Protect Workplace Speech and Freedom to Form Unions

Too often workers are forced by employers to listen to religious, political, or anti-union propaganda that has nothing to do with their work responsibilities-- yet they are threatened with being fired if they don't attend such employer-mandated meetings.  The Oregon legislature this past week joined New Jersey in giving employees the right to skip such employer propaganda meetings without fearing reprisals.

It seems relatively simple.  The proposed federal Employee Free Choice Act would give employees the freedom to form a union when a majority of workers sign cards saying that they want one, avoiding the often months of employer harassment that have inevitably accompanied traditional National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election processes.

With a new administration in Washington, D.C. promising to enact federal labor law reform for the first time in generations, corporations are plowing money into the states in an attempt to undermine workers rights there.  Calling itself the "Save Our Secret Ballot" (SOSB) coalition, this corporate effort is looking to amend the state constitutions of Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Nevada and Utah to block workers from choosing majority sign-up rules to form unions -- a clear attempt to thwart implementation of the proposed Employee Free Choice Act which if enacted would give employees the choice of traditional elections run by the federal government or signing authorization cards by a majority of employees. 

Reacting to a spate of recent farmworker deaths, both houses of the California legislature have approved a new "mediated election" process for farmworker unions. AB 2386 will strengthen farmworkers abilities to form labor unions and address workplace conditions.

Six farmworkers have died this summer of suspected heat illness and 15 have died since 2003 despite requirements adopted in 2005 that employers provide minimum heat illness safeguards. AB 2386, sponsored by Speaker Emeritus Nunez, proposes a new process that allows farmworkers to quickly vote by mail with two choices on the ballot to directly vote for the union on the ballot or to vote for a more traditional union election later, with the whole process overseen by a mediator jointly chosen by the union and the employer.

Workers often face a no-win situation: they are forced into employer-sponsored meetings where they are harangued with the employer's political views or anti-union propaganda and, if they actually speak out with their own opinions, they get punished or even fired.

On December 24th, the California Supreme Court gave a major Christmas present for labor rights, affirming that under California law, union members in a mall could distribute handbills calling for a consumer boycott of one of the mall's tenants. The decision, Fashion Valley Mall v. NLRB, built on an earlier state high court decision in 1980 that deemed malls to be a "public forum" where the public had free speech rights. The recent decision extended that principle to active labor boycotts -- a critical tool for labor to get its message out to consumers.

It's well-known that deregulation of the trucking industry has led to worse working conditions in the industry and lower safety standards on the road. But new coalitions are focusing on the way conditions in the trucking industry contribute to pollution that chokes trucking hubs like our ports.

In honor of Labor Day, we thought we would highlight some of our past Dispatches which outline steps states can take to protect workers' rights and raise wage standards. With new Census data showing that the median income for working-age households is still $1,300 below 2001 when the last recession hit bottom, the need for states to act to improve working conditions is greater than ever.

This week, the Oregon Senate voted to strengthen the freedom of state public employees to form unions, joining the Oregon House in approving a bill, HB 2891, to simplify the organizing proces by having the state government recognize a union for any set of workers where a majority of them have signed cards to ask for a union.

In the last week, both Iowa's and Colorado's legislatures have moved to modify anti-union laws that undermine the freedom to form unions in those states.