements (PLA), which ensure union hiring on federally-funded projects.

John Kline, a Minnesota Republican congressman, is chief sponsor of the Secret Ballot Protection Act that would bar employers from agreeing to unionization through “card check,” under which a union is certified if a majority of workers in a plant sign its authorization cards. That, Kline believes, should stifle union organizing campaigns.

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On November 9, the AFL-CIO Executive Council will meet in Washington to consider what policies the Federation should pursue in light of the midterm election results. Will the Council come up with a plan to organize many of the nation’s major corporations? Will it adopt a plan for fighting the outsourcing of good American jobs? What actions will it take to create government jobs, instead of just talking about them? Will the Council break away from Trumka’s policy of silence and secrecy, and inspire the AFL-CIO rank-and-file to participate in a campaign to defend our unions?

We are facing a crisis of leadership. The AFL-CIO has lost hundreds of thousands of members during the recession. Its very survival is now endangered because its leaders have not shown they know how to respond meaningfully to current problems facing working families. It does not help that far too many union members have become indifferent and inactive in their unions.

During the Great Depression, union members managed to recruit millions of workers into labor organizations and build an extraordinary record of legislative achievements that still benefit today’s workers.

They set an example for us. Do we have the courage, skill and determination to emulate them? Let’s see if we do.—Harry Kelber

LaborTalk will be posted here on November 9, 2010 and on our two web sites: (www.laboreducator.org) and (www.laborsvoiceforchange.org).