Print PDF

From Institute for Southern Studies:

After 60 years of labor law heavily tilted toward employers, it’s time to rebalance the scales by making labor organizing a civil right. Rand Wilson’s proposal for state “just cause” laws is one approach to reforming the law, but we also need federal legislation and a campaign that can gain allies outside of unions.

Our proposal takes the conversation about labor law reform out of the technical and often confusing arena of labor law and into the realm of civil rights. The notion of civil rights has a moral grounding that resonates with a far greater number of Americans than just those in unions.

A proposal for labor law reform must be simple and show promise of surviving intact after a sustained attack by conservative and corporate interests.

A civil rights framework holds that promise because it does not pit corporations against unions — a fight that is too often mischaracterized as one between two special interests. A civil rights approach focuses on the individual and her basic right to be treated as a human being in the workplace.

…
As we outline in our new book, Why Labor Organizing Should Be A Civil Right, workers who suffer discrimination for labor activity would be allowed to move their cases from the National Labor Relations Board to federal court. This is similar to the existing right of workers who suffer job discrimination on gender, race, age, and other grounds to remove their cases from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to federal court.

The time an employee would have to park her case at the NLRB would likely be short — perhaps just 30 days — because in the context of a union organizing drive and election, the six months that the EEOC makes workers wait would be far too long.

It’s right to be skeptical of entrusting the federal judiciary, which has a long history of animosity towards labor. But few federal civil cases ever make it to a judge or jury. Most are settled without a trial — and the settlement process is a forum for workers to make demands.

See also: Unions Are Necessary to Rebuilding Our Middle Class

(8)