States News Service, May 27, 2009, Wednesday

Copyright 2009 States News Service
States News Service

May 27, 2009, Wednesday

HEADLINE:
Major Academic Study Finds No Union Intimidation from Majority Sign Up

DATELINE: WASHINGTON, DC

BODY:

The following information was released by the AFL-CIO:

Majority sign up does not cause union or employer intimidation, according to a new report released by departments at University of Illinois, Rutgers University, Cornell University, and University of Oregon. Participants analyzed data from public sector workers in New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Oregon for six years and found that out of more than 34,000 people who joined unions through majority sign up, a process sometimes referred to as card check, there was not a hint of union or employer intimidation.

The report states:

In brief, from 2003-2009, a total of 34,148 public sector workers employed in state, county, municipal and educa-tional institutions voluntarily joined a union. Most importantly, contrary to business claims, in 1,073 cases of union cer-tification and in at least 1,359 majority-authorization campaigns, there was not a single confirmed incidence of union misconduct.

The report comes as Congress considers the Employee Free Choice Act, legislation that will give workers back the freedom to bargain with corporations for better wages and benefits. It includes a majority sign up provision which gives workers the choice of how to form a union rather than leaving that choice in employers' hands, as it is under current law. Opponents claim this will lead to intimidation and coercion from unions, but according to today's report, that simply isn't true.

Today's report proves, once again, that corporations are leveling baseless allegations in a desperate attempt to pre-vent workers who want a union from forming one, said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. Unions are the single best ticket in our nation to the middle class for working men and women. The Employee Free Choice Act returns to workers the freedom to form and join a union to improve their lives.

According to the findings, the lack of intimidation on either side also shows that when there is a clear path to form-ing a union, the workplace as a whole functions more smoothly with no friction.

The report concludes:

As is true in so many other policy areas, on the subject of union representation the states are incubators for new ideas and practices. New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Oregon have demonstrated that a majority-authorization peti-tion can genuinely determine the will of the employees to be unionized and provides a functional, largely non-adversarial and event-less process for insuring a fair work environment for everyone.

According to the report, the states' laws are very similar to the proposed Employee Free Choice Act majority sign up provision. The report was commissioned by the United Association for Labor Education.

The report was authored by Robert Bruno, Associate Professor and Director of the Labor Education Program, Uni-versity of Illinois School of Labor and Employment Relations; Adrienne E. Eaton, Professor, Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations, Rutgers University; Sally Alvarez, Director of Labor Programs, Extension Division School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University; Lynn Feekin, Instructor, University of Oregon Labor Education and Research Center.
To view the report, go to: http://www.aflcio.org/joinaunion/voiceatwork/efca/upload/multistate_efca051409.pdf.
Contact: Alison Omens/Joshua Scannell, 202-637-5018

LOAD-DATE: May 27, 2009