Would someone please be kind enough to explain a union issue to me?

[Zavulon]

I've been meaning to ask this for a while, and finally the UAW thing has motivated me to do so.

Before I ask, I a.) have to point out that I've never been a member if a union and know nothing about union issues other than whatever the media chooses to report about them and b.) apologize for my ignorance. I just figure I can get a better answer from you than I can from the Dittoheads at work.

So, here goes: what exactly is this secret ballot thing, what I keep hearing referred to as the "card check" bill? Would it actually eliminate secret ballots, and if so why is that a good thing? What are the Dittoheads failing to mention about it? To hear them talk, it would lead to oversized gorillas coming to your house at midnight to force you to vote for something they want, and based on their track record I chose to get an explanation somewhere else.

Thanks in advance to anyone who doesn't mind bringing me up to speed on this one.

[Daphne08]

1. This site can explain it better than I can.

Employee Free Choice Act

http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/employee-free-choice-act/home-102/

[spoony]

3. Lol, we have good taste in sites.

:)

[Daphne08]

7. Yes, we do.

:)

[Zavulon]

5. Much appreciated.

I could have looked it up myself if I had known the name of the bill, but I didn't. I told you I was ignorant about this.

Thanks :) :hi:

[AndyTiedye]

6. Will the EFCA Preempt State "Right-to-Work" Laws?

[spoony]

2. The part that has to do with elections

is called majority sign-up and this probably explains its benefits better than I could:

http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/employee-free-choice-act/resource-library/secret-ballots-arent-enough.html

http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/employee-free-choice-act/resource-library/why-majority-sign-up-is-needed.html

There's lots of good clicking at that site. Hope it helps.

[Zavulon]

4. Thanks. I didn't even know what the act was called.

I knew I'd find someone that could point me in the right direction. Cheers.

[aquart]

8. Jaw on floor.

Well, okay, at least you admit the ignorance. I hope you are very very young. Otherwise I can't find an excuse for not knowing labor history.

<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=union+issues&btnG=Search>

<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=labor+union+history&btnG=Search>

<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ILGWU++history&btnG=Search>

<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Triangle+Shirtwaist+fire&btnG=Search>

In 1875 it was easy to identify a railroad man. It was the man without ten fingers. Because the railroads wouldn't buy a 15-cent device that would keep the men's fingers from being crushed.

I suggest renting John Sayle's Matewan. And remember, they pretty it up for the movies.

I have a friend who believes the unions may have been necessary before, but they aren't now because we have all these laws on the books now. (Disappear the unions, see how long those laws are enforced...or exist.) As for how we got those laws, in the 1870s, business responded to a crunch by cutting workers' pay, not company profits, so that a man could work ten hours a day six days a week without earning enough to feed himself, let alone his family. The nation rebelled from sea to shining sea and you never heard a word about it in your classroom. But after the bloodshed, we got a few laws.

I'm glad you've come here with this. Confess it in other places and people will simply take you for a fool. Unless you are very, very, very young.


Signed, A Proud Granddaughter of the ILGWU

[Zavulon]

10. I'm not very, very, very young at all.

I'm also a relative newcomer to taking politics seriously, I started 16 years ago (I'm 45). I've just had no direct contact with unions whatsoever, and figured this was the best place to ask. I appreciate your help, really. Thanks for the links.

[readmoreoften]

9. The management hires people to pose as workers and stuffs the ballot against the union.

SImply put. It happened at NYU. The university president, deans, and trustees used all sorts of union busting tactics.

[Zavulon]

11. Thanks.

This doesn't surprise me, although I had never heard of the NYU case, Actually, the only constant union topic I see in the papers has to do with Wal-Mart, so you can see why I chose to finally admit ignorance and ask.

[readmoreoften]

12. One of the reasons that you didn't hear about it...

is that university trustees like Mort Zuckerman owned controlling media shares in news conglomerates. The AP said we made $50K a year. We were fighting for them to honor our contract of $20K a year. The other "k" was in benefits, some that were useless to many of the workers. (For example, tuition remission, spouse benefits, etc.)

[Zavulon]

13. Ugh.

I may be behind the curve on this issue, but I'm learning a lot today.

Tuition remission? Groan.

[readmoreoften]

14. Imagine how fun it was...

when I was fired, promoted to faculty, reduced to earning $4K a semester without benefits, stuck in a matriculated program, and coming to class with a briefcase held together with silver duct tape and unwashed clothes. When my division decided that instructors had to stop using up the university toner by making photocopies for students (if you want to make photocopies beyond original course packets, you'll have to pay for them yourself...) I had to beg to print 30 copies of an important article because if I had to pay for it, I wouldn't be able to afford to eat that day. Another adjunct I knew was living on peanut butter.