Frank Sinatra used to sing, Come Fly With Me. However, if you’re a United Airlines pilot you may not be issuing that invitation.
United Airlines has asked a federal judge to issue an injunction, preventing the Air Line Pilots Association from encouraging pilots to misuse sick day allotments and to engage in work slowdowns. The Airline has also asked for an injunction against four pilots, who the company claims have taken advantage of sick days and who have refused to fly more than their normal amount of hours. Such illegal job actions have resulted in 329 flights being cancelled in just one week in July and of the Airlines losing $8-million in revenues. Management obviously didn’t have a big enough headache caused by the skyrocketing cost of jet fuel!
Under the Railway Labor Act, which governs airlines, the Air Line Pilots Association cannot encourage a sick-out of pilots, which is what United Airlines has accused them of doing.
This is another example of the high-handed attitude employed by unions in their ongoing efforts to achieve goals that should be negotiated through collective bargaining. One can only imagine how much more arrogant unions will become if Congress passes the Employee Free Choice Act. Corporate America will be at the mercy of organized labor.
Recently, Bernie Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot, and Senator Orrin Hatch, spoke out against the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, saying that it forces unionization upon companies without a secret-ballot election and establishes federal arbitrators as the ones who will decide on a company’s payroll.
Senator Hatch said that the Employee Free Choice Act will force many American companies to go out of business or move their operations to countries where free choice is really free choice. In addition, Senator Hatch stated that not only would a President Obama support the (unfree) Free (no choice) Choice Act, but he would “ram it through” so that it becomes law with the full support of a Democratic legislative majority. He went on to say that America will become a second-rate country if the unions gain control over Corporate America. “It’s all about power,” said the Senator, the power of unions to dictate wages and benefits.
What is truly unfortunate, as Bernie Marcus noted, is that out of 100 top CEOs to whom he spoke only seven were aware of the pending Employee Free Choice Act and what it would mean for their companies. It’s time for Corporate America to wake up to the danger posed and organize to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act.
In Catawba County, in North Carolina, the Chamber of Commerce has organized a rally against the Employee Free Choice Act, which would eliminate secret ballot elections during union organizing campaigns and impose significant fines on employers. The Employee Free Choice Act not only does away with secret ballot elections (which are as American as apple pie), but it permits workers to sign cards, under the eyes of union organizers, and if enough of those cards are signed, the workers are then represented by the union. A magician could not have pulled off a neater trick. Presto! You’re company’s workers are unionized!
Now, however, fearing a Democratic controlled congress and the possibility of an Obama presidency, Corporate America has finally decided to act. Senator Obama has already declared that if he’s elected and the Act is passed by both houses of Congress, he will sign the Act into law.
The Business Labor Rally will take place on August 9 and be attended by important local political leaders, such as Senator Elizabeth Dole. In a press release issued by her office, Senator Dole stated: “By denying workers their basic right to a secret ballot, a right that has been enshrined in federal labor laws for over 60 years, this bill trades fair, democratic elections for intimidation and coercion.”
We hope that other Senators throughout the country follow Senator Dole’s leadership and rally against the Employee Free Choice Act. If they don’t, the Act could fundamentally change the entire labor management landscape as Corporate America will have to deal with a dramatic increase in unionization and significantly higher labor costs.
One would think that an employer has every right to know if employees are doing the work for which they have been hired. The Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) in New York, however, thinks otherwise.
Nassau County on Long Island said it would like to monitor its public employees via GPS devices in their cell phones and cars. The GPS phones would permit the County to record the arrival and departure times of its employees at inspection sites, while also providing precise mileage reports, which are important especially because of the high cost of gasoline.
The CSEA objected. The union claimed that, before the GPS devices could be installed, the county must ask the union for permission, through collective bargaining and negotiations.
Now the State Public Employees Relations Board has ruled that the County can, indeed, install GPS devises to monitor its employees. The rejection of the challenges posed by the Civil Service Employees Association is certainly justified.
The objections of the CSEA were absurd and just another example of organized labor attempting to block the legitimate actions of employers who have every right to expect the highest levels of productivity from their employees.
The possible election of Barack Obama as president combined with union and Democratic legislators backing The Employee Free Choice Act will mean a storm of new organizing efforts that will result in dramatically increasing the number of union members.
For years, union membership has been steadily declining: latest figures show that approximately 7.5% of private sector workers are union members.
Under the National Labor Relations Act, employers, unions, and workers had to hold secret ballot elections to decide if workers would join a union.
Under The Employee Free Choice Act, however, union organizers simply have to get workers to sign cards (known as Card Checks) stating that they want to join a specific union. Organizers are free to advocate and proselytize on the part of unions and will easily get a majority of signatures. Once 50% of workers sign cards, employers will be compelled to accept union representation for 100% of their workers. No elections need to be held.
So far, the Act has gone no place, because President Bush is against its passage; however, if Barack Obama is elected president and the Democrats maintain their union-backed majority in both houses of Congress, then the Employee Free Choice Act will become law. Its passage will mean dramatically higher labor costs, which will be particularly onerous during this period of slow economic growth and fierce international competition.
Corporate America needs to have an effective proactive strategic action plan in place to deal with the coming perfect storm.