In The Name of Democracy

Alec Dubro

February 15, 2007

What do the former German Democratic Republic, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace have in common?

 • They all have democracy in their names.
 • The word democracy in their names means absolutely nothing.
 • They exist or existed to benefit a small cadre of amoral thieves.

The first two, of course, are communist totalitarian regimes. The other is a fraudulent coalition of American employers who are out to keep the Employee Free Choice Act from ever becoming law.

The EFCA would allow a union to be certified if, in the words of the AFL-CIO, “the National Labor Relations Board finds that a majority of employees in an appropriate unit has signed authorizations designating the union as its bargaining representative.” The process is called “card-check” and it’s already used in a number of Canadian provinces.

Labor has sought to change the law because management, employing a small army of union-busting firms, have been able to thwart organizing. Employers have found that if they can prolong the period between when workers file an intent to unionize, and the final secret ballot, the employers can delay, intimidate and coerce workers into rejecting the union.

The monumentally misnamed Coalition for a Democratic Workplace claims to be comprised of “rank-and-file workers from across the country, who want to preserve their right to a secret ballot vote, as well as leaders from several national associations.” Not surprisingly, no rank-and-file workers are named, but about 20 or 30 employer groups are, ranging from the American Petroleum Institute to the National Restaurant Association, to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I can find no record of any of these groups voicing concern about democracy in the workplace prior to the creation of this cynical ploy. Right now, as a tactic, they’ll take an easily manipulated secret ballot over an NLRB-managed card check. But in their little black hearts, everyone associated with this campaign would even more dearly love no card check, no ballot and no unions. Ever.

In fact, this thoroughly dishonest group of knaves is terrified of democracy. Unions represent the only way that workers can deal with owners as an equality. Anything else—calling workers “associates” or “partners,” for instance—is window dressing and paternalism. Unions are democracy in the workplace, and this coalition for an autocratic workplace should be charged with perverting the course of justice.

Although labor has the backing—ranging from solid to tepid—of most congressional Democrats, it still needs public support for the EFCA to succeed. Bombard the CDW with messages and tell them that you see through their deception. If they succeed in preventing unions from organizing, you and I, and everyone who works for a living, can expect a continued slide in wages and benefits. So fight! To quote a famous president, failure here isn’t an option.