Friday 27 February 2009
by: Bennett Roth, Congressional Quarterly
President Obama and Lilly Ledbetter walk through the Cross Hall of the White House. Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act as one of his first actions as president. (Photo: Reuters)
With Congress and the White House in Democratic hands, organized labor has reemerged as a political force.
"We have an opportunity to legislate and pass things and have an impact on people's lives. Four years ago we were just hoping things wouldn't get any worse," said Michael J. Wilson, international vice president of the United Food & Commercial Workers.
Long a powerful constituency within the Democratic Party, union leaders relish the prospect of playing an influential role in Congress and the Obama administration.
Wilson's union, which spent more than $1 million on federal lobbying last year, is placing particular emphasis on a measure to make it easier for unions to recruit new members. Health care and immigration are also high on labor's agenda.
Labor leaders are finding the welcome mat rolled out again at the White House. Union representatives are being asked to join presidential advisory panels.
Labor claimed an early legislative victory when President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act (PL 111-2), which extends the deadline for filing pay discrimination claims.
Labor also saluted enactment of the president's economic stimulus package (PL 111-5). The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees threw its weigh behind the package, running advertisements in some Republican-held House districts criticizing GOP lawmakers opposing the measure.
The omnibus fiscal 2009 appropriations package (HR 1105) passed by the House on Feb. 25 includes a provision sought by the Teamsters Union that would prevent Mexican trucks from operating beyond a commercial zone reaching 25 miles into the United States. The omnibus also would reject a Bush administration proposal to increase funding for a Labor Department agency that audits union management.
"Overall the environment is greatly improved for organized labor," said Thomas E. Mann, a government scholar at the Brookings Institution.
But having friends in high places does not guarantee success. Members of the United Auto Workers are being forced to make contract concessions to domestic automakers as a condition of the Obama administration's bailout of the industry.
Still, it was not long ago that organized labor appeared to be locked in a downward spiral, suffering from declining membership and dwindling political influence that accelerated as blue-collar jobs disappeared or moved abroad.
Card-Check Legislation
Unions are wasting no time to press Congress and the White House on issues that affect their membership.
Although the U.S. Chamber of Commerce joined forces with unions to support the economic stimulus package, business and labor are bracing for all-out war over the "card check" measure, which would allow employees to organize if a majority signed cards endorsing the move. Current law requires a vote by secret ballot.
George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, is expected to reintroduce the legislation. The House passed a version of the bill in the 110th Congress, but it stalled in the Senate.
"The ability to bargain at work is really the only way the middle class gets a chance to improve their economic condition," said Miller, a close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "We have seen a diminishment of collective bargaining over the last decade."
The bill's sponsors contend employers pressure workers to vote down collective bargaining, while employers counter that the proposed change will open the door to coercion by union leaders.
The measure would also allow employers to refer bargaining to mediation and binding arbitration if a contract is not agreed upon after 90 days of talks. Glenn Spencer, a Chamber of Commerce official, said the required arbitration would drive up employers' costs.
While the bill's passage by the House is not in doubt, the measure has only 38 Senate cosponsors.
Members of the Blue Dog Coalition of fiscally conservative House Democrats are insisting that the Senate take up the legislation first so that House members will not have to vote on the politically sensitive issue if the bill is a non-starter in the Senate.
House Minority Leader John A. Boehner, R-Ohio, has criticized the card-check legislation and branded its union backers as "one of the Democratic Party's chief special-interest allies and campaign contributors."
Also on labor's agenda are efforts to toughen worker safety and health protections, antitrust legislation and a bill (S 160) that would grant a House seat to the District of Columbia. The United Food & Commercial Workers union has lobbied for that measure.
Resistance From GOP and Business
Labor still faces legislative roadblocks, particularly in the Senate, where procedural barriers can more easily derail their priorities. Senate Republicans delayed the confirmation of former Rep. Hilda L. Solis, D-Calif., as secretary of Labor in part because of her pro-labor voting record. The Senate voted to confirm Solis on Feb. 24. Her first confirmation hearing was Jan. 9.
The Senate also watered down an early labor victory - House language in the stimulus package requiring the use of U.S.-produced iron and steel in projects funded by the bill.
"Republicans are still throwing up obstacles to the recovery agenda," said Bill Samuel, legislative director of the AFL-CIO.
Labor's renewal has prompted business representatives to gear up to counter labor's priorities.
Spencer said the business community expects labor to push for expansion of the Family and Medical Leave Act (PL 103-3) as well as legislation to make it easier to sue employers. Unions and business also are expected to tangle on trade issues, including the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, which Obama opposed during the campaign, at the behest of organized labor, he said. "It's a 16-year wish list they have built up," Spencer said.
Newfound Clout
Political loyalty and an ability to mobilize its membership have paid off for organized labor.
Organized labor campaigned heavily for Democratic leaders in Congress and for Obama, who received the support of 60 percent of union voters, exit polls showed.
Unions made $68 million in contributions to federal candidates during the 2007-08 election cycle, with 91 percent of the money going to Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Among the top 20 recipients of labor PAC money were Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md.
Organized labor also contributed heavily to the re-election campaigns of House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, D-S.C., and House Appropriations Chairman David R. Obey, D-Wis., who helped craft the stimulus.
Over the past decade, unions have spent more than $233 million for federal lobbying, including nearly $40 million last year, according to an analysis of lobbying reports by CQ MoneyLine.
Labor leaders often spent as much or more on federal lobbying when Republicans were in power, but at the time they were rarely invited to weigh in on legislation. "We were never part of their inner circle," said Anna Burger, secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union.
Burger was recently tapped by Obama to serve on his Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Burger and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney were among Pelosi's guests for Obama's address to Congress on Feb. 24, occupying coveted seats in the Speaker's box in the House gallery.
Lisa Kinard, director of federal legislation and regulation for the Teamsters, said Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa has been invited to the Obama White House twice, something she cited as a sign of labor's change of fortunes. During the eight years of the Bush administration, Hoffa got one White House invitation.
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