Hostile Work Environments May Soon Be Possibilities

Well, we're down to just a matter of days, and I am feeling the need to "plead our case" just a bit more. Rob forwarded me the following article that details the Obama-Biden ticket's proposed changes in labor law. While some of the included items such as more paid sick days may sound attractive from an employee's standpoint, there is one item, in particular, that, if understood well, actually could put an employee in a "hostile work environment," something our current laws are there to protect.

The dominant issue to me (among several) that is worth loudly vocally opposing is the abolition of secret ballots. Now, in simple terms, this means that, in an Obama-Biden presidency working with a Democratic-led House and Senate, the following scenario could occur:

Jane is an operator on a machine tagged B-12. Joe and Danielle are also operators on that same machine. Over a course of several weeks, Union X has held meetings and made their case to many plant employees that they would be better off if they became members of their said union. Joe and Danielle sign cards and bring one to Jane, demanding that she sign one, too. Keep in mind, due to new Obama-Biden legislation just passed in this hypothetical situation, all that the pro-union people need to do now is bring in authorization cards and no more secret ballot elections will be held amongst employees. So, here Jane finds herself confronted by two of her adimant fellow co-workers. She has to work with these people day in and day out, so offending and/or angering them could make for a most unpleasant, even hostile, work environmnet. However, she is happy with her current work environment and does not want to bring in a union. She sees that doing so could slow down production and actually eat into her paycheck, since most mandatory union dues account for 2 or 3 hours of her work time. What should she do?

Luckily, in the current labor law environment, Jane does not have to face this scenario. However, in a matter of less than a month, that could all change. Further, the "employee-friendly" proposals attached to this legislation, including raising minimum wage, actually come out not so employee-friendly as the monetary changes, that have to be paid for from somewhere, now will get passed on to that same employee as she or he finds themselves in a consumer role. So, if you aren't too tired from reading all of this, please press on and consider the following article from Staffing Week as you consider your voting opportunity in November.

"Obama's Labor Proposals Would Advance Union Agenda"
from Staffing Week

If Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) becomes president, U.S. labor unions will cheer. They are hoping for, as Kimberley A. Strassel wrote in the Wall Street Journal, a "trifecta—the Oval Office, the House, and a filibuster-proof Senate." If Democrats win the presidency and make significant gains in Congress, that could lead to the biggest rewrite of U.S. labor laws in decades, which could have major repercussions for employers. Unions see the elections as a critical opportunity to reverse the steep decline in union membership, now just 7.4% of the private-sector labor force.

The unions' top priority is passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, sometimes called the "card check" bill. The legislation would abolish the secret ballot in union elections and allow unions to be recognized when a majority of employees sign authorization cards. The Service Employees International Union says it could organize a million workers a year if the bill were enacted, up from the 100,000 workers it now organizes each year. ASA, the Society for Human Resource Management, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and other business groups have joined in opposition to the bill.

Obama strongly supports the card check bill and says that, if elected, he'll sign it. Other union-backed proposals on Obama's to-do list include:
Amending the Family and Medical Leave Act to provide seven days of annual paid sick leave
Making it easier for employees to file claims under the Equal Pay Act
Repealing "right to work" laws that allow states to bar compulsory union membership
Expanding the "prevailing wage" provisions of the Davis–Bacon Act
Raising the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation
Reclassifying thousands of supervisory nurses, construction workers, and professional workers who currently are not protected by federal labor laws

The AFL-CIO and its affiliated unions reportedly will spend $250 million to fund hundreds of thousands of grassroots activists to get out the vote. SEIU is spending $100 million and the National Education Association $50 million. All told, election spending by unions may reach $1 billion this year.

ASA has examined how the presidential candidates' proposed policies might affect jobs and the economy in an issue paper available at americanstaffing.net.