Comments on: Big Business Likes Arbitration — If It Can Control the Process

By: DStarr

DStarr — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:42:48 +0000

If there was ever a time for the Employee Free Choice Act, that time is now. Not only is it nearly impossible to form a union without fear and intimidation by employers, but union-busting has grown into a $4 billion a year business in the U.S. alone.

Companies that previously had good relationships with their union employees have been emboldened by weak labor laws. One of those is the McGraw-Hill Companies. Read more at:

http://nabetcwa54.org

By: diogenes

diogenes — Fri, 15 May 2009 02:11:08 +0000

At US Airways, fleet service agents started an organizing drive in 1993. The company violated the law and got a slap on the wrists. The NLRB recognized the union in 1995. Fleet got their first contract in 1999.

Seven years - that is not extraordinary - it is SOP.

Tula, be careful with baseball arbitration. Some versions of it impose the last best offer, which is deadly in the hands of bad-faith management negotiating an initial contract.

By: ubetchaiam

ubetchaiam — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:29:43 +0000

Juan is ‘on top’ of the ‘labor scene’; like most any human endeavor, it’s about the power and money.

By: VADEM

VADEM — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:25:21 +0000

They need a major PR campaign to pump what they’ve done for labor, but they seem too stupid to figure that out.

ABSO FRIGGIN’ LUTELY!

By: VADEM

VADEM — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:23:26 +0000

and then when no contract is bargained, a decert is next, the union is tossed out and organizers have to start all over again or just walk away.

And that’s exactly what the companies want. I’m afraid the unions will cave in to concessions just to get the thing passed. We will end up with a weak, watered down useless bill in the end.

By: eCAHNomics

eCAHNomics — Thu, 14 May 2009 22:03:09 +0000

Interesting. And curious. Wouldn’t seem to reflect well on SEIU.

By: ubetchaiam

ubetchaiam — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:53:41 +0000

Tula, excellent post; you said it all in the headline.

eCahn and MaryMc, don’t you find it -your choice of adjective- that SEIU has it’s largest loans from BofA and Amalgamated Bank?
“The SEIU has borrowed millions from Bank of America as well as Amalgamated Bank, a union-owned bank with a breakaway group that SEIU has tried to recruit into its ranks.”

By: eCAHNomics

eCAHNomics — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:16:50 +0000

I’m not denying that. I was responding to MYATM wondering why there is ire toward unions. And as long as there is, unions will have a hard time influencing policy. Which is why I suggested a PR campaign to counter the bad impression with evidence on what they’ve done on the positive side.

By: marymccurnin

marymccurnin — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:09:49 +0000

The unions were corrupt but the workers were still better off. The union leaders seemed to make sure their peeps had a living wage and bennies.

By: eCAHNomics

eCAHNomics — Thu, 14 May 2009 21:00:45 +0000

The antipathy toward unions has to do with the fact that they went too far, and additionally, became corrupt and out for the leaders only.

I agree that unions are labor’s only hope. But they have a bad reputation and they haven’t done much to repair it. They need a major PR campaign to pump what they’ve done for labor, but they seem too stupid to figure that out.