Business girds for push by unions on Obama win Wed Nov 5, 2008 6:08pm EST By Kevin Drawbaugh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Organized labor strongly supported Democrat Barack Obama and soon after he moves into the White House, the U.S. president-elect can expect a knock on the door from union leaders seeking to call in their chits.
Corporate America is bracing for a bold offensive from labor early in 2009, led off most likely by a renewed push in Congress to pass legislation, fiercely opposed by business, that would make it easier to organize unions in the workplace.
Big retailers are high on the list of companies facing heightened unionization risk, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Home Depot Inc, Lowe's Cos Inc, Target Corp and Macy's Inc, analysts said.
"You'll see an all-out battle at Wal-Mart" by labor, said attorney Richard Hankins, who leads the labor and employment practice at the law firm of Kilpatrick Stockton.
The legislation -- known as the Employee Free Choice Act, or the "card check" bill -- would let unions be certified once a majority of employees sign union authorization cards.
Forming a union now requires a majority of employees to vote in a government-supervised, secret-ballot election.
The bill would additionally set timelines for first contracts between unions and employees, and raise fines on employers that violate employees' rights to unionize.
Unions say the bill would enhance employees' rights to form a union, while companies complain it would take away employees' rights to cast a confidential vote on whether to unionize.
An executive at Wal-Mart, which has kept its U.S. stores union-free, told analysts last month the company was concerned about what it called the "Employee Forced Choice Act."
The House of Representatives approved the bill in March 2007, but it stalled in the narrowly split Senate. On Tuesday, Democrats increased their majorities in both chambers.
Mike Asensio, a attorney who heads the labor relations practice team at the law firm of Baker Hostetler, said there probably will be enough votes in the Senate to withstand a filibuster and get some form of the legislation passed.
"Labor has been fighting for 14 years through political contributions to have a voice .. . They now have a Democrat in the White House who will sign labor reform," he said.
House Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, a California Democrat, said on Wednesday that Democrats in the next Congress "will fight to restore workers' rights."
In the face of a gradual, long-term decline in U.S. union membership, unions often point to a December 2006 national survey by Peter Hart Research indicating that 53 percent of U.S. workers would join a union if they could.
One main reason more people don't join unions is that the system for establishing them allows employers to intimidate and discourage organizing, unions say.
One high-profile target of the Teamsters union under the "card check" bill would likely be organizing contractors at FedEx Ground, a unit of package delivery giant FedEx Corp. Teamsters representatives declined to comment.
A FedEx spokesman said company looks forward to "working closely with President-elect Obama and his administration." He added the company opposes the card check bill as now drafted.
Unlike its main rival United Parcel Service Inc, whose workers are represented by the Teamsters, FedEx has long resisted attempts to unionize its hourly workers.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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Salvatore
November 6, 2008, 12:20pm
Guest User
now you people wat to bash the working man? You should all be jailed over there for this hatefullness I am sick of it
Yes, I can't wait. Unions give the competitive edge to American companies, and their ability to compete in global markets. You just have to take a look at GM and Ford profit numbers. They are doing real well against their foreign non-union competition like Toyota and Honda. Unionize everything, it's good for America.
The unions just may have their place. I just don't know where it is as of yet. But what good did the unions do for all of the auto workers out of work? The union clearly did nothing to secure GE jobs in Schenectady. And they clearly aren't securing jobs for the autoworkers. Sure, they made good bucks and benefits while the pickin's were good. But now they are in the unemployment line. The unions just got greedy and just greedy enough to have the union employees lose their jobs.
The unions are killing us!!!!! And NYS is a prime example!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I'm a retired lifetime member of a union, All the union ever worried about was getting their union dues every week out of our checks. When it came to helping us solve real problems the union could never help us out. The unions have just become another organization to separate us from our money.
Big retailers are high on the list of companies facing heightened unionization risk, including Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Home Depot Inc, Lowe's Cos Inc, Target Corp and Macy's Inc, analysts said.
yeah just look at Detroit rock city.....it is ready to hit rock bottom......where is the union parachute????? oh, my mistake it has a bunch of holes and the patches are ripping open......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
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