After Push for Obama, Unions Seek New Rules
According to the New York Times:
WASHINGTON — After making millions of phone calls and knocking on millions of doors to elect Barack Obama, the nation’s labor unions have begun a new campaign: to get the new president and Congress to pass legislation that would make it easier for workers to unionize.
Unions, delighted that they will have a friend in the White House after eight years of fighting President Bush, also plan to push for universal health coverage and a huge stimulus program to create jobs and counter the downturn.
“Our major priority in the short and long term,” said Andy Stern, president of the Service Employees International Union, “is to get the economy working for Americans who work.”
But corporate America has already declared war on labor’s push for new legislation that would help unions organize.
“This will be Armageddon,” said Randel Johnson, vice president for labor policy at the United States Chamber of Commerce.
Labor’s No. 1 priority is a piece of legislation called the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as the card-check bill. The bill would give workers the right to join a union as soon as a majority of employees at a workplace signed cards saying they wanted one. Business groups have attacked the legislation because it would take away employers’ right to insist on holding a secret-ballot election to determine whether workers favored unionization...click to continue.
