7-28-05, 11:43 am

Time for Card Check to Reverse the Course

Although high ongoing unemployment in a number of industries has depleted union membership and pushed the unionization rate down to record lows, job losses in heavily unionized sectors do not account for the decline in union membership since the 2001 recession.

Rapid deunionization is occurring among the existing jobs in manufacturing and other industries. Card check recognition is essential to reverse the declines in union sectors.

The decline in union membership in the manufacturing sector shows that the overall deunionization of the U.S. workforce cannot be explained purely by the decline in manufacturing jobs and the rise of service sector occupations since the recession. Within manufacturing, union jobs are vanishing at a faster pace than nonunion jobs.

The decline in manufacturing employment began well before the last recession, with the number of workers sinking from 19,961,200 in 1997 to 18,147,100 when the recession hit in 2001. Manufacturing employment then plummeted to 15,753,500 in 2004, a loss of 2,393,600 jobs. The number of union members in manufacturing, however, declined by 623,900, and the unionization rate fell from 14.6 percent in 2001 to 12.9 percent in 2004.

The key point is that while the number of manufacturing jobs fell by 13.2 percent between 2001 and 2004, the number of union members in manufacturing fell at a faster rate, dropping by 23.5 percent over the same period.

More than one out of every four jobs lost in manufacturing since the recession was a union job, indicating that a disproportionate amount of the job loss was in union jobs.

Construction gained 870,400 jobs between 2002 and 2004, but the number of union construction workers fell by 41,900 and the unionization rate dropped from 17.4 percent to 14.7 percent. Almost 40 percent of the industry was organized 30 years ago.

Even in the public sector, where employment grew by 572,400 jobs from 2002 to 2004, union membership declined and the unionization rate fell from 37.8 percent to 35.4 percent. Public sector unionization peaked at 38.7 percent in 1994.

For the National Labor Relations Board fiscal year that ended in September 2004, representation elections resulted in a gain of 74,166 workers represented by unions, but 2004 ended with a decline of 130,600 in the number of workers represented.

The push for card check recognition is absolutely critical to reverse the decline in union membership. Building membership through the NLRB election process is too difficult and will become more difficult as the Bush administration fills vacancies on the board.

The Bush administration is now moving to fill vacancies on the NLRB that will ensure a Republican majority.

The five members of the Board decide cases brought before the NLRB, including representation cases. Board members are appointed by the president to five-year terms, with Senate consent. Each year, the term of one member expires.

The board is now functioning with only three members: Robert J. Battista (chairman), Wilma B. Liebman and Peter C. Schaumber.

Because the board traditionally will not reverse a long-standing decision without an affirmative vote from three members, there have been several recent decisions where the two Republican members have been unable to overturn the law.

Robert J. Battista, a Republican, was appointed by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate to serve as chairman of the NLRB for a term expiring December 16, 2007. Previously, he was an employment lawyer representing employers at the Detroit law firm of Butzel Long.

Peter Carey Schaumber, also a Republican, was nominated by Bush on May 10, 2002 and confirmed by the Senate for a term that will expire on August 27, 2005. Prior to his appointment as a member of the board, Schaumber practiced as a labor arbitrator and a corporate lawyer.

Wilma B. Liebman, a Democrat and formerly a lawyer for the Bricklayers and the Teamsters, has served as a member of the NLRB since 1997. She was first appointed by President Clinton and reappointed by President Bush to a second term that will expire on August 27, 2006.

The two vacancies on the NLRB began in December 2004, when the term ended for Dennis Walsh, a Democrat appointed by Clinton, and Ronald Meisburg, a Republican appointed by Bush, who is awaiting confirmation as the new General Counsel for the NLRB.

Bush has now renominated Republican Schaumber to serve a five-year term expiring in August 2010. The nomination of Democrat Dennis Walsh, also a former Board member, is still pending. This leaves one more vacancy that must be filled.

Once someone is nominated for that seat, the Senate will be asked to approve the entire package. This will result in a fully confirmed Board through 2006, with a Republican majority ready to push through anti-labor decisions. With the Board stacked with Republicans, the best hope for unions is to pursue legislation enabling card check recognition.

From Labor Research Association