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Wait a minute, are you kidding me?
Is there a blogging equivalent of a double take, because I’m doing that right now. Maine labor boss Jack McKay is a tricky guy. He has been trying to conflate union leadership elections, with union organization elections in an effort to suggest that unions like secret ballots. But if you know anything about unions, you [more...]

Posted Thu, 28 Aug 2008 .

Some Common Sense in Minnesota
Minnesota, for one reason or another, has quickly become the epicenter of the debate about the deceptively-named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Earlier this summer, the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor party (DFL) Chairman called us liars for suggesting that the bill would eliminate secret ballot elections in workplace unionization elections. We, in turn, challenged him to [more...]

Posted Wed, 27 Aug 2008 .

 Read more at LaborPains.org

Unfair Labor Practices


A History Of Violations
Virtually every U.S. labor union faces allegations of violating labor law. Consider the number of charges filed against these unions between 1998 and 2004:

United Food and Commercial Workers  2,161
Teamsters  6,909
Service Employees International Union  3,910
Steelworkers  1,912

Source: data supplied by the Bureau of National Affairs
"When most people think of violations of labor law, they think first of “Big Business.” But employees, employers, and labor organizations file thousands of charges each year – called Unfair Labor Practices – alleging violations of labor law by union officials.

The National Labor Relations Board's annual report for fiscal year 2005 included the number of Unfair Labor Practices alleged against employers and unions. Once again, union officials faced a disproportionately high number of allegations of wrongdoing, when compared to employers. The worst part: The vast majority of allegations said that members were the ones hurt by the union officials that are supposed to protect them.

    The NLRB reported in 2005 that:
  • Unions faced a total of 6,381 allegations
  • 82% of charges against unions alleged illegal restraint and coercion of employees (by comparison, the leading allegation against employers — at 53% — was for refusal to bargain)
  • 594 charges were for illegal union discrimination against employees

    The NLRB reported in 2004 that:
  • Unions faced a total of 6,917 allegations of wrongdoing
  • 80% of those charges were filed by individuals
  • Unions filed more than 100 charges against other unions
  • 81% of charges alleged illegal restraint and coercion of employees

More than 600 charges alleged illegal discrimination against employees, an increase of about 6 percent from 2003.