NLRB Judge Finally Gets Around to Ruling on 2007 Case

Here’s a sad illustration of how dysfunctional federal labor relations regulations are in this country, and how badly we need the Employee Free Choice Act, a wholesale reform of federal labor law.

Blast from the past: back in 2007, the UFCW filed a complaint against Foster Farms with the National Labor Relations Board for illegally influencing workers at a California plant who wanted to join a union. And now, 3 years later, an NLRB administrative judge has ruled that Foster Farms did in fact violate federal labor laws at its Porterville plant. Administrative Law Judge Gerald A. Wacknov ruled that the company promised workers improved benefits in "an effort to diminish" support for unionization.

The decision is of course a victory, however symbolic, for workers who were deceived and mistreated throughout the course of the organizing drive, and it will help them take the next step in scheduling another election. But the real story here is the one that others seem to be overlooking: the NLRB took three years to issue its first ruling one that can and most likely will be appealed several times, amounting to more years of delay on this simple, relatively small-scale complaint. The Porterville case was a pretty straightforward example of employer misconduct during an organizing campaign; Foster farms tried to ramp up benefits at its non-union plant to make workers think they didn’t need a union. Management actually told workers they’d have better pay and benefits if they remained non-union. What’s more, in 2008, the NLRB ruled that the failed 2007 election had been a sham, finding the company guilty of not translating sample ballots into Spanish and Laotian, languages spoken by many of the workers at the plant.

So why the delay on this case? And, while were at it, why such a light punishment for Foster Farms? The company broke federal law, intimidated and misled workers, and took advantage of language barriers, all to keep just 400 workers from unionizing. That’s pretty deviant behavior, but the company is barely getting a slap on the wrist. Judge Wacknov instructed Foster Farms not to repeat its behavior, and is requiring that it post information about the case in public areas, so workers can learn about the violation. I wonder if Judge Wacknov thought to remind the company to post that information in languages other than English.The sad state of affairs at the NLRB is just more painful evidence of why we need to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. The way things are now, companies know they can break the law without consequence. Imagine if other federal laws were so selectively enforced. Interstate drug trafficking? No biggie. Free speech? Eh, overrated. Counterfeiting? *Yawn*.

America’s workforce deserves better.

Norquist's New Game: More Corporate than the Kool-Aid Man?

Those of you as old as I am might remember, in the eighties, when a particularly lame product placement for Kool-Aid was released in a deal with General Foods for the Intellivision and Atari. This "game" involved guiding pairs of children around a haunted house trying to gather the ingredients to make Kool-Aid and avoid the "Thirsties." Eventually, the Kool-Aid Man appears and kicks the crap out of the Thirsties, which is the only (kind of) cool part of the game. Pretty lame, huh?

But surpassing even that lame-fest is the new "game" that Grover Norquist's group, Americans for Tax Reform, has released online. It's an anti-majority-sign up game that features, according to Politico:

a tattoo artist who faces several attempts by union organizers to get you to sign the card, including visiting you at home, vandalizing your car, threatening your cat, and even offering you marijuana.

AFL-CIO's Eddie Vale says of the "game":

As anyone who actually grew up playing Atari or Nintendo will know, calling this a video game is as accurate as their lies about the Employee Free Choice Act, which would help grow the middle class and make the economy work for everyone again.

Even Reason, normally a Norquist-friendly zone, has a post on their blog mocking the game:

But so what if it's not Grand Theft Auto IV? It's still fun, kind of, at least if you like cheesy Flash-animated stereotypes spouting absurdisms, Z-movie dialog, and out-of-date slang. Over the course of the game, you'll meet union thugs who promise voice-over gigs on the Simpsons, a tie-die wearing longhair who specializes in tattoos depicting "peace signs, rainbows, and other unoriginal and conformist hippie symbols," and a Fonzie-like neogreaser in a black leather jacket who actually uses the phrase "pretty sketch" to describe some union thugs lingering in a parking lot. The best part, however, is that if you play long enough, you can get high! But then those tricky union bullies will take advantage of you.

I think maybe you'd have more fun fighting off Thirsties.

Rep. Don Young: Defender of Employee Free Choice?

Well, well. Representative Don Young (R-Alaska) has come out in defense of the Employee Free Choice Act. And no, you didn't just read that wrong. As Greg Sargent notes:

GOP Rep Don Young isn’t exactly known for his reluctance to toe the Republican line on key issues. So it’s kind of a big deal that he has openly broken with his colleagues when it comes to their leading talking point against the Employee Free Choice Act: The claim that it would eliminate the “secret ballot” option for joining unions.

The Anchorage Daily News reports that Young made the comments at a gathering of "Alaskans for Liberty" last Thursday. Apparently, after the outspoken Republican was asked about "card check legislation," Young said this:

I believe in unions. I believe in working people. They say the secret ballot is eliminated. That's not true. A secret ballot can be requested.

So there you have it, folks. Even Rep. Don Young says the "no secret ballot" argument is bunk.

Chamber of Horrors...eeeeek!!!!!! (w/Video)

Say two workers met on the street and just happened to discuss the Chamber of Commerce's totally intimidating new efforts to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act. We think that conversation might go a little like this...

Artists Support Employee Free Choice (w/video)

Broadway talent, TV stars, movie stars and other artists--forty seven of them--have just released a new video in support of the Employee Free Choice Act. People don't always realize that most artists are also union members, and that unions are the reason those working in showbiz can support a family and pay the bills.

Check out the great video and be sure to spread the word.

NEW VIDEO: Walmart Workers for Change

Walmart Workers for Change, a new campaign of thousands of Walmart’s 1.3 million associates across the country who are standing up and demanding a voice in the workplace, released a new video today that show the kind of anti-worker tactics they are facing from the world’s largest retailer. "The associates are afraid," said Cynthia Murray, a Walmart associate in Laurel, Maryland:

They’re intimidated, and they are afraid. My family and other families have paid the price for freedom. And when you tell me I can’t talk about a union, you’re taking my freedom from me.

Workers in more than 100 stores in 15 states across the country have joined together and signed union representation cards, citing a lack of respect from the company, as well as poverty-level wages and sub-par benefits as reasons they need a union voice on the job. Even though Walmart’s got a long and well-documented history of anti-worker activities, workers say they Obama's election has inspired them to take action, as has the introduction of the Employee Free Choice Act in Congress. The campaign comes at a time when workers find their wages have stagnated, even as Walmart and the Walton family continue to make record profits. Walmart’s recently released 2009 10K shows the company made $13.4 billion in profits last year. In the new video, which can be viewed at http://www.walmartworkersforchange.org/index.php/pages/articles/walmarts_war_on_workers, 10 workers from coast to coast detail the company’s response to their organizing efforts, including:

Dominique Sloane and Mark Moore, of Dallas, Texas, were told that their store would be closed if workers voted to organize. In Miami, Florida, Cheryl Guzman was interrogated by a manager about who among her colleagues supported a union. Linda Haluska, of Glendale, Illinois, was called into four mandatory meetings in one week, where she and her colleagues were shown anti-union, anti-Employee Free Choice videos.

Walmart Workers for Change is a new campaign made up of thousands of Walmart workers joining together to form a union and negotiate better benefits, higher wages, and more opportunity for a better future.

Workers rally for Employee Free Choice

Here's some video from yesterday's rally for Employee Free Choice:


Rep. George Miller (D-CA) addresses crowd rallying for Employee Free Choice from UFCW on Vimeo.

[Blooper alert: Someone knocks the camera out of my hands midway through the clip. were all very excited.]

You can also check out photos from the event below:

A Secretary of Labor Who'll Work for Workers

Working people finally have a fighter in their corner, with Hilda Solis almost certain to be confirmed as the next Secretary of Labor. The California Congresswoman has been a loyal champion for working families, fighting for the rights, interest, and safety of all workers—both immigrant and native-born. Solis has, as Marie Cocco puts it, “a record of unstinting loyalty to those who work and want to work, and who wish to receive in exchange a decent wage and a measure of dignity.”

As the child of immigrants and the first to attend college in her family, she knows how important it is that everyone who works hard in America has the opportunity to achieve the American Dream. She understands that all workers make hard choices and tremendous sacrifices in order to support their families and build a better future, and that it’s the interests and lives of these working people that should be at the heart of any reform of our immigration laws.

That’s why we’re confident that Solis will continue to support meaningful immigration reform, and will oppose unproductive and devastating workplace raids like those the Bush administration used to camouflage the cracks in our broken immigration system. A Los Angeles Times Article pointed out:

Immigrant activists revitalized the American labor movement in the final decades
of the 20th century. Solis, 51, has strong ties to that movement.

Certainly, her record of work for UFCW members alone is proof positive that she doesn’t just talk the talk. She’s a veteran when it comes to walking the walk for workers. Solis applauded President Hansen and the UFCW for exposing the detrimental impacts of workplace immigration raids. Her own background as the daughter of a union shop steward from Mexico and an assembly line worker from Nicaragua has led her to speak out on the immigration issue and stand up for all working families, even against powerful interest groups and big business.

Congresswoman Solis has proven, time and time again, that she puts the interests of all working people, both immigrant and native-born first—and there is no doubt she will continue to do so as Secretary of Labor. As President-elect Obama said, “Under her leadership, I am confident that the Department of Labor will once again stand up for working families.”

We at the UFCW agree, and urge that she be confirmed to the position that she is so eminently qualified for. It’s about time we had a Secretary of Labor who works for all workers.

Price Rite Worker Speaks Out on the Need for Employee Free Choice

Today, a PriceRite worker involved in the UFCW’s PriceRite campaign spoke out about the need for Employee Free Choice at a press briefing held at the National Press Club. Representatives from the UFCW, as well as the nation’s top workers’ rights groups, labor experts, and progressive leaders laid out the case for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.

“The company has made people afraid that they’ll lose their jobs when the union comes in,” said PriceRite worker Joe Sorrentino. He spoke about how the company has intimidated workers who support the union, by telling them that their store will close if they vote for a union, spying on them, sending out letters and even calling the police to arrest organizers who are legally handing out literature to the public.

Workers at PriceRite do not have a union, but many workers at another company owned/and or operated by the same parent company, Wakefern, are represented by the UFCW.

“We just want to the same fair chance to choose a union and have the same union benefits that workers at most ShopRite stores have,” said Sorrentino. “Instead, the company won’t even give us the chance to talk about the union. The Employee Free Choice Act would make it so the company couldn’t interfere with us or try to intimidate employees into voting against their own interests like they do now.”

Sorrentino emphasized the need for Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act. “To not pass Employee Free Choice,” he said, “would lead to another generation of low-paying jobs and uninsured Americans. The middle class would be a thing of the past.”

The event was organized by American Rights at Work, representing a broad coalition of labor and workers’ rights advocates, which also previewed new television ads as part of a nationwide ad campaign in support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

Power Changing Hands

The Employee Free Choice Act sounds like a pretty good solution to a lot of the problems workers face when they’re trying to form a union. So why is there so much controversy around it? Basically, the same businesses, agencies, and people who oppose EFCA, oppose unions in general. This fact alone makes it easy to see that EFCA is just another means to empower workers, and so it threatens the people who hold the power under the current system.



A few examples of who opposes EFCA

- Wal-Mart: Held meetings to try to convince their managers not to vote for Democrats, because they would pass EFCA and empower Wal-Mart workers to finally be able to form a union.

- George Bush & Dick Cheney: Never a friend of working people, Bush promised to veto EFCA if it crossed his desk.

-The Employee Freedom Action Committee: Many of the commercials on TV against EFCA are funded by this group, which was created by a lobbyist specifically to oppose EFCA. The Lobbyist, Richard Berman even admitted “All of my clients are corporations,” so we’re pretty sure he doesn’t have workers’ best interests at heart. Berman runs other organizations such as the Center for Consumer Freedom which criticizes Mothers against Drunk Driving, and the Employment Policies Institute which opposes raising the minimum wage.

- US Chamber of Commerce: The voice of business owners in America.

EFCA and 1st Contract Negotiations

“44 percent of newly-certified unions fail to get a first contract.”

But this is crazy! Isn’t the point of forming a union to be able to negotiate the conditions of your job with your employer?

Yes. But unfortunately, some employers are so desperate to hold on to the unfair division of power that they’ll continue to deny workers their basic rights of collective action, even after workers have voted for the union! As we said before, employers like this are often willing to break the law to hold onto their complete control because the price they have to pay is so small.

How does this play out? Basically:

1. Workers fight (often long and hard) to demand a union election.
2. An election takes place, and workers vote to establish a union!
3. Workers sit down at the bargaining table to work out a fair compromise with their employer.
4. The employer stalls the bargaining process.
5. If the employer manages to stall the process for an entire year without a contract, the workers have to vote all over again for or against the union. At this stage, some workers may have become intimidated by the company’s strong opposition to the bargaining procedure, and they may give up on the dream of a union in their workplace.

Ideally, once a majority of workers have spoken loud and clear that they want a union by voting for it, their employer should be willing to come to a reasonable agreement with them. But in the case that they are unwilling to have a real conversation, Employee Free Choice Act would help the process along by allowing either side to request mediation by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). This mediation service would help the negotiation process along, and prevent stalling by either party.

A Worker Tells His Story

"My name is Jose Guardado and I worked at the Nebraska Beef meatpacking plant in Omaha, Nebraska for 8 years. I worked on the kill floor where we faced more than 2,500 steers each day.

"I came to this country to follow the American dream. I thought that in the most powerful country in the world, workers were free to express themselves. I thought the laws protected workers who wanted to form a union. I was wrong. Instead, I found that when employers break every law, abuse workers and silence our voices, no one does anything to stop them.

"My co-workers and I wanted a union at work to fight back against the dangerous working conditions, the lack of respect, and abusive treatment. We all signed cards showing our support for the UFCW.

"The law wasn't enough to stop Nebraska Beef from campaigning against us. The company terrified workers from standing up for their rights. They threatened to fire union supporters, threatened to call immigration and deport the Latinos and threatened to close the plant. They promised to slow the line down and treat everyone better. Nebraska Beef even brought in a bunch of strange workers on the day of the election just to get them to vote against the union.

"Workers were scared. No one wanted to lose their job. The company won the vote by a small number. The line was sped back up and no one was given what was promised to them.

"We need this law to protect workers' rights. We need this law to help workers who want to organize."

What's Wrong with this Message?

Commercials like this one misinform people about the Employee Free Choice Act. It’s time to set the record straight!

But first, check it out and see if you can catch the faulty reasoning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afjp4Cx-3W0

These commercials lead most people to think that unions want to replace the secret ballot election with a not secret ballot election. However, unions and workers agree that “democracy is something that should never be sacrificed.”

Bear with me.

Currently, the standard way to form a union involves two major steps.

1. Majority card sign-up: Before any election takes place, a majority of workers must sign cards saying that they want an election.
2. Elections: Workers vote (yes, with a secret ballot) on whether they want a union.

Sounds fair, right? The problem though, is that during the time between Steps 1 and 2, the employers wage their anti-union war. They might force workers to watch movies that lie about the union, tell people how to vote in the election, or even fire pro-union workers. This time period can last for months or even years, so you can imagine that when the election rolls around, many of the people who signed the cards in the first place might have changed their minds. And really, if the money you need to survive is being given to you by a person (your boss) who’s telling you how to vote, is this actually democracy?

So the solution proposed by Employee Free Choice Act is to allow workers to vote for the union using the same process that is already used in Step #1. If workers want a union, they sign a card. If they don’t want a union, they don’t sign a card. Democracy is still in place here, because a majority of workers need to sign cards for the union to win. This process is the same as the one we have always used; it just gets rid of the opportunity for employers to intimidate their workers.

But if this is the same process that is already in place, why are the anti-union people presenting it as something new and scary? Because without the employer intimidation process it would easier for workers to join unions, and harder for employers to hold on to all the power! Remember, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott admitted, "We like driving the car and we're not going to give the steering wheel to anybody but us."

What Exactly is EFCA?

There’s a lot of talk about the Employee Free Choice Act these days. If you’ve heard about it in the news, you’ve probably also heard the words “secret ballot,” “majority sign-up,” or “card check.” These words are an important part of what this legislation hopes to do for workers. But there are other exciting parts of the Act as well. Here we lay out the basic idea of the Act so you can decide for yourself what you think about it.

1) The first major component of EFCA allows unions to form when the majority of workers sign cards in support of the union.

Right now unions generally start with this card signing process, but then they have an election. The main problem with this election is that it often occurs months or even years after the initial card sign-up. During this time the employers do all they can to frighten workers away from voting for the union, threatening to fire workers, or lying to them about what it would actually be like to be a union member.

2) EFCA makes it easier to resolve contract disputes between the workers and their employer.

Currently, if a company doesn’t like the demands that workers are making during contract negotiations, they might just refuse to come to any agreement. In this case, even if workers have voted overwhelmingly for a union, they might have to wait for years until they actually get any contract at all. With EFCA, there would be a fair way to resolve contract disputes.

3) EFCA increases penalties against employers who take illegal union-busting measures against workers.

It may surprise you to learn that many employers commit illegal actions or “Unfair Labor Practices” on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the current penalties for these acts are so minor, that they are basically just a slap on the wrist. For example, employers will continue to take the risk of having to pay a small fee if it means they can invent reasons to keep their employees from unionizing.

Now What?

So Barack Obama’s going to be our next president. Now we can all heave a big sigh of relief, sit back, and watch while he changes everything for the better. Right?

Not so fast.

Fox News reports that “The nation's leading business group on Thursday urged President-elect Barack Obama to devote the early days of his presidency to reviving the economy, leaving more controversial issues such as labor rights for later.”

Problem: Who makes this economy work? Workers! You can’t improve the state of the economy without improving the condition of workers!

These days, just about every week another example of economic hardship hits the press. Housing crisis, credit crunch, failing banks, and now the auto bailout! What do all of these problems have in common? They all affect workers like us, but they’re such massive problems that it seems like there’s nothing we can do about it but hope that Congress can figure out a decent solution.

But there is one thing that we as workers can do – form unions. The prosperity of America is strongly based on the prosperity of America’s middle class. America’s middle class is hurting right now, because corporate America has gotten a little carried away taking advantage of the rest of us, and the results of this behavior are finally sinking in. In order to keep corporate giants in check, we must protect our most effective tool against them, the right to organize. The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) would solve the problems that workers now face when they are trying to form a union on the job. Obama’s support of workers' rights was a key reason his campaign was successful. We need to continue to show our support for workers' choice to help it push past opposition in Congress. Over the next few weeks we’ll be blogging more in depth about the Employee Free Choice Act to let you know what it’s all about.

Your New Job!

"They were telling me How to Vote"

Recently, Wal-Mart has denied holding secret meetings with its department and store managers about the upcoming election. Apparently, they have been warning houemployees that if they vote for Democrats, that they will likely pass the Employee Free Choice Act - makeing it easier for workers to negotiate for better wages, benefits and working conditions. By the way - this is potentially illegal for Wal-Mart to be doing at all. For entire article, click here.

"The meeting leader said, 'I am not telling you how to vote, but if the Democrats win, this bill will pass and you won't have a vote on whether you want a union,'" said a Wal-Mart customer-service supervisor from Missouri. "I am not a stupid person. They were telling me how to vote," she said.

Oh, no! That means, if the Employee Free Choice Act passes, big businesses like Wal-Mart won’t get to keep ALL of the money for themselves. Workers will actually have a say in receiving great benefits, wages and better working conditions. DUH! That’s the point! So, why is that such a bad thing? Why do you think Wal-Mart is so afraid of allowing their workers the chance to achieve the “American Dream, too?” Read the true benefits of a union, here.

All of America’s workers should have the right to freely decide whom to vote for, and all of America’s workers should have the ability to form a union - free of employer pressure and intimidation.

You can ask the Federal Election Committee to investigate Wal-Mart’s potentially illegal intimidation, here. You can also take action against Wal-Mart by joining the Wake-Up Wal-Mart movement which is dedicated to making them a more responsible employer. Sign-up and show Wal-Mart that they MUST treat their workers better.

Related Article:
The Huffington Post

One Million American Dreams

The UFCW is working together with hundreds of unions and progressive groups, with one goal in mind: to restore the American Dream for every American worker.

The surest way to accomplish that mission is to bring back the force that created the American middle class -- good union jobs that protect workers.

That's why we need the Employee Free Choice Act -- critical legislation that would give more workers a way to form unions, and would form a path back to the American Dream by allowing more workers to negotiate for better wages, health care, and working conditions.

Click the following link to sign the petition to give more workers the freedom to choose a union: www.ufcwforfreechoice.org

We're teaming up with hundreds of unions and progressive groups to launch a massive campaign: One Million Strong for the Employee Free Choice Act.

In 2009, we will have a new President and a new Congress. Our goal is to show them that there are one million people across the country who want to give hardworking families a chance to get ahead.

Why is the Employee Free Choice Act so important? Record numbers of workers feel that the American Dream has slipped out of reach.

Today's workplaces are tilted in favor of lavishly-paid CEOs, who get golden parachutes while middle-class families struggle to get by. The Employee Free Choice Act can restore the balance, giving more workers a chance to join together in unions and get better health care, job security, and benefits -- and an opportunity to pursue their American Dream.

Big Business knows what the Employee Free Choice Act would mean. That's why they are fighting against it with everything they've got. They're pulling out all the stops to protect the status quo -- a rigged system which allows employers to intimidate, harass, and even fire workers who try to form a union. We're not talking about isolated incidents: 30 percent of employers fire pro-union workers during union organizing drives.

It's time our economy worked for everyone again. It's time for Congress to pass the Employee Free Choice Act--and give workers the freedom to choose a union.

Sign your name to the petition and add your voice to this growing movement. Help us meet our goal of one million signatures!

Sign the petition: www.ufcwforfreechoice.org

Together, we can win a chance for every American worker to reach their own American Dream.

Check Out Our Latest Video

The UFCW recently released this video to share information about the Employee Free Choice Act.