INK May 20, 2011

• Union Bailout Update
• Twice Burned: SC Boeing Workers and the IAM
• A Case Study in Union Ordained Inefficiency
• Glover Mystery Solved?
• SEIU Watch, Sticky Fingers and more…

Union Bailout Update   An internal NLRB document leaked last week suggests the Boeing complaint is only the first salvo in the NLRB’s all out war on free enterprise.  Since its inception, the NLRB has only compelled employers to negotiate working conditions, not business decisions. However, the leaked memo suggests the Board will soon change all that and for the first time not only grant the union boss a seat in the boardroom but also veto power. The memo tells regional directors to flag all relocation cases so the Board might consider whether to “propose a new standard” and modify the rules established two decades ago in Dubuque Packing,one can presume using one of those flagged employers as their next scapegoat. Under existing NLRB rulings, an employer is free to relocate or consolidate facilities without consulting the union as long as those changes are not made primarily to lower labor costs.  But Board Chair Liebman has repeatedly expressed her displeasure with Dubuqueand would prefer to compel employers to provide a union with detailed economic justification for relocation to then bargain with that union over the need and nature of relocation or lose the right to it.  Potentially businesses could be hamstrung in such negotiations for years if the union so chooses. Bottom line, the Board wants such business decisions made only to benefit unions (Never to be confused with unionized workers!) and never investors, owners, shareholders, customers or non-unionized employees.  One has to wonder if the Board could then expand the scope of that logic to cover other business decisions that affect the size of a unionized workforce such as hours of operation, product lines and manufacturing techniques.  It’s also no stretch to imagine unions negotiating relocations not to protect the jobs of members potentially affected by them but only to coerce neutrality somewhere else. Meanwhile, as we reported last week, the House Oversight Committee sent anexcoriating letter to NLRB Acting General Counsel Solomon demanding, among other things, records of any communications between the Board and union officials.  The Committee then followed up with a similar set of demands for the National Mediation Board Chair Harry Hoglander to hopefully shed some much needed light on the NMB’s surprise decision last year to do away with 75 years of majority rule in transportation elections.  These and other House actions come on the heels of the Job Protection Act’s introduction in the Senate.  That bill would clarify the role of the NLRB and guarantee an employer’s right to relocate anywhere within the United States.   House and Senate members have also called on Obama to immediately withdraw the names of both Solomon and Craig Becker (both temporary appointments) from nomination to their respective positions because of the blatant destructive overreach of the Boeing complaint. Sadly, none of this has sat well with Harry Reid who, using a somewhat addled interpretation of checks and balances, chided Republicans for their attempts to sully with partisan politicking the hallowed halls of blind justice that house the National Labor Relations Board.  Reid seemed particularly piqued with GOP threats to hold up permanent appointments for Becker and Solomon, the one and same Harry Reid who held the Bush NLRB hostage without a quorum for over two years and bragged about it daily. “We all know that Republicans dislike organized labor.” Reid read on the Senate floor this week.  “We know they disdain unions because unions demand fairness and equality from big businesses that Republicans swath and shield at all cost.” ********* Twice Burned: SC Boeing Workers and the IAM It may be the most under-reported chapter of the Boeing story and perhaps the most compelling – the story of how employees at the controversial new Boeing facility in South Carolina kicked out the Machinist’s union in 2009 and why. The same South Carolina workers whose jobs are now in jeopardy due to the NLRB complaint against Boeing voted to join the IAM by a slim margin in the fall of 2007 when the plant was still owned by Vought, a major supplier of Boeing fuselage.  And just a little over a year later, on the exact same day the union’s one year grace period expired, a contract was ratified under circumstances that so infuriated the rank and file they decertified from the IAM as soon as the Boeing purchase left them free to do so. Rumor has it only 13 members (out of close to 300) attended that fateful midnight hour ratification vote in 2008 and 12 voted for the contract.  (As is typical, the IAM business agent would only say the contract was ratified by an incontrovertible 92%.)   Vought honored the contract (it was the same deal the company put on the table) but at the time the company spokesperson expressed surprise at the ratification vote as there were future negotiation dates scheduled and neither side had yet made a final offer. The IAM claimed it had to rush the ratification vote to lock in seniority rights before Vought could announce massive temporary lay-offs the next day due to a production slowdown.  Ironically, the slowdown was caused by the 57 day IAM strike against Boeing in Everett, WA.  Of course that sorry fact could have left newly laid off IAM members in South Carolina more than a little miffed at their new union, perhaps enough to decertify prior to first contract.According to Vought, other than those recall rights, the agreement included “terms and conditions substantially similar to those in effect at the time of the union’s certification”.  So, put simply, 280 South Carolina Vought workers were paying dues for a do-nothing IAM contract forced on them through a sneaky midnight vote only to be laid off the next day because IAM members in Everett were out on strike to prevent Boeing from outsourcing any future work to vendors like Vought.  Got that? Dennis Murray, a quality inspector at the plant told the Seattle Times he was unaware of the ratification vote until it was done and he scoffed at the notion that the union-recall rights were worthwhile. With the lack of trained labor in the area, he said, Vought had no option but to recall everyone it has trained at the state’s expense.  Mechanic Pam DeGarmo said the 1.5 percent annual wage hike wouldn’t even cover the union dues and inflation. “It’s a horrible contract,” said DeGarmo. “I didn’t gain anything. It’s going to cost me money.” Paul Gaudrault, a quality inspector and the sole vote against the contract said at the time that the contract was so poor he predicted some laid-off workers would not come back.  But newly laid-off assembly mechanic Jay Fleckenstein perhaps said it best. “We got screwed,” he told a reporter as he worked his second job delivering pizza. Livid over the secretive nature of the vote, the cost of the contract and the cavalier attitude of the union, workers contacted the NLRB immediately and were told their only recourse was to decertify 60-90 days before the sham contract was due to expire in 2011.  All that changed in 2009 when the purchase by Boeing reopened that same contract.  (Boeing had agreed to recognize the union.)  So in September of 2009, by a vote of 199-68, and for what sure sound like good reasons, workers at the new Boeing facility in South Carolina told the IAM to get lost. Now as the NLRB contends Boeing is retaliating against Everett workers by increasing the production capacity of the South Carolina plant, one has to wonder if the IAM, and its proxy the NLRB, are not retaliating against South Carolina Boeing workers for daring to decertify and muck up IAM plans for wall-to-wall domination over Boeing.   And, Right to Work state or not, it goes without saying that this particular Boeing plant could remain uniquely immune to IAM organizing rhetoric for many years to come. ********** SCORE BOARD Who are the winners (and losers) of the labor movement? Don’t guess, just check the LRI Scoreboard View this month’s scoreboard (archives also located here). Download a PDF of this month’s scoreboard ********** A New Combatant in the Boeing Brawl Meanwhile, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has filed a FOIA request on the NLRB.  In the request, Foundation President Mark Mix asked that the agency produce all the documentation regarding communications between NLRB officials and third parties, including communications with Obama administration officials; officials from the offices of the Governors of Washington and Oregon; and any other federal, state, or local government agency personnel regarding Boeing or the IAM union, the opening of the company’s facility in South Carolina, and about the NLRB’s complaint against Boeing itself. The Foundation has also issued a statement of intent to assist all current and future Boeing employees who could lose their jobs as a result of the NLRB complaint against Boeing.  There are rumors that the Foundation is already in talks with two current South Carolina Boeing employees.   ********** Right to Work Efforts Failing Earlier this year, Right to Work efforts were moving in fourteen states, buoyed by the GOP sweep of statehouses and legislatures in northern union strongholds.  But as we move into the summer, only New Hampshire has passed Right to Work legislation and the Democrat governor’s predicted veto will likely hold. So what happened?  Moderate Republican governors and legislators have literally begged Right to Work advocates to back off their efforts claiming they would derail other pieces of their pro-business agendas by stirring up a hornet’s nest of union animus.  In many once promising states RtW legislation has not yet even made it out of committee as Republicans mysteriously distance themselves without explanation. And in heavily unionized states, Republicans have fought the legislation right along side Democrats out of fear for their political lives. There’s a good reason no state has gone Right to Work since Oklahoma in 2001 – nothing sets off the fury of unionists like a direct threat to the dues chute and unions will spare no expense and risk any alliance to keep the dues money flowing. ********** A Case Study in Union Ordained Inefficiency It’s a $20 gadget approved by the International Plumbers Code that routinely shaves thousands off the cost of a construction project — in every state but Minnesota.  And while to most it might seem trivial, the banning of “air-admittance valves” or AAVs by Minnesota lawmakers draws a disturbing picture of how labor unions routinely use political muscle to stifle innovation and institutionalize inefficiency and waste. AAVs simplify the venting of sewer gas, eliminating multiple vent stacks and slashing plumber man-hours from construction projects – something that sounds great to everyone but the Minnesota Pipe Trades Association, the state’s largest plumbers union. During court hearings in 2005, after AAVs were approved for interim use, Minnesota plumbers squawked because the invention would cost them work. “AAVs will eliminate traditional ventilation systems on which our livelihood depends,” said Timothy McQuillan, a member of the Minnesota Plumbing Advisory Council, in a signed affidavit. But since then the plumbers union has changed its tune and banning the valve is no longer about protecting jobs (and dues).  Now the AAV is a silent stalking killer, hiding in the walls of nursing homes and kindergartens ready to strike with airborne e coli.  The union’s prophecies, based on the conjectures of one unaccredited source without a scrap of credible evidence, fly in the face of years of AAV use around the world without one complaint, negative study or incident. Lawrence Justin, the only engineer on the Minnesota Plumbers Board, said AAVs are widely endorsed by engineering associations, including the American Society of Plumbing Engineers. “The valves have all the testing and approval that any other plumbing equipment has,” said Justin. Ignoring engineering research, Reps. Tim Mahoney and Tom Rukavina and Sen. David Tomassoni, all Democrats, instead latched onto the killer plumbing narrative of the MPTA and snuck a ban on AAVs into a 200+ page state budget bill in 2007 without notice or the expert hearings that are SOP for any changes to building code.  Meanwhile, Minnesota union plumbing political action committees have contributed more than $235,000 to political candidates and causes since 2005, nearly $75,000 of which went directly to the House and Senate DFL caucuses. “These people are institutionalizing waste to their own economic benefit,” said John Diehl, president of Studor Inc. that annually sells 650,000 valves in North America alone. A ban on air-admittance valves is not exactly headline material or likely to attract the attention of even the most militant advocates of small government.  And yet Minnesota businesses, homeowners and taxpayer are expected to absorb thousands per project in unnecessary costs only to maintain the bottom line of Minnesota plumbers unions.  This also raises the question of how many other institutionalized inefficiencies are out there, protected by buried legislation or regulation, only to maintain a union boss’ lifestyle or punish an employer who wouldn’t play ball. ********** And You Thought You Couldn’t Be More Afraid Just when you thought the federal government couldn’t get any scarier we have this – the wonks in the Office of Management and Budget are going union.  So what, you’re thinking, aren’t the majority of non-political appointees working for the federal government already unionized?  How much damage could another union contract do? Plenty. We can start with the mission of the Office of Management and Budget — to “serve the President of the United States in implementing his vision across the Executive Branch.”  (In other words, make up numbers that make the President look good.) Now let’s add to the mix Obama’s Executive Order 13522 that gives Federal employee unions the right to “pre-decisional involvement” over government decisions, like (gulp) the federal budget.   Key here is the notion of “pre-decisional involvement” which translates to “before anything gets to the point where it could be subject to a FOIA request.” Now what’s odd is the OMB employees don’t really seem to have any beefs with their employer – they love their jobs, their boss is swell — they just suddenly, inexplicably, were overcome with the desire to “have more of a voice” over decisions that effect them.  Hm.  And of course the Administration couldn’t declare fast enough that they are just plain flat-out tickled to stay neutral as can be while OMB workers exercise their right to become fully empowered all-American workers by joining an awesome union like the AFGE.  (This election should be a real nail biter.)   ************** The New Empowering DOL Phone App Meanwhile, just down the avenue, the Department of Labor has launched a smart phone application to help workers track their hours at work.  The free app is available for download at the DOL website. The application also prompts users to contact the DOL Wage and Hour Division Help Line. “I am pleased that my department is able to leverage increasingly popular and available technology to ensure that workers receive the wages to which they are entitled,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis. “This app will help empower workers to understand and stand up for their rights when employers have denied their hard-earned pay.” Spoken like a true organizer, Hilda. Note how Solis makes no mention of the possibility that the program just might help a random worker here or there see his or her math was wrong and that in fact the payroll clerk was correct.  And nowhere does the Department encourage workers who believe a mistake was made to approach their employer about it first before assuming the worst and contacting the DOL.  Better to immediately turn to Mother State instead. Who knows, maybe some intrepid Apple employee will file a DOL claim (after all, Apple is the target of a nascent organizing effort). Hopefully then Apple will see the error of approving this ridiculous app in the first place. ********** SEIU Watch Dave Kieffer, the new California SEIU executive director, wants you to think he’s really onto something.  Kieffer has mysteriously calculated that 87,000 of SEIU’s 700,000 unionized workers in California are Republicans and by Dave’s reckoning, that makes SEIU a potent force in California GOP politics.  Or at least that’s the smoke he’s blowing this week. “SEIU needs to build a Republican program to play in Republican districts for our Republican members and for our broader self-interest,” Kieffer told Calbuzz, as if there were enough lipstick in the world to disguise the broader self-interests of SEIU as palatable to any Republican in their right mind. What Kieffer is really saying is SEIU intends to throw its considerable California clout at unseating vulnerable Republicans who find themselves in the mega-union’s crosshairs for not behaving when warned.  And claiming to represent SEIU Republican members is only Keiffer’s sly way of excusing union intrusion into GOP primaries.   “The tensions between the public sector unions and the Republicans are at an all time high but there’s nothing that says we can’t work with them.”  (The “or else” is implied.) SEIU would support ball-playing Republicans either with outright campaign help or by going negative with an independent expenditure against “unreasonable” GOP opponents who might dare to think with their own minds. Meanwhile, in a move surely endorsed by all 87,000 loyal SEIU Republicans, the unionlaunched “the first wave of a seven-figure advertising campaign planned for the coming weeks as California races toward a June 15 deadline for adopting a state budget.’ The ad campaign “…calls on California legislators to work together to ‘stop extreme cuts” that threaten our families’ safety and security.” [19] One can only assume SEIU is demanding either more debt or higher taxes in lieu of “extreme cuts” although that too goes without saying. Meanwhile, just up the coast, SEIU has started a petition drive in Washington to repeal the state’s sales tax exemption for out-of-state residents.  According to Washington Public Disclosure Commission filings, the union has transferred $500,000 into an account dedicated to passing the measure, Initiative 1167. Ending the exemption, which is popular with retailers, would yield an estimated $66 million per biennium to fund training programs for SEIU home-care workers. Last week, a coalition of Southwest Washington business leaders wrote an open letter to legislators urging them to retain the tax break for out-of-state residents, noting that some local companies get 18 to 25 percent of their business from Oregon.  Surely this effort too enjoys the full-throated endorsement of SEIU Republicans for Bigger Government.   ********** The Ugly Chavez Legacy Ugly details about the Chavez family and the labor icon himself are radiating out of a public feud between Cesar’s sons Anthony and Paul Chavez.  Anthony has filed a wrongful termination suit against his brother and has accusing Paul of withholding thousands in pension benefits from him.  Paul runs the National Farm Workers Service Center on the Chavez family compound, just steps from Anthony’s home and his own. According to the New York Times, the Chavez legacy has drifted from helping farm workers into a string of purposeless organizations which do little beyond employ family members and cash in on Cesar’s cult hero status. “Paul cares more about building his assets than helping people,” said Liz Villarino, one of Cesar’s daughters who worked until recently as the Service Center’s controller. “He wants all the power to be the go-to person whenever people have questions about his father and his legacy and create his own little empire.” “Just because we are the children of Helen and Cesar Chavez doesn’t mean we are good people,” Anthony told a reporter, choking back tears.  Or perhaps the apples have not fallen all that far from the tree. As labor historian (and noted union apologist) Randy Shaw has documented in “Beyond the Fields” the United Farm Workers founder has been posthumously transformed into “a national icon,” while his darker side has “been minimized or ignored.” The Ghandi-esque glow that surrounds him makes it difficult if not impossible to speak of the true reasons for the failure of the UFW– the unfettered megalomania of the elder Chavez and how that shaped both the children and the movement he spawned. Cesar Chavez was known to rule the UFW with an iron fist, swiftly purging any critics from his organizations and even going so far as to have them blacklisted and driven from the farm fields.  Chavez made sure anyone who stood up to him was unemployable, even suing his detractors for libel. Then in the 1980s, just as the UFW was gaining traction in representing farm workers, Chavez lost interest in farm labor organizing and saw his true legacy as the father of a broader “Poor Peoples Union” that would focus more on the issues of the urban poor and less and less on the migrant farm workforce.  Chavez went off the deep end, using cultish loyalty games to humiliate and isolate staff members he no longer trusted.  By his death 1993, Chavez had dragged the United Farm Workers and its offshoot organizations down the rabbit hole with him and what remained after his death was a multi-million dollar cult of personality short one charismatic leader. Since his death and secular canonization other labor leaders, fancying themselves the next great labor icon, have looked to the Chavez model to see their “visions” realized.  Most notably Andy Stern, not content with being a mere union president, saw himself as the next great liberator of the working poor and ran his organization accordingly. ********** Just for Fun: Union Contests! Just because everyone needs a break from the assault on the middle class we’d like to draw your attention to two fun and exciting union contests! To start, you only have ten days to vote for your favorite in the Labor Video of the Year contest over at Talking Union, a website run by the Democratic Socialists of America. Finalists include: “Honeywell – Experience Matters” — a cautionary tale on the toxic mix of child labor and radioactive isotopes from the Steelworkers. “Workplace Democracy Corporate Style” — (our favorite!) an expose’ on what really goes on in captive audience meetings. (minus the water boarding)  (This video can also be used as a management drinking game – one shot for every ULP committed.) “Refusal of Unsafe Work” – featuring an uncomfortably short boss, a clever union member and scary dog robots. “Things to Know From Wisconsin” – to summarize, Scott Walker hates you. “The Red Tail” – How swell things worked out for unionized NWA workers when their union wouldn’t back down. Once you’ve voted, get to work on your entry for the AFL-CIO’s “Unions Now More Than Ever!” contest. There’s a $2500.00 grand prize for the best video, graphic or song that speaks to this theme — it’s clear workers need unions more than ever, even if they don’t usually seem to think so themselves, and no can explain what the hell unions are good for without going back at least thirty years and, oh yeah, corporations are evil. To get you started why not try the LRI instant cartoon generator! ********** Social Media Spotlight The Metro New York Labor Communications Council is offering a daylong workshop for union organizers called “Mobile-ize, Organize and Unionize” on June 3 in NYC. From their website: Organizing 2.0 and Mobile Commons have teamed up to offer a special day-long training in using mobile phone technology for organizing. This training is meant for three kinds of attendees:

• Experienced practitioners looking for case studies and examples of innovating organizing,
• New users of mobile organizing software looking for basic and advanced training,
• and prospective users looking for information about mobile organizing options before making the leap to a particular vendor.

Agenda: Overview of the sector: progressive organizing with mobile phone technology today Software training – using the Mobile Commons interface Managing your mobile data in coordination with other databases/CRM’s Integration with Salsa & Convio Using Keywords, Opting In, Broadcasts, Groups, mConnects Targeting, Pingbacks, Link Shortening, mobile web optimization Opt-in forms, click to call, auto-population of fields Advanced tips/tricks Unions using mobile – case studies Community organizing with mobile – case studies List-building basics,  Call-in campaigns, Interactive campaigns, Rapid response, Crowd building, Day-of event plans Low-cost alternatives to major mobile platform vendors Group texting Internal voting Local vs. National Advanced list-building strategies ********** Glover Mystery Solved? And finally, a partial explanation for the mystery that is Danny Glover. In case you missed it, Danny Glover, former actor best know for his appearances in the Lethal Weapon film series, has been turning up a lot over the past few years at protests and labor disputes.  Here’s Glover making a pitch to Oscars attendees not to wear Hugo Boss suits for its plot to shut down a Workers United-SEIU plant in Cleveland.  And here’s Glover at a rally for striking Pocono Hospital workers unionized by SEIU.  And here’s “undercover Glover” this time announcing an international investigation of Sodexo based on charges of human rights violations leveled against the food service giant by SEIU. And here’s Glover turning out for Workers United-SEIU in its raid on Philadelphia UNITEHERE cafeteria workers and here’s Glover being handcuffed with Andy Stern andhere’s Glover at SEIU’s “One Nation Marching Together” rally in LA. Now for anyone who’s been following the Glover phenomenon over the years a few things never made sense.   We’ve been told that Glover comes from a union family and has always had a soft spot for labor and yet he only started showing up on the labor scene a few years ago.   And if Glover is such a big labor activist how come he never shows up for, say, the Teamsters?  And if “Have Outrage-Will Travel” Glover is so passionately committed to the causes he champions, how come he’s never able to drag any of his Hollywood pals along with him? Well, finally, the Glover mystery may be unraveling.  It turns out that SEIU made a$45,000 donation last year to the Transafrica Forum whose board chair just happens to be Danny Glover. Stay tuned…. ********** Sticky Fingers Current charges or sentences of embezzling union officials:

http://www.nlpc.org/union-corruption-update