Fighting for employee free choice
'No cutthroat against the union'
There were a few things that weren’t going right here on the management side,” recalled Spencer Combs. “And we wanted some job security anyway.”
Combs, a UAW Local 2297 member, is a first-shift committeeperson at Magna Intier in Shreveport, La. In 2005 he was part of the committee that helped organize the Intier facility, which supplies instrument panels to a GM assembly plant, located down the road in Shreveport.
UAW GM workers in Shreveport, members of UAW Local 2166, gave strong support to Combs and his co-workers at Intier. The UAW and Magna reached an agreement that the company would recognize the union if a majority of workers signed UAW authorization cards.
“Once the company first found out, they started a little resisting,” said Combs. “Then they agreed to have a card check.”
A meeting was held in the plant, and the process was even-handed, said Combs. “It was very fair. The company put their proposal out and tried to encourage the people why they don’t need a union an Intier Automotive Shop in Shreveport.”
“Then the company left the room, and Larry and I spoke. Larry Hall is our chairman now. We both spoke and gave some encouragement why we should vote it in,” Combs said. “There wasn’t any cutthroat against the union, nobody felt threatened or anything. After that, there was a 92 percent turnout of yes votes for the union.”
The majority in favor of forming a union was certified by a neutral third party – neither union nor management. Shortly afterward, a first contract was negotiated and ratified by a majority of the more than 130 workers at Intier.
“Now, everybody here has a voice,” said Combs. “We get to say our opinion on insurance, overtime equalization, working hours, shift preferences. It’s much better.”
Tens of thousands of workers have joined the UAW and other unions in recent years using the simple and straightforward card-check process. It’s a welcome relief from the sometimes cumbersome election procedures used to determine union representation by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
Companies game the NLRB system, appealing every possible ruling and causing long delays. And although threats and retaliation against workers are a violation of federal law, such behavior is frighteningly common during union organizing drives.
“They use all kind of intimidation and scare tactics,” said Terry Clary, president of UAW Local 286 in Oklahoma City. He’s assisted on several UAW organizing drives and is appalled by management’s behavior.
“They’ll cut pay. They’ll fire union supporters. They say, ‘We’ll close the plant if the union gets in,’” Clary said.
To address the abuses seen by Clary and other union organizers – and to give more workers like Spencer Combs a chance to form their own unions – workers’ rights advocates are backing a proposed federal law called the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA).
EFCA would require all employers to accept a majority of signed union cards as the basis for recognition, giving workers the right to bargain with their employers as soon as a majority is documented. The bill would also stiffen penalties for illegal retaliation against union supporters and require binding arbitration of first contracts.
Widely recognized as one of the most important labor law reforms in many years, EFCA was passed by the U.S. House in 2007 and won majority support in the Senate. But the bill was blocked by a filibuster led by Senate Republicans.
Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., a lead sponsor of EFCA in the Senate, told delegates to the UAW Community Action Program (CAP) Legislative Conference that reforms are needed to restore much-needed balance to the U.S. economy.
“You’ve made this nation the most productive in the world, but you’re not getting the wages,” Kennedy said. “You’ve had the deck stacked against you because of the anti-union activity that day after day is stamping down opportunity for our unions to be able to represent the middle class.”
“You know something, my friends,” Kennedy told a cheering crowd of UAW delegates in Washington Feb. 6. “There are 60 million Americans who want to join a union, and I say it’s about time we let ‘em in!”
Back in Louisiana, Local 2297 plant chairman Larry Hall agrees that the even-handed card-check process used to organize his plant should be available to all American workers. “Everyone should have the right to express their feelings as far as how the company is running,” he said, “without any fear or retaliation.”
And in Oklahoma City, Terry Clary is convinced the only way to change the law is for workers to vote for change on Election Day.
“We need a president who will support legislation like the Employee Free Choice Act,” Clary said. “To me, this election means everything for unions.”
