While only 10% of the U.S. workforce is unionized, statistics from the USWA show that 45% or more of the non-union workforce wants to be unionized. Unfortunately, unpunished violations by employers of the provisions of the Taft-Hartley and other labor Acts effectively prevents further unionization of the workforce. We note that annually over 20,000 American workers are fired for union organizing activity, in complete violation of Federal law. Accordingly, H.R. 1696, the Employee Free Choice Act will ensure the job safety of employees who are trying to organize bargaining units, and will also simplify the certification process for new units.
TRACA, the “Restoring America’s Competitiveness” Act, H.R. 5043 [IH] will serve to “level the playing field” for American workers and industry when faced with unfair competition from subsidized or non-market economies. It will give American trade negotiators more teeth when faced with the many unfair adjudications from the World Trade Organization.
It goes without saying that labor is deeply concerned about issues such as living wage, healthcare, and the environment, which will be addressed by other participants.
Finally, labor is very dissatisfied with the appointments of the Bush administration to Federal agencies overseeing labor issues and job safety. Especially outrageous are the appointments of mining executives to the Bureau of Mines. Labor would like to note that Jim Walter Enterprises, in whose Alabama coal operations 13 miners were killed in 2001, was fined a mere $435,000, later reduced by a Federal judge to $3,000, for mine safety violations that year. The USWA likes to point out that this is significantly less that the $500,000 that CBS was fined for Janet Jackson’s wardrobe problems at the Superbowl. This seems to indicate some rather odd Federal priorities in the general enforcement arena.
