EFCA on the Ropes (Adam Turl critiques Labor's EFCA strategy)

[Political Heretic]

Adam Turl critiques AFL-CIO and Change to Win Strategy on EFCA:

...by focusing all their energy on lobbying "swing" votes in the Senate, the unions gave the most conservative Democrats the most attention in the political debate about EFCA. Thus, the entire media waited with bated breath for the opinions of two Arkansas senators who, though they are Democrats, are ultimately in the pocket of home-state union-buster Wal-Mart.

This was a lost opportunity. If the unions had launched a mass, grassroots and active campaign for EFCA, the media would be hearing arguments from workers about why labor law reform is needed.

Things maybe we can learn. I agree that this was a major missed opportunity, and I agree that grassroots campaigning is what's needed.

Adam Turl then makes next critique:

EFCA'S SETBACKS are in part the result of labor's misreading of the dynamics of the Democratic Party--again. While the Democrats have long counted the unions as part of their base and the party's liberal politicians are adept at making pro-worker speeches, the Democrats are, in fact, a pro-business party. The party's approach to EFCA reflects this contradiction.

On the one hand, the political shift that brought President Barack Obama into the White House and increased the Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress has made it more possible to pass EFCA. But the dirty secret is that that this same Democratic Party is entirely capable of sabotaging its own legislation if Corporate America wants it to.

Read the full article here:
http://socialistworker.org/2009/04/03/efca-on-the-ropes

Yes that's the socialist worker. I full expect some to berate the source, but I challenge you to seriously dispute their observations or analysis.

[billyoc]

1. You don't have to quote the ISO to be berated around here.

:)


I'm not giving up on EFCA just yet, I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve.

[dhill926]

2. sadly.......

it seems pretty accurate to me......

[Political Heretic]

3. Third critique - the Administration:

Dead on accurate.

The White House also kept EFCA at arms' length and avoided putting any pressure on members of congress to support the legislation. And when Vice President Joe Biden spoke to union leaders about EFCA, cameras weren't allowed to cover the proceedings. Thus, when the bill was reintroduced on March 10, several former sponsors of the 2007 version of the legislation had already gone AWOL.

Why? Well, it's one thing for the Democrats to vote for pro-union legislation when there's no chance of it actually becoming law. It's quite another to do so when it is possible.

In 2007, with George W. Bush in the White House and a bare Democratic majority in the Senate, there was simply no chance of EFCA becoming law. Democrats could vote for the legislation to be on record as fighting for workers, yet be assured that their actions would not actually infringe on the interests of big business.

Now that EFCA is possible, however, some party leaders have apparently concluded that the "best" outcome would be to allow a narrow defeat for EFCA in the Senate, or a compromise that guts the legislation, or indefinite postponement. This would allow the Democrats to defend corporate interests while appearing to be loyal to their pro-union working-class base.

[LooseWilly]

4. I've been through this movie...

I've been through trying to unionize a shop. I've heard management make up retarded lies that make no sense hoping to confuse workers into not voting to unionize in an upcoming secret ballot vote. I've seen agents of management at the secret vote polling site, taking the names of those who show up to vote.
It's a hassle.
And in the case of my ex-employer, even once the vote was pro-union, and the NLRB in the 9th district upheld the election, and the DC NLRB overruled the employers appeal... and, if I'm not mistaken, the California Supreme Court also overruled the appeal... well my ex-"employer" still refused to negotiate. I think there's a pending appeal to the US Supreme Court.

http://www.transportworkers.org/taxonomy/term/131 scroll down to the "Drivers at Oakland's Friendly Cab Co Win right to unionize" for a taste...

[Political Heretic]

5. Thanks for that real life story. This is why EFCA is critical and conneted to our economic health

[LooseWilly]

6. Absolutely

I was shocked by the lies I heard, and more than a little amused at the total bullshit that they seemed to think I might buy.

But I was perceived as white in the shop (as a cab driver, that's a rare thing)... the Indians, Nigerians, Iranians, Ethiopians, Afghans, etc. all had it much worse than I did. I was hassled verbally because the nascent union elected me as Secretary/Treasurer... because all the ethnic factions of the drivers knew they could trust me not to be biased amongst factions... and the company knew this... but they also knew they had to watch their mouths around me because I'd be able to quote them verbatim in court if they let their tongues slip.
The Nigerians and Afghans in particular were targeted by the company. Any excuse to hassle them was taken. Fees and fines and raising of their lease fees on any pretext. Those who tried to jump ship to the other cab company in town found that the owners had already discussed their names, and they weren't offered the opportunity to lease a cab.

I can only imagine the lengths that companies that have salaried employees, and more than a couple of hundred of them, might go to to break up nascent union sentiment.

[Political Heretic]

7. kick