Posted on 08/28/2014 9:31:40 AM PDT by reaganaut1
[T]he NLRA sometimes comes in for criticism from leftists, who argue that it doesn’t do enough to tilt the playing field in favor of unions and collective bargaining. The common complaint is that although the NLRA does make it illegal for employers to discriminate against workers because of union advocacy, the legal processes under that statute are too slow and weak to deter employers from telling workers, “I don’t want to deal with a union and if I find you agitating for one, you’ll be fired.”
To remedy that purported defect in the law, Representatives Keith Ellison (D-MN) and John Lewis (D-GA) recently introduced a bill that would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to allow anyone who charges that he was fired because of his union advocacy to sue under the Civil Rights Act.
Writing on The Hill, Richard Kahlenberg and Moshe Marvit explain, “Even if employees win a judgment from the National Labor Relations Board, they just receive back pay and reinstatement in their jobs….By contrast, our civil rights protections are relatively strong and include compensatory and punitive damages, as well as the right to engage in legal discovery and win attorneys’ fees, when one prevails in federal court.”
The Ellison/Lewis bill would write into law the ideas advanced in Kahlenberg and Marvit’s 2012 book Why Labor Organizing Should Be a Civil Right. One of their key arguments is that income inequality has increased in the U.S. because labor union membership has been waning for decades. (While that’s true for the private sector, public sector unions have steadily grown at the same time.)
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Unions should be outlawed, not given rights.
Short answer: 1.) NO
Long answer: 2.) F^%* NO
They are free to form a “union” on their own time off the company property and the company has no duty to “recognize” their little club.
And on the other side, anyone intimidated by the union for votes or dues has his civil rights violated.
That will end this folly real quick.
No but the specifically garaunteed right of free association, the ability to fire someone who unionizes against the interests of your company, should be reclaimed.
It’s a dumb idea anyway, there is no civil right to a union, or a marriage for that matter.
This is superfluous pandering. Meeting for the purpose of forming a union is already constitutionally protected. The requirement of employers to recognize the union is not so protected as we are not yet a Marxist Society.
Ellison is an admitted practicing Muslim.
We already know enough about the mind of the other one.
NO more gifts to unions.
They are dying & this is another death spasm.
Unions are nothing more than cash cows for Democrat elections.
Sure, as long as it's done off company property and off company time. America is supposed to be a free country, and I should be able to talk to anyone about anything when I'm off the clock. Politics, unions, whatever.
So let's suppose "Joe" and I are the only two machinists at a factory. And off the clock we form a Machinists Union. As long as we do our job while on the clock, none of that should be the boss's concern.
And Joe and I should be able to bargain as a group. And the boss should be free to accept our offer, make a counteroffer, or tell us to get out of his office and go back to work. In the last case, Joe and I can either go back to work, or go on strike.
And then the boss should be free to bring in permanent replacements.
Now having said all that, you can bet that if union organizing is made a civil right, the law will be twisted and abused all out of shape.
Confirmation that the country is gone totally wacko
Indeed!
As part of the whole freedom idea, all union membership everywhere should be voluntary. No one should have to join a union.
Correct. Labor unions are a Marxist invention and have no place here.
Unions are bankrupting companies and municipalities - they should rescind all the defined benefit pensions and extended healthcare paid by taxpayers to all these early retirees - the math doesn’t work.
NOT being forced to be in a union should be a civil right.
Life, Liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the right to unionize.
Hmm...
1 of these things, is not like the others....
Rights cannot be granted to one party without being granted to others in the relationship. Let us have the public debate on the rights of employers to hire and fire at will. I won’t start a business in a state that impedes my ability to run it and to have what workers I please and to fire as I please, not that I find that pleasant.
Organizing a union is a civil right. Ignoring a union is a civil right. That is the basis for negotiation.
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