LaborPains.org

“Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.” So it was for Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III. So too it is today for former union members in Indiana.

As we have previously written, Indiana became the 23^rd right-to-work state back in March 2012. The centerpiece of the legislation liberated workers by allowing them to choose whether to pay money for the union’s services. Now, if workers decide a union is not right for them – or if they simply cannot afford it – they are no longer forced to pay union dues as a condition of employment.

But as the Indianapolis Star reported earlier this week, two powerful labor unions don’t quite see it that way:

Joshua Sterrett resigned from the Communications Workers of America Local 4900 union on January 21. Julie Huffman resigned from the United Food and Commercial Worker Local 700 union in May 2012. In separate complaints to the National Labor Relations Board, the two allege they still are being forced to contribute union dues.

Nevermind that right-to-work legislation prohibits forcing unwilling workers to pay union dues. Nevermind that some workers may simply prefer keeping more of their paycheck to cover other needs. When it comes to unions and collecting dues, they will do anything they can to retain fleeing members – even if it means pulling them back in.

Organized labor’s newest tactics — recently endorsed by the AFL-CIO — are so-called “New Models of Worker Representation” outside the framework of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). Both those laws place restrictions on labor unions to ensure that they actually have majority support of the workers they represent and to ensure they use their money for the workers’ desired purposes.

New organizing groups, like “Workers’ Centers,” have no such restrictions. But even union-like groups outside the rules of unions must follow all the other laws in society, as OUR Walmart, a group backed by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), may soon find out in a Florida state case. As Reuters reports:

Wal-Mart alleged that the defendants violated Florida law through coordinated, statewide acts of trespass in several Walmart stores over the last eight months. It has asked the court for a legal ruling that would prevent future trespassing.

In the lawsuit Wal-Mart cited an example where a group of protesters projected a video promoting OUR Walmart on the side of a store in Orlando and passing out literature inside that store in July, 2012.

So far, Wal-Mart employees haven’t shown that they want a union. So “new organizing groups” — actually union sock-puppets — are engaging in “strikes” that may violate state laws, even if they skirt federal union governance rules. Now the unions may find themselves in hot water. Looks like “New Labor” is a lot like the “Old Labor” with its disregard for the law and employee freedom.

Turn to page A13 of the Wall Street Journal this morning, and you’ll find our Executive Director Richard Berman alerting readers of the country’s highest-circulation newspaper to our research into union collective bargaining agreements and the minimum wage clauses that can be found in them.

While ranting against Berman’s article, Wade Rathke, of ACORN infamy, admits that United Labor Unions Local 100 also includes the minimum wage provisions in many of its contracts:

Research from the Center for Union Facts Uncovers Union Agenda Behind President Obama’s Minimum Wage Hike Proposal

Today the Center for Union Facts released new research detailing how many collective bargaining agreements link union salaries and wage rates to the federal minimum wage. This research comes two days after President Obama proposed raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9—a move which labor unions broadly praised.

The research brief can be accessed here.

“This research shows that labor unions stand to gain from minimum wage increases, even though their members don’t make the minimum wage,” said Richard Berman, Executive Director of the Center for Union Facts. “Some union contracts set starting union wages as much as fifteen percent higher than the federal minimum wage.

“Union officials have been anything but altruistic in their support for minimum wage hikes over the years,” Berman concluded. “This also calls into question whether some politicians who support minimum wage hikes do so out of support for unions—the same unions that are some of the nation’s biggest campaign contributors.”

SEIU Healthcare Michigan Hit With ULP
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), now unanimously pro-union, found that SEIU Healthcare Michigan violated the rights of one of its own employees by not handing over files it is required to share. The Washington Free Beacon reports that the SEIU must post a notice that it was found to have committed an unfair labor practice (ULP). The notice will read: “The National Labor Relations Board has found that we violated Federal labor law … We will not in any like or related manner restrain or coerce you.”

Union Violence in Philadelphia
National Review has been covering the violence of the Philadelphia labor unions and what they are willing to do to get their way. Arson is one of the more popular tactics. We’ve covered this activity in the past, proving that the union thug tradition continues.

UFCW Local Takes a Mulligan on its Election
Supermarket News reports that the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 5 must redo its elections because of potential violations found by the international union. The chief opponent to the incumbent president says that he was fired prior to the election for just daring to run. The challenger says that he did not believe the president was doing enough to find for the best interests of the membership.

Check out all of January’s reports from the Office of Labor Management Standards here.

The NLRB issued a news release today explaining its decision to hold in abeyance Wal-Mart’s charge that the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) committed an unfair labor practice (ULP). Wal-Mart contacted the NLRB just before Thanksgiving as Making Change at Walmart, along with OUR Walmart, a “worker center” that is a subsidiary of the UFCW, attempted to disrupt Black Friday shoppers.

So the UFCW will take a small break from protest circuit, all the while pretending to not have an interest in organizing Wal-Mart workers. The NLRB’s Advice Memorandum makes it clear that the Board is willing to stay ignorant and believe the hype that so-called worker centers, like OUR Walmart or the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC), just want to “help” employees. In reality, “alt-labor” groups won’t hesitate if they ever get the chance to start skimming from employee paychecks and into the pockets of union officials.

Labor unions have a big problem: Americans don’t like them as much as they used to. Luckily for the union cause, labor has a plan to right the sinking ship—ditch, or at least replace, the “union” label.

The latest numbers paint a bleak picture. Public approval of labor unions has dropped nearly 15 percent in the past ten years. It’s currently hovering just a few points above its all-time low of 48 percent in 2009. That’s a far cry from the 75 percent approval rating unions enjoyed in the 1950s.

Then there’s the membership crisis. Union rolls have been steadily shrinking for decades. Private sector union membership is at a 70-year low, and union members as a percentage of the workforce has tumbled from 28 percent in 1954 to a mere 11.2 percent this year. Last year alone saw a substantial loss of roughly 379,000 union jobs.

It’s not hard to explain these numbers. Take the last month, for instance. November saw Hostess implode after a disastrous bakers union strike, taking the Twinkie with it in the process, a dead-on-arrival Walmart union walk-out on Black Friday that made headlines but hindered no one, and an annoying but ineffective SEIU strike at LAX. Early this month, a strike at West Coast ports threatened to put a damper on holiday retail sales.

When you consider these incidents, it’s no wonder that Americans are turning away from the union brand. Yet Labor, well aware that its popularity is on the wane, has found a way to reverse its fortunes: a rebrand.

Welcome to the “Worker Center.” These organizations are little more than labor unions by a different name. They organize unionization pushes and even bargain using union-style brinksmanship and corporate campaign tactics. Yet unlike an official labor union, worker centers don’t have to abide by federal labor law.

These organizations already exist. OUR Walmart, a worker center affiliated with the UFCW, organized those failed Black Friday protests. The Restaurant Opportunities Center—which was originally supposed to be called the Restaurant Organizing Center—is another. ROC, which has nine local affiliates in major American cities, is now actively trying to unionize the restaurant industry. A similar organization, Fast Food Forward, has initiated ongoing strikes at New York City’s fast food chains using professional union organizers to aid in its mission.

The AFL-CIO, not to be left behind, has also started a rebrand. Its non-union union organizing group, “Working America,” is technically classified as a “527.” That’s the same tax-exempt status used by political action committees and political parties. Based out of the AFL-CIO’s D.C. headquarters, Working America boasts some three million non-union members—people which the AFL-CIO still counts on its membership lists.

It’s a sorry state of affairs when labor has to abandon its longstanding brand. Yet for many Americans, “union” has become a dirty word, precisely because of debacles like Hostess and Walmart. Rebranding the movement might just be its only hope.

But rebranding isn’t a guarantee of success. Companies like Comcast (now Xfinity) may have been successful, but others like Blackwater (now Xe) didn’t exactly pan out. Many of the failed attempts ultimately flopped because their name change was not accompanied by any corresponding change in tactics or purpose. Some things just can’t be whitewashed with a few new words.

Unions should take heed. In the long run, self-examination might be more beneficial than a mere name change or a repackaging of the same-old message. Perhaps Americans are shying away from unions not because we’ve changed, but rather because Labor has turned away from what made it great. Unions should reclaim their heritage, not rebrand their their name.