Editor's choice

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Editor's Note: James Andrews is the president of the state chapter of the AFL-CIO. This essay is in part a response to a recent piece by a Raleigh lawyer who explored why a proposed labor-law change is a bad idea for employers.The essay was edited for length.

Free choice would level the playing field

In all the talk of bailouts and bubbles, our nation's pundits are missing the fundamental point that working Americans have been suffering much longer than companies like AIG or Citibank.

For years communities have watched good manufacturing jobs disappear. The new high-tech jobs that were supposed to replace the old ones never materialized. Instead, working families have scrambled for part-time, underpaid McJobs that don't pay the rent or bills.

For the last 25 years, real wages have dropped, even though working people's productivity has soared. People have struggled to maintain their living standards through credit cards and loans. But eventually, that led to economic meltdown, because you can't maintain a consumer-driven economy on debt forever. And you can't rebuild or maintain a middle class on credit. You have to do it the old-fashioned way. Workers need to be able to bargain for decent wages and benefits in order for our nation to have a true, sustainable recovery.

New labor law reform legislation, the Employee Free Choice Act, will restore workers' freedom to improve their living standards -- and our economy -- by forming unions, free from employer interference and intimidation. It will add balance back into our economy, and give working people the tools they need to win fair wages and treatment in corporate America. There won't be a sustainable recovery unless we address workers' ability to bargain for a better deal.

People who have a union, after all, make 30 percent more than those who don't. In North Carolina, the union difference is an average $9,878 and workers with a union are also much more likely to have health insurance and benefits.

So it's no wonder that, according to independent polling, when American workers without a union are asked if they would like to join one, well over half (around 60 million) answer yes. Unfortunately, most of them will never get the chance.

Every day corporations deny American workers the right to form a union by forcing them to go through company-controlled elections. A quarter of companies fire union supporters in union organizing campaigns. Three-quarters of companies force workers into one-on-one meetings against the union with their direct supervisors, and employees often aren't allowed to speak, according to a study from Cornell University. Meanwhile, union representatives aren't even allowed on the premises.

Does this seem like a free and fair election?

The Employee Free Choice Act would eliminate the problem of rigged, company-dominated elections by letting workers decide how they want to form a union. There are now two ways for workers to express their decision of whether to form a union -- they can petition for an election, or they can be recognized when a majority signs cards saying they want a union. The problem is that companies get to decide which way the workers decide. The Employee Free Choice Act would reverse that; it would put the choice into workers' hands.

All employees should have the freedom to make their own decision about whether to form a union. Our labor laws do not respect workers' choice. Our laws promote wage inequality and depress our middle class. In today's economy it is more important than ever that we fix these broken laws. Let's level the playing field and give working people a chance.