We Must Demand a Meeting with Bush
To Discuss Violations of Worker Rights

American labor leaders should insist on a meeting with President Bush at the White House to have him explain why he is so dead-set about denying millions of workers the right to join a union, while he constantly lectures other countries about violations of freedom and democracy.

In his six years as president, George W. Bush has shown a strong bias in favor of Big Business and the rich, promoting tax cuts and other lavish benefits that have increased their wealth and influence at the expense of working people. He has used his executive powers to weaken the ability of unions to organize and negotiate contracts, so that wages have remained largely stagnant while corporate profits have soared.

Bush has loaded the National Labor Relations Board with Republican, pro-business appointees. His Labor Department secretary, Elaine Chao, persists in efforts to harass and undermine unions. And Bush can be counted on to side with employers in any major labor-management dispute. A U.S. president has an obligation to serve all Americans in a fair, even-handed manner, but Bush obviously disagrees.

His deep-seated hostility toward unions and pro-worker legislation is revealed in his contemptible behavior toward labor’s campaign for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. Polls show that the public approves of the legislation. The House has already passed the measure and a majority of the Senate appeared ready to vote for it, when Bush publicly announced that he would veto the measure if it ever came to his desk.

Since it was public knowledge that Congress could not muster the two-thirds majority to override the veto, Bush had single-handedly derailed Employee Free Choice until after the 2008 election, when he would have to vacate the White House, Bush’s advance notice of his intention to use the veto was designed to demoralize EFCA supporters with its message that the legislation was doomed, at least until after the 2008 election.

Bush Must Be Compelled to Justify His Anti-Union Behavior

Unfortunately, neither the AFL-CIO nor Change to Win have sought to challenge Bush’s fatal interference. Instead, they have urged union members to continue to send e-mails to their representatives in Congress. After nearly a year of e-mailing, that strategy is outdated and has lost whatever potency it once had. What is needed is a face-to-face dialogue with Bush, demanding that he justify the veto, which is nothing more than a pre-emptive action to kill Employee Free Choice.

Bush has had a contemptuous attitude toward American labor leaders, despite the 16 million workers they represent. He hasn’t ever consulted them on issues of critical importance to working families. He hasn’t invited them to the White House for a social event or even a cup of coffee. This is in sharp contrast with two previous Republican presidents, Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon, each of whom appointed a well-known labor leader as Secretary of Labor.

By forcefully challenging Bush’s veto threat and exposing its true nature, the fight for the Employee Free Choice Act can advance to a new level. Bush’s political power has been significantly diminished since the 2006 elections.

There may still be time to enact Employee Free Choice in 2007 if we can force Bush to withdraw his veto threat. Let’s go for it!

Our two weekly columns and their archives (LaborTalk and The World of Labor) can be viewed and downloaded at our website: www.laboreducator.org.