Hilda Solis Gets a Vote Today. Imagine That.
That’s right. Hilda Solis, the Labor Secretary-Designate will get a vote today at 2:00 P.M. according to Senate Aides. The coming battle on the EFCA (Employee Free Choice Act) is mostly what is at stake. Other than Congresswoman Hilda Solis’s husband owning some tax liens–in the amount of $6,468.00–there is no good reason for the vote to be delayed. Imagine that. A pro-labor Labor Secretary. Her husband has since paid those liens which for business-owners isn’t all that uncommon.
Senate Republicans attempted to pull her into a stand off on Union Issues in her confirmation hearings in an attempt to draw a sound bite, or a snide remark, or some other reason to deny her the position. A statement in a Los Angeles Times article entitled “Hilda Solis Deflects Republican Questions Over Union Issues” is pretty incredible: “Republicans are concerned that Solis, a strong supporter of unions in her eight years in the House, will bring a pro-union bias to the Labor Department.”
A pro-union bias to the Labor Department? Listed in the “About DOL” tab on http://www.dol.gov:
“The Department of Labor fosters and promotes the welfare of the job seekers, wage earners, and retirees of the United States by improving their working conditions, advancing their opportunities for profitable employment, protecting their retirement and health care benefits, helping employers find workers, strengthening free collective bargaining, and tracking changes in employment, prices, and other national economic measurements. In carrying out this mission, the Department administers a variety of Federal labor laws including those that guarantee workers’ rights to safe and healthful working conditions; a minimum hourly wage and overtime pay; freedom from employment discrimination; unemployment insurance; and other income support.”
But what is all this about anyway? Previously Labor Secretaries were often ineffectual as unions were systematically busted nationwide over the course of the last 15-20 years; including during the Clinton years. There is a piece of legislation currently pending that could fundamentally remake unions and revitalize them. While not all unions are perfect, and there is corruption in them like any organization, it is important to understand what they have done for the American people over the last century in terms of worker safety, fair wages and have turned the United States into the highest-trained work force in the world.
The Employee Free Choice Act (H.R. 800 which can be read here) is meant to accomplish a few things. Mostly, it makes the penalty for unlawfully terminating union employees three-times back pay and reinstitution; a $20,000 penalty for each separate violation of EFCA; and makes forming, maintaining and expanding a union easier.
Currently, the National Labor Relations Board is the arbitrator if strikes and union disputes affect commerce. The United States, under the inter-state commerce clause of the Constitution has a vested interest in the quick resolution of these disputes. It is an independent government agency created by Congress in 1935, under the leadership of FDR under the auspices of the National Labor Relations Act to “protect the rights of employees and employers, to encourage collective bargaining, and to curtail certain private sector labor and management practices, which can harm the general welfare of workers, businesses and the U.S. economy.” The EFCA would require that the NLRB accept a card-check to ensure that all members of the union have representation at negotiations and intimidation cannot be allowed during the secret ballot that may or may not be truly secret.
Representative George Miller (D-CA) introduced the legislation, remarked that “The current process for forming unions is badly broken and so skewed in favor of those who oppose unions, that workers must literally risk their jobs in order to form a union. Although it is illegal, one quarter of employers facing an organizing drive have been found to fire at least one worker who supports a union. In fact, employees who are active union supporters have a one-in-five chance of being fired for legal union activities. Sadly, many employers resort to spying, threats, intimidation, harassment and other illegal activity in their campaigns to oppose unions. The penalty for illegal activity, including firing workers for engaging in protected activity, is so weak that it does little to deter law breakers.”
Now that there are 59 Senators (including Al Franken: we’re rooting for you, buddy!) on the Democratic Side, it is much more likely that cloture will be achieved. However, it is probably unlikely that Senators Arlen Specter, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins will vote for it. Which means that unless there is a tremendous amount of pressure placed on them, or on rust-belt Republican Senators (Voinovich is a prime example) this legislation will not pass until the next Senate, seated in 2010. So if you want to see this legislation pass and strengthen the United States economy, ensure that you are working for the Democratic Senate candidate in your State, get involved early in the process by finding whoever you believe will be the strongest candidate in the general and start with them.
Also, send donations to Democratic candidates for Senate if you live in a state with an uncompetitive Senate race. You can do so through Act Blue. Heck, send them money even if you are volunteering for them.
Together, we can rebuild our economy. It’s going to be a fight. Let’s get to work.
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