Advocacy Consultant
It’s a red-letter May Day, as working comrades in the UAW are taking over Chrysler. By the looks of things, they same fate may befall GM if they cannot work out a deal with their creditors.
Some analysts feel this is a good thing – reasoning that the union would have to abandon a single-minded quest for higher wages to think about the company’s broader needs. But in the era of bailouts and government safety nets, there really is no incentive to do that.
Bruce Springsteen’s Super Bowl halftime appearance came as he apologized for a promotional deal he signed with Wal-Mart to promote his greatest hits album. Springsteen feels Wal-Mart doesn’t treat its employees well.
First off, where does someone nicknamed “The Boss” get off talking about employee conditions? The boss never knows what’s really going on.
Second, there are some people Springsteen should talk to before chiding the working conditions at Wal-Mart. The first is Jason Furman, a key economic advisor to President Obama, who wrote a paper calling Wal-Mart “A Progressive Success Story” for providing low-income workers with affordable goods.
The other is Charles Platt, a blogger who gave an insider’s account of life behind the smiley face as an actual Wal-Mart employee. I think it’s been a while since Springsteen found himself inside a Wal-Mart, so I’ll take Platt’s word on what the working conditions are like.
Most of the criticisms about Wal-Mart come from unions – who would love to siphon off union dues from the paychecks of Wal-Mart’s millions of employees. The bad news for them is that Wal-Mart and its employees have a good thing going – even if the Boss doesn’t know it.
A friend who works at a libertarian/free market organization told me this week that donations for anti-EFCA projects are drying up. The Inside-the-Beltway buzz is that card-check (the provision that axes secret ballot requirements from unionization votes) is not as imminent as pro-enterprise groups had feared. But organized labor has friends controlling both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, not to mention a filibuster-proof Democratic Senate. The political environment may never be better to pass card check.
Sure enough, the SEIU launched a campaign to advance card check this week. Predictably, they frame it as necessary to improve the lives of workers. Nothing improves your quality of life like a union goon looking over your shoulder.
It would be unwise for pro-enterprise groups to allow SEIU and its allies to operate without an answer. Otherwise, secret ballot supporters may find themselves playing defense too late to make a difference.
The conventional wisdom is that the Republican Party will be more aggressive in 2009 and beyond. They will have to be, since they are looking at a filibuster-proof majority of Democrats in the Senate to go along with the Democrat majority in the House and a Democrat President. It will be important, therefore, for Republicans to seize the offensive initiative.
There are three issues which will likely come to a head in 2009 which Republicans can win – if they can get out in front of the story and start framing the debate before their counterparts:
Card Check/Forced Unionization. The Employee Free Choice Act is a proposed law that makes it easier for union “representatives” to intimidate workers into joining unions. (This can’t be repeated enough.) Aside from giving Democrats a healthy stream of campaign cash and workers, stripping workers of the right to vote against unionization on a private ballot would likely expand unionization – which, as anyone from the American auto industry can tell you, will serve to make American goods more expensive and less competitive in the marketplace. The right to a secret ballot is sacred for most Americans.
Business Bailouts. Speaking of Detroit, industries are already lining up with their hands out hoping to snag a share of the federal budget. Commercial real estate, retail stores, and even newspapers are rightfully asking why they shouldn’t get the same help as other industries. Handing out money hand-over-fist will earn votes in certain states and communities, but it won’t help the economy. And, in general, bailouts are unpopular among voters. Taking a stand against corporate entitlements would be a good way to demonstrate a broad support for entitlement reform.
Health Care. This may be the biggest challenge for the Republican minority, and it’s the issue they are already the most behind on. Given the state of the economy, a federal health care entitlement figures to be a popular program – especially if common misconceptions continue to be spread without answer. The Obama Pre-Administration has already solicited “public input” for its health care plan by having supporter organize “community discussions” during a time when many groups that would oppose his plan were taking a Christmas vacation. Of course, there’s plenty wrong with allowing the same people who run government institutions like the school systems, the IRS, the DMV, etc. to run medical care, but that case has to be made clearly, aggressively, and repeatedly.
These issues may not be the top three on President Obama’s docket, but Republicans can’t allow their agenda to be dictated by Democrats as they have for the past four years. These issues, while challenging, will help Republicans regain some control of the nation’s policy agenda.
The most interesting part of this week’s Presidential debate wasn’t even part of the debate – it was this commercial:
If you need to watch it again, I don’t blame you – that’s leftist stalwart George McGovern opposing the Employee Free Choice Act, or EFCA. This creatively-named legislation would let union officials – i.e. goons – look over a worker’s shoulder when he or she casts a vote to unionize, replacing the apparently outdated concept of secret ballots. The hope from organized labor and Democrat circles is that this would lead to an increase in union membership.
Union membership has been steadily declining despite a small uptick in 2007 – and the states where the economies have been most prosperous have been those with right-to-work laws.
Barack Obama (who is receiving $3 million worth of campaign help from his union buddies) is promising to sign the bill – which has been blocked by filibusters but has already passed the Democrat-controlled House. Considering what unions have done for the economies in places like Michigan, that would be an unwise move. Obama would do well to listen to fellow Democrat McGovern.
(For more information on keeping secret ballots in union elections, check out www.myprivateballot.com.)
Like many Americans, I had yesterday off to celebrate Labor Day. Labor Day is, of course, the day we get off on the first Monday in September to celebrate our nation’s dogged work ethic – not to be confused with the state holidays in January (Martin Luther King Jr. Day), February (President’s Day), May (Memorial Day), July (Independence Day), October (Columbus Day), November (Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving), or December (Christmas). And if you’re in Massachusetts, you also have Evacuation Day in March, Patriots Day in April, and Bunker Hill Day in June.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor – and you’d think they’d be an authority on the topic – Labor Day was started by either Peter J. McGuire or Matthew Maguire, depending on which records you believe. As you might expect from someone who came up with an idea that involved a day off of work, both were organized labor leaders. Labor Day started on September 5, 1882 in New York City with a picnic and demonstration, leading to a long tradition of parades and barbecues.
Luckily, the SEIU engaged in a Take Back Labor Day campaign – to make sure we all knew the true meaning of Labor Day/hold concerts and advocate for their membership dues-funded political agenda. (No word on whether or not anyone was visited by the ghosts of Cesar Chavez, Jimmy Hoffa, and Samuel Gompers.)
Organized Labor, what are you cooking up to make my life better next? New and Improved Democracy! Every so often, organized labor dredges up the Employee Free Choice Act, which allows bosses to peak over workers’ shoulders on unionization votes. After all, we all know real democracy depends on transparency.
As an aside, I spent my Labor Day weekend at my parents’ house. While there, I fixed a sink, which means I proudly took work away from a unionized plumber who probably would have charged an arm and a leg in parts, labor, etc. I worked for ice cream.
Jim Eltringham 
