Trumka tells Mass. vote for the woman

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka made a hard pitch to vote for Elizabeth Warren over Sen. Scott Brown in the Massachusetts Senate race, even though she's not one of the boys.

Young Workers Summit

Next week the AFL-CIO will host a Young Workers Summit in Minneapolis. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis will participate. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has made no secret of his priority of recruiting and involving younger workers.

Labor nets 3 top lobyists

The Hill identifies 2010's top lobbyists. Of the list of 32, only three are connected to labor unions. (Henry-SEIU, Loveless-AFSCME and Trumka-AFL-CIO).

Goose/Gander

At a recent speech, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka proclaimed, "We won't quit until the EFCA becomes the law of the land and everyone who wants a union can have a union." But what about employees in a workforce that do not want a union. Shouldn't they have a corresponding right not to have a union affect their employment? What's good for the goose is good for the gander. But thats not the way the National Labor Relations Act works. Under the Act, majority rules, and the will of the minority is subject to the wishes of the majority. While it is true in right to work states that employees do not have to join a labor organization, if a union is the collective bargaining agent for a bargaining unit that includes the employee's job classification, the union's negotiations and the union contract affect the employee non-member. Following Trumka's logic, that should not be the case. Those who want union representation should have it, and those that do not should not be forced to endure it. Perhaps its time to experiment by allowing non-majority unions who represent only those employees who voluntarily choose to join. Those who choose not to select union representation would be free to negotiate on their own. There are a lot of reasons this approach was rejected under the Wagner Act, but maybe its time to revisit the concept.

EFCA- 2010 or never

UPDATE: Trumka calls for spring passage of EFCA. Inevitable loss of the Democrats' 60 seat senate majority makes 2010 a "do or die" year for EFCA. AFL-CIO legislative director Bill Samuel puts forth a pragmatic assessment in this Workday Minnesota piece. Samuel admits the votes were not there in 2009 - Kennedy, Byrd Franken, issues meant no 60 votes. Thats not news, but Samuel's acknowledgment that any bill that passes will be a compromised one is. It signals labor's willingness to address reality. Card check is dead. Has been for some time. Opponents of the bill need to delay a vote on the issue until the public sees past the secret ballot non-issue. As it stands now, largely because opponents of the bill continue to rail against card check and for secret ballots elections, the opportunity exists for labor to seek quick passage of a watered down bill which preserves some form of secret ballot election. Its an opportunity with a closing window, but still an opportunity.

SEIU President Andy Stern gets this. He's already pushing for a spring vote as evidenced in this Financial Times piece. (free registration). The FT piece also evidences the beating of the card check dead horse.