Union Activism
Unions Shouldn’t Be Setting America’s Business Agenda
An emboldened labor movement is pushing an aggressive activist agenda that would impose new and costly regulations on businesses, disrupt the way businesses are run, and stifle the U.S. economy. This agenda may be good for union bosses and the grab for power, but it's bad for U.S. competitiveness, bad for our economy, and bad for American workers. This becomes all the more puzzling since only 7.6 percent of the private sector is unionized, and only 12.4 percent of all organizations are unionized.
There are two major power grabs being promulgated by unions that need to be addressed, and both are dangerous to free enterprise.
The first is the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as card check.
This is a slap in the face of America’s embrace of the private vote. With the passage of this pending Card Check bill, now union organizers will be able to identify each employee’s vote, making the way for union coercion activities to force their pro-union vote. The potential for abuse and intimidation is staggering. If only 50 percent plus one of employees signs a card supporting union representation, the employer must recognize the union.
Let your voice be heard and support the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, a coalition of more than 500 businesses and associations that are combating the Employee Free Choice Act.
The second is the blatant move by unions to unravel NAFTA
The second challenge comes from growing congressional protectionist sentiment and the ramping up of Homeland Security scrutiny between the U.S. and Canada. By clamping down on truck shipments between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico, the added barriers imposed on border access drives up costs and reduces the productivity of American workers.
With the case of Mexico, unions have been able to “sell” the idea that allowing Mexican trucks to transport goods within the U.S. poses a safety risk. Yet, during a one year test of Mexican truckers, their accident rate was negligible, far less than unionized American truckers. But unions have been able to force trucks coming from Mexico to unload their goods and transfer them to U.S. trucks for interstate transportation within the U.S.
This becomes an extremely sensitive issue considering that during 2008, the U.S. exported $200 billion to Canada (up 11 percent over 2007) and $115 billion to Mexico (up 13 percent). In fact, 30 percent of all U.S. trade goes to NAFTA partners.
Further, most Americans don’t appreciate that today, Canada is America’s biggest trade partner, and it is where the U.S. gets most of its crude oil and petroleum. It does NOT come from the Middle East. Consider that Mexico imports more U.S. products than China and Japan combined, and that Mexico is neck-and-neck with Saudi Arabia when it comes to petroleum exports to the U.S.