In April 2005, more than 250 workers walked off their jobs at Johnson Refrigerated Truck Bodies in Chetek, Wisconsin. Unhappy with the way the strike was going after seven months, a number of workers returned to their jobs. A vote was subsequently taken and the Teamsters local was decertified. Nearly two-thirds of the workers had voted against the Teamsters, for they no longer wanted the union to negotiate with management on their behalf.
That was truly a momentous event, for Johnson had been unionized for more than 40 years.
Those who had refused to return to work prior to the vote are now out of work along with their union reps.
While organized labor hopes to unionize millions of workers with the Democratically sponsored Employee Free Choice Act, which will permit card checks to replace secret ballot elections, many commonsensical workers have come to realize that unions are frequently ineffective and have become an anachronistic element within a highly competitive global economy.
It came as a surprise to many that the Seminole Tribe of Florida decided to buy the world-renowned Hard Rock company, comprising 124 Hard Rock Cafes, four Hard Rock Hotels, two Hard Rock Casino Hotels, two Hard Rock Concert halls, and one of the largest collections of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia in the world. It will be paying $965 million for the British-based company
Questions for union organizers and the NLRB: Are the Seminoles an independent nation that does not have to abide by the Labor Relations Act? Or will the new Hard Rock business be just another large U.S. corporation that will be employing thousands of workers?
Restaurant, casino, and hotel workers are prime candidates for union organizers. Indeed, organizing efforts for those workers are taking place from coast to coast with considerable success.
If the Seminoles have an unfair labor advantage that is not enjoyed by other hotel, casino, and restaurant owners, law makers and the NLRB will be called upon to come up with a solution that is equitable to all parties.
Representative Nancy Pelosi states that the new Democratic congress will push for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act in early spring. The Act will permit workers to join unions by simply signing card checks. The AFL-CIO has stated that the passage of the Act is its number one priority.
Using card checks, the Communications Workers of America were able to organize 22,000 workers at Cingular Wireless over a two-year period.
In an environment where card checks will become the norm, there will be scarce time for Corporate America to make its case for why workers should not join unions. It will also provide pro-union workers, organizers, and the occasional thug with opportunities to intimidate workers into signing card checks.
This is bad news for Corporate America, for it will mean a significant upsurge in the unionization of workers.
In addition, it obviates workers rights to hold secret ballot elections, a mainstay of our democratic system.
One would think that labor negotiators would realize that President Bush has more important matters to deal with than a potential municipal workers strike. Well, in New York, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Labor Relations official wants to ask President Bush to resolve a contract dispute between the MTA and workers of the commuter railway, Metro-North.
The 3,400 electricians, machinists, and other rail road specialists have been working without a contract for nearly four years. Now the workers are saying if there is no resolution to their dispute, they will consider striking.
As public employees, they not only have a moral obligation not to strike, but under New York’s Taylor law, strikes by public employees are illegal.
One is reminded of the various strikes by public employees that crippled New York City in the 1970s. Apparently the lessons of that time have not been fully understood.
If Corporate America and municipal authorities would implement effective and strategic labor relations action plans, they would not find themselves in such circumstances as exist in New York. There, a labor relations problem has been permitted to fester beyond the control of the principal participants, hence the call for intervention by the president.