Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Experts doubt LV chamber’s claim against card check

Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce lobbyists visited Washington this week armed with a new argument against card-check legislation.

They have dubbed the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for workers to organize, the “Small Business Intimidation Act,” saying small businesses will be labor’s No. 1 target if card check becomes law. In doing so, they join business leaders across the country who are seeking to inoculate businesses against an anticipated wave of unionization.

The card-check bill would allow workers to form a union when a majority signs cards of support instead of voting in a secret-ballot election. It would also stiffen penalties for employers who commit unfair labor practices during organizing drives and impose binding arbitration in contract talks when both sides cannot agree.

Labor says it needs card check because management uses an election campaign to intimidate and fire workers, routinely flouting labor law and dragging out the process. Business argues that secret ballots are the fairest way for workers to decide on unionization and that card check opens employees to coercion from organizers.

The Las Vegas chamber is so concerned about the prospect of card check that its lobbyists arrived early for their annual trip to Capitol Hill, to get ahead of the legislation, which could be introduced as early as next week.

The deep concern was on display here at last month’s annual convention of the National Grocers Association. A management labor lawyer instructed independent grocers to improve labor relations in the workplace and to lobby members of Congress, because “this thing is ready made to come after you guys.” Unions, he said, will pick the “low-hanging fruit.”

But labor experts disagree. Historically, the labor movement has grown across industries, with unions organizing large blocks of workers. Modern organizing successes in the private sector have tended to involve large companies that allowed card check versus working within the conventional election constraints of the National Labor Relations Board.

“Generally, unions have sought to organize strategically rather than seizing on the opportunity of the moment,” said Harley Shaiken, a University of California, Berkeley, labor expert who was on President Barack Obama’s short list to be labor secretary. “You want impact beyond the grocery store around the corner.”

The Culinary Union, for instance, has organized tens of thousands of Las Vegas casino workers over the past two decades, targeting the largest casino operators and making gaming a largely union industry here. If card check passes, the union would likely target nonunion gaming giant Station Casinos, not a patchwork of video-poker bars.

The chamber of commerce, however, points to organizing data from the National Labor Relations Board that suggest otherwise. In 2007, nearly 70 percent of union representation elections involved workplaces with fewer than 50 employees. Veronica Meter, vice president for government affairs of the Las Vegas chamber, said that trend is disturbing because the overwhelming majority of the chamber’s members are small-business owners.

Meter cited a membership poll showing 43 percent of those surveyed are worried their employees could be intimidated into signing union cards. Another 2 percent said they were worried their employees would want to unionize if given the chance. Nearly 41 percent, however, said they were not concerned their employees would organize.

When asked what they would do if their employees organized and their labor costs increased, nearly 28 percent said they would have to lay off employees, nearly 13 percent said they wouldn’t be able to survive, and a third said they “would rather close my business than have to deal with a union.”

Kate Bronfenbrenner, a labor professor at Cornell University who studies organizing, said the federal labor board’s election numbers reflect the tough organizing environment under modern labor law. Unions, facing aggressive employer opposition and weak labor law, have targeted smaller shops in recent years, in part because they don’t have the resources to fight large corporations, she said.

“The little guys are the target when the chips are down for unions,” Bronfenbrenner said. If card check passes, she added, “unions are not going to waste their time organizing small groups. They will go after the big units.”

According to Shaiken, that means the unions will go after major retailers, such as Wal-Mart, and national hospital chains, two largely unorganized sectors of the economy that “really define wages and working conditions far beyond their immediate industry.”

Culinary leader D. Taylor said that because unions essentially spend as many resources organizing small shops as they do large ones, labor leaders would focus on “large-growth targets” to get the most bang for their buck.

“Fundamentally, it’s about bringing more benefits to more workers in a quicker amount of time,” Taylor said. “And Home Depot is in a much better position (to pay those benefits) than a mom-and-pop hardware store.”

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