Shreveport Times: Labor Unions an indicator of free society

Writing in the Shreveport Times, guest columnist Terry Reynolds explains the important role of organized labor in maintaining a healthy democracy:

An article in the April 11 New York Times, "Graft in China Covers Up Toll of Coal Mines," reports how mine owners and corrupt local officials literally covered up an underground fire that killed 35 miners, cremating the bodies and dumping tons of dirt over the mine entrance. This relatively common occurrence in China, where an average of nine coal miners die every day, is possible according to the story because, "China's lack of a free press, independent trade unions, citizen watchdog groups and other checks on official power make cover ups possible, even though the Internet now makes it harder to suppress information completely."

In the same NY Times article economics professor Hu Xingdou at the Beijing Institute of Technology states: "We don't have the grassroots democracy; we don't have independent labor unions; we don't have checks and balances; we don't have any system of official accountability." The fact is labor unions are essential advocates for working people in a free society. Unions work to force improvements in job safety and to help working families have a real voice on their jobs. That's why the right to form and join free trade unions is a key indicator used by political scientists and human rights advocates to gauge the real level of freedom in any given society.

But by this measure, freedom in the U.S. has been starkly diminished over the last three decades by corporate abuse of workers rights to organize unions free of threats, intimidation and termination. A serviceman or woman returning from defending freedom in the Middle East wars will find that freedom doesn't extend to the fundamental human right (United Nations International Declaration of Human Rights 1949) to form a union at work. Widespread threatening and firing of workers seeking union representation has virtually eliminated the ability of working people to organize and bargain collectively.

The Employee Free Choice Act now before Congress helps reign in corporate lawbreaking and restores to working Americans the promise of the nation's labor laws. The Act establishes a fair and democratic process for workers to choose a union, strengthens the weak penalties for corporate lawbreaking and ensures that newly organized workers can gain a first contract.

Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu courageously co-sponsored the Employee Free Choice Act in the last Congress, when it passed 214-185 in the House, it was blocked by a filibuster in the Senate. Her vote to support EFCA this year will be standing up again for Louisiana's working families and for rebuilding the American middle class that will not be forgotten.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/20090423/OPINION03/904230303/1058