Nader, Again Running As Third-Party Candidate, Demands Taft-Hartley Repeal
WASHINGTON (PAI)--In a bid to attract workers’ votes, consumer crusader Ralph
Nader, again running as a third-party candidate for the presidency, slammed the
1947 GOP-crafted Taft-Hartley Act. He calls it anti-union and demands its
repeal.
The law, passed by the GOP-run 80th Congress over Democratic President Harry S
Truman’s veto, rewrote U.S. labor law to insert such provisions as letting
employers demand--and get--NLRB-run union recognition elections, hold “captive
audience” meetings, and use legal processes to delay union recognition and
contract bargaining.
It also authorized state “right to work” laws and threw several groups of
workers, including mid-level supervisors and “independent contractors,” out from
under labor law protection. The proposed Employee Free Choice Act, pushed by the
union movement but blocked by a Senate GOP filibuster, would undo some--but not
all--of Taft-Hartley.
Nader called Taft-Hartley “one of the great blows to American democracy.” He said Taft-Hartley, “drafted by
employers, fundamentally infringed on workers' human rights.” George Meany,
later AFL-CIO president, said the law was written by the Chamber of Commerce and
the National Association of Manufacturers.
“Legally, Taft-Hartley: Impeded employees' right to join together in labor
unions, undermined the ability of unions to represent workers' interests
effectively and authorized an array of anti-union activities by employers,”
Nader said.
Many Democrats blame Nader for the ascension of anti-worker GOP nominee George
W. Bush to the White House in 2000, because Nader’s vote total in the
election-deciding state of Florida far exceeded Bush’s alleged 500-plus vote
margin there. That criticism of Nader did not stop him from going after
pro-Democratic union voters this year, by particularly targeting the
right-to-work laws authorized by Taft-Hartley.
“These laws undermine the ability to build effective unions by creating a
free-rider problem: Workers can enjoy the benefits of union membership in a workplace without actually
joining the union or paying union dues. Right-to-work laws thus increase
employer leverage to resist unions by undermining individual workers' incentives
to join a union, and thereby vastly decrease union membership, thus dramatically
diminishing unions' bargaining power,” Nader said.
Taft-Hartley, by excluding supervisors and independent contractors, diminished
the pool of workers eligible to be unionized, he added. This is “an increasingly
serious problem as courts and the National Labor Relations Board authorized
ever-expanding employer definitions of what constitutes a supervisor. The
exclusion of supervisors from union organizing activity meant they would be used
as management's ‘front line’ in anti-organizing efforts,” Nader said. Though
Nader did not say so, NLRB rulings he blasted, expanding the definition of
“supervisor,” came from a Bush-named NLRB majority.
And Taft-Hartley established labor law’s present delays “which generally benefit management,” Nader said. It also “established the ‘right’
of management to campaign against a union organizing drive, thereby scuttling
the principle of employer neutrality.”
And Taft-Hartley banned another effective worker tool, secondary boycotts, he
noted.
“The political damage of Taft-Hartley was just as severe. In addition to
starting an era of red-baiting with the American labor movement…The act sent a
message to employers: It was OK to bust unions and deny workers their rights to
collectively bargain. In short, Taft-Hartley entrenched significant executive
tyranny in the corporate workplace, with ramifications that are more severe
today than ever,” Nader declared.
Nader said he supported the Employee Free Choice Act, but argued it doesn’t go
far enough to “repair some of the damage caused by Taft-Hartley and the
anti-union culture it engendered.”
He demanded unions “speak out for abolition of Taft-Hartley, and not concede
this monumental employer usurpation, during this period of giant multinational corporate power. It is past time for the repeal of
Taft-Hartley.” And he criticized the AFL-CIO and other unions for not making
that demand, saying that if business was confronted with a similar law, it would
not be shy about aggressively lobbying for its repeal.

Postal Workers Endorse Obama, Forge Ties With Letter Carriers
By Barb Kucera, Workday Minnesota editor
and Press Associates
LAS VEGAS (PAI)--The Postal Workers, meeting in their national convention in Las
Vegas just days before the Democratic National Convention, unanimously endorsed
Sen. Barack Obama for the presidency, and took a major step toward improving
relations with their sister union, the Letter Carriers.
Chanting Obama's slogan, "Yes We Can!" the more than 3,200 APWU delegates from
across the U.S. backed the Illinoisan, who addressed them live by satellite.
"It's time to bring about the real change that working families need" and elect
an administration "that doesn't choke on the word 'union,'" Obama said, drawing
loud applause.
“Change is a president who stands up for working families by strengthening the
Family and Medical Leave Act. Who doesn’t denigrate public service by
privatizing good public jobs every chance he gets. A president who protects your
wages and the quality public service that Americans all across this country depend on. Change is a president who’s
walked on picket lines. Who lets unions do what they do best, and organize our
workers--and who will finally make the Employee Free Choice Act the law of the
land,” he declared.
"It's time to turn the page. It's time to bring about the real change America's
working families need. That change is building an economy that rewards not just
wealth, but work--and the workers who create it," Obama stated. APWU responded
not just with ovations but by promising to launch its largest-ever effort to
mobilize members to get out the vote for Obama and other labor-endorsed
candidates in November.
Obama was not the only speaker referring to turning pages. So did NALC President
William Young, whom APWU delegates warmly welcomed on the conclave’s first day,
Aug. 18. At Young’s invitation, APWU President William Burrus had previously
spoken to the NALC convention in Boston. The union presidents’ appearances at
each other’s conventions were firsts for both NALC and APWU.
"Whatever divided us in the past doesn't mean diddly-squat," Young said. "We
will work together and we will succeed." Burrus noted the joint appearances do
not mean the two postal unions are talking merger, just closer cooperation.
Both postal unions, which represent the vast majority of workers at the U.S.
Postal Service, face challenges including loss of jobs due to privatization,
outsourcing and technology, plus postal "reform" proposals that could undermine
the quality, universal service that has been a hallmark of the Postal Service
since its inception during the American Revolution. Obama told the delegates
privatization and deregulation of the Postal Service were not on his agenda.
Young and Burrus both said the need to change the direction of the country is
also bringing the two unions together. "Something's got to change, and we've got
make it happen. The men and women of the NALC are ready to stand
shoulder-to-shoulder with the men and women of the APWU to make sure that it does," Young declared.
In other business, Postal Workers convention delegates:
* Set bargaining priorities for the next round of contract talks with USPS. The
top goal is to “develop and negotiate clear and concise contractual language to
eliminate and reverse” elimination of USPS jobs, delegates decided. The old pact
ends in 2010.
“All our hard-fought benefits become useless if our members no longer have their
jobs. We cannot allow postal management to commit blunder after blunder and
attempt to balance its budget on the backs and through the wallets of our
members,” the APWU resolution said. Top priority was given to protecting work in
the clerk, maintenance, motor vehicle, and support services crafts.
Delegates also said another bargaining priority should be elimination of
“casual” employees and converting “part-time flexible” workers to full-time
work. Under pressure from the anti-worker GOP Bush regime, USPS management has
frequently turned to such non-full-time not-organizable workers.
* Heard Burrus warn that USPS, facing a $1.5 billion deficit, would try to cut it
via buyouts and service cuts. He said APWU would launch a campaign to keep
universal, nationwide postal service alive. The new postal law requires periodic
agency review of all USPS services, including nationwide coverage and
6-days-per-week delivery.
“Our advice is: Don’t Go....Early-outs are not new, having been offered in many
industries. But they are called ‘buyouts,’ and employees have been offered
healthy cash incentives. Every APWU-represented employee who leaves early will
save the USPS hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Burrus said.
“With the economy nearing a recession, the opportunity to replace postal
employment with another job after retirement has diminished. APWU demands
employees eligible for the early-out be offered a cash incentive to cushion the
shock. Postal management refuses to discuss our proposal, so I have asked
eligible employees to reject early retirement. Make them pay.”