First strikers replaced, now decertification

Workers at Omnova's plant in Columbus, MS have been on strike for over a year. Now the replacement workers have filed a decertification petition with the NLRB. The union has indicated it will aggressively contest the decertification. Previous posts here.

Labor takes advantage

Steve Greenhouse writes in the New York Times (registration required) that last year's Citizen's United opinion has liberated unions from campaign reform restrictions and the result is reinvigorated outreach efforts. Money quote:

Before the Citizens United ruling, unions were banned from using dues money to reach out to nonmembers in political campaigns, but now unions plan to campaign among the 89 percent of Americans who do not belong to unions. Union officials have long complained that when their foot soldiers knocked on doors in, say, Milwaukee or Columbus, Ohio, they wasted huge amounts of time because they could visit only union members’ homes and often had to skip 90 percent of the houses. Now they can knock on every door on a block.

Mississippi strike

More details about the strike at Omnova's Columbus Mississippi plant.

Strike reaction in Mississippi

Here is an interesting short piece about a strike in Columbus, Mississippi. There is not much to the article but the intensity of the reader comments is very telling about the economy and the sharp divide between those angry with "corporate America" and those valuing a job, any job.