Stephen, J. Cabot blog

As union membership declines, so does its power at the bargaining table. To compensate for that loss of power, unionized workers are adopting a tactic from the 1960s: street protests. Unions believe that they can achieve their goals in the court of public opinion.

And so far, they are being successful. For example, at the University of Miami, janitors successfully voted for unionization, via card checks, after they and their student supporters generated national media attention as a result of a sit-in hunger strike.

In Houston, the Service Employees International Union also organized thousands of janitors by holding protests in the streets that brought hundreds of cars and trucks to a halt. The protestors were supported by janitors in cities across the country. All of their efforts generated a considerable amount of media coverage that helped them achieve their goals.

Such activities are occurring with increasing frequency across the country. Several weeks ago, hundreds of workers at Verizon in Pittsburgh nearly brought parts of the city to a standstill, while noisily protesting in the streets. Their protests ringed the building in which Verizon was holding its annual meeting for shareholders, who did not like and what they saw and heard.

Unions will continue to ratchet up their aggressive tactics as they meet with one success after another. They have already succeeded in making numerous companies accept card checks as a means to unionization rather than traditional secret ballot elections. If the techniques of protest continue to prove successful, then we shall see more and more demonstrations, sit-ins, and hunger strikes until all of organized labor’s demands are met.

The California legislature is considering changing the landmark Agricultural Labor Relations Act and permitting farm workers to opt for union representation via card checks. The newly introduced legislation will definitely alter the agricultural workplace.

As one might have expected, the legislation is being vigorously supported by the United Farm Works which, more than 30 years ago, had devoted considerable energies in support of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act, which permitted secret ballot elections. That, however, did not produce the number of union members that leader Cesar Chavez had anticipated.

The new legislation would give workers the choice of signing a card for secret ballot elections or signing a card that authorizes union representation without an election. The bill also permits the UFW to fill out the authorization cards on behalf of workers. All the farm workers need do is sign their cards.

As various states bend to the desires of organized labor, Corporate America will face higher and higher labor costs along with increased penalties for any violations of the new rules and regulations.

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Throughout the country, college and university campuses are being organized by unions. At one university, a colleague of mine who had been teaching without tenure for twelve years was dismissed after his campus was organized by the United Auto Workers. With an increase in labor costs (i.e., salaries, pensions, and health-care benefits), the college could no longer afford to employ him and many other instructors. Popular courses were eliminated. The union, in effect, had diminished the educational opportunities for students.

Private colleges, which are governed by the National Labor Relations Act, and the more than one third of public colleges which are unionized, are institutions that have the capacity to threaten academic freedom, job security, and the education of their students. The very reason for the existence of institutions of higher education is under assault by unions that see professors and instructors as a large sea of dues-paying members who hold the power to alter curriculums, close campuses, and ultimately injure the very reputations of the colleges and universities that have provided them with the privileged platform to stimulate the minds of ambitious students.

Here are three examples of recent union actions:

A strike at a California University was called off at the last minute when both sides came to an agreement.

At one community college in Pennsylvania, the faculty walked off their jobs for two weeks, closing the campus. More than 35,000 students had no classes to attend.

Throughout the state of Pennsylvania, college and university faculties at fourteen schools called for a strike if a new contract is not signed by June 30.

As unions search for new members, they are no longer focusing principally on blue collar workers, they are organizing the country’s intellectual elite, making them a vast “herd of independent minds.”

The Teamsters Unions recently organized a conference call for Coca-Cola investors and financial analysts, warning them of growing labor unrest. The union claims that Coca-Cola’s workers are suffering from low morale as a result of poor labor relations involving such issues as restructuring, job security, pensions, and health care coverage. The union further warned of widespread work stoppages throughout North America. The Teamsters represent more than 18,000 workers at Coca-Cola in the US and Canada.

By attempting to enlist the support of shareholders and analysts, the Teamsters hope to pressure Coke into resolving issues in favor of the Union. It is a clever ploy, but one that sophisticated investors will not find credible. The tactic has been attempted in the past and, at best, has met with limited success. Yet, Corporate America must be prepared for an ever more aggressive labor movement to use such tactics, which – in the short run – may have a negative effect on stock prices.