Today's Wall Street Journal has posted an article on the Democrat's seeming abandonment of the idea of 'card check' legislation. Card check would have eliminated the secret ballot in voting to unionize a company; it would also have set up a government arbitration situation within a few months of a union vote. This law would have been very unfriendly to business and would have been a 'job killer.'
Senators Tom Harkin (Iowa), Mark Pryor (Arkansas), Mr. Specter and others are now considering a new bill which would still give unions the whip hand in negotiations with management. Some of the proposals include making the time between signing cards and actually taking a vote to unionize much shorter, giving workers less time to consider the consequences (much the way this administration is pushing bills through Congress without giving Congressmen a chance to read them). There is also a demand by Big Labor to bar companies from requiring their workers to hear management's side during a union campaign.
The article further states:
"Democrats also aren't giving up on binding arbitration, which would let a federal arbitrator impose a contract if management and a newly established union at a work site aren't able to agree within 90 days. The provision would encourage unions to make maximum demands and play for time, knowing that an arbitrator could force management's hand. Binding arbitration also denies employees a vote on a contract."
The average American is now beginning to see the role the unions have played in the demise of certain companies and industries. Union membership has been declining since 1954 when it peaked at 28%. It is now at about 11 %. This is according to the Becker-Posner Blog.
This is a very pro-union administration, and I believe that we will see some growth in union membership during President Obama's term, but I do not believe that unions will ever regain 28% of the workforce.
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