Huffington Post: How Unions' Grass-Roots Organizing, Pragmatism Can Pass Pro-Labor Bill

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/art-levine/how-unions-grass-roots-or_b_184448.html

Art Levine Contributing editor of The Washington Monthly

While some Washington insiders are declaring the Employee Free Choice Act dead because of Senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) recent declarations against it, they're not taking stock of key factors that could significantly alter the political landscape for the legislation.

With Congress in recess, unions are using the two-week respite to spark activism among not only union members but their progressive allies, including religious leaders, small business owners, civil rights groups and student organizations.

And contrary to conservative myth-making, some small businessmen see the value to their businesses and the economy of having decently paid employees and a strong middle-class. For instance, David Livingstone, a restaurant owner in Indianapolis, noted at a forum for small business owners how shrinking union membership in recent years among patrons has undermined their ability to go out regularly to his and other restaurants. He also credits his father's union job for helping him get an education and open a business, while also providing his father with the pension he needs in his old age. It's a heartfelt assessment that just isn't heard in the fear-mongering dominating the Washington debate over the legislation:

True, the voices of businessmen who favor the bill don't get heard inside the Beltway nearly as much as the $100 million-plus propaganda campaign against the legislation by business interests seeking to keep wages low, abetted by an anti-labor media coverage. Yet the scope of the unions' grass-roots mobilization is significant enough that it could allow those few Democratic senators who've been relatively cool to the legislation as written to find a reason to ultimately support the bill -- if it's modified by union strategists to mollify some of their concerns, without sacrificing the bill's core principles.

Even Senator Lincoln clarified this week that she could support the bill if it was changed. And with some changes and enough political pressure bought to bear, she could still potentially allow at least the bill to come to a vote on the Senate floor. Wal-Mart, headquartered in Arkansas, is helping lead corporate opposition to the bill, and their staunch anti-union activity is based in part on a truth recognized in a new economic report released yesterday by the Center for Economic and Policy Research: union members in the service sector receive higher wages than non-union members, and are likely to earn not just $2 more an hour, but are nearly 20 percent more likely to have health insurance.

Naturally, Wal-Mart is opposed to such reforms, especially if they've had to spend millions to reach legal settlements on wage theft and other abuses, like forcing employees to work extra hours without any pay -- or just locking in overnight workers.

FULL story at link.

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1. K & R N/T

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