Commentary; Posted: 3/21/07
Passing labor reform deserved Bachmann’s vote
Michael La Fave
Guest Columnist
For the first time in a generation, legislation guaranteeing real labor law reform passed the U.S. House of Representatives.
Unfortunately Sixth District Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Stillwater didn’t vote for the Employee Free Choice Act, which will bring balance back to workers’ right to form unions.
The current system of union representation elections is a Soviet style of “democracy” where on Company property, employees must walk a gauntlet of management on their way to cast their vote.
Employers routinely threaten, harass and coerce employees when they try to form unions; a quarter of employers even illegally fire workers.
In virtually every organizing campaign, workers are forced into mandatory meetings to hear anti-union rhetoric from supervisors who control their hours and working conditions, while unions are shut out of those meetings.
In 2005, 30,000 workers were illegally fired or discriminated against for exercising a basic human right — yet little or nothing is done.
The remedy most often rendered by the National Labor Relations Board when a company violates the law, is to post a notice saying what the violation was and they won’t do it again.
Research shows 60 million workers say they would join a union today if given the chance, but the system is stacked against them.
Today’s system for forming unions and bargaining is beyond repair under its present form.
The Employee Free Choice Act will level the playing field by:
•Giving workers the ability to bargain for better wages and benefits without employer interference.
•It will provide for real penalties for employers that violate their workers’ rights.
•It will allow a neutral party to determine a first contract if the company and employees cannot reach an agreement.
•It will enable workers to form a union when a majority, in writing says that’s what they want.
And also, isn’t it ironic that Sixth District Congresswoman Bachmann proposes a “Taxpayers Bill of Rights” which states “Taxpayers have a right to have a federal government that does not grow beyond their ability to pay for it,” shortly after she voted against the recently passed U.S. House of Representative’s “Paygo” rule, that reinstates the requirement that newly proposed congressional expenditures must be accompanied by commensurate increases in revenue or a reduction elsewhere in the budget.
Michael La Fave lives in Forest Lake. He is Congresswoman Michele Bachmann’s step-brother.
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