Unions press agenda as clout in D.C. rises

WASHINGTON – For the past dozen years, Capitol Hill hasn’t been the friendliest place for organized labor. But that has changed with the new Democrat-controlled Congress, and labor, an important Democratic constituency, is pressing its agenda.

That was apparent Thursday as the House approved a bill to make it easier to form a union – a longtime labor priority – followed by a victory celebration in the speaker’s office attended by the president of the AFL-CIO.

The Senate, meanwhile, is considering a bill to give airport screeners collective bargaining rights. Another labor priority, the first increase in the federal minimum wage in a decade, is expected to clear Congress within weeks.

“This is just the beginning,” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said Thursday, listing planned labor offenses on issues such as health care, immigration reform and trade policy.

Union lobbyists say that after years of being shut out, they are now invited to meetings on Capitol Hill and asked their views on legislation. “We were in a major defensive mode,” said Charles M. Loveless, legislative director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Still, it will be difficult for labor to get its agenda through the divided Congress and past President Bush’s veto pen.

What’s more, the ranks of labor unions are dwindling. Only 12 percent of workers belong to a union. That’s down from 20 percent in 1983 and 40 percent in 1955, according to Nelson Lichtenstein, a history professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

To the extent that there is a unified labor agenda in Washington, it includes legislation to expand paid sick leave, child care, health care and pension protections.

Party leaders are also preparing to wring concessions from Republicans before they consider renewing the president’s trade promotion authority, or “fast track,” which expires July 1.

While Republican leaders have indicated a willingness to compromise on trade, they are likely to oppose labor organizing and workplace rights legislation along the lines of the bill that passed the House on Thursday, 241-185. Unlike the federal minimum-wage increase or changes to trade agreements, the Employee Free Choice Act doesn’t come with sweeteners for business interests.

“Senate Republicans are committed to defeating this proposal,” said Senate Republican Conference Chairman Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

The bill passed by the House would certify a union as soon as a majority of workers signed cards authorizing it.

Under current law, after cards are signed, an employer can call for a separate secret-ballot election – overseen by the National Labor Relations Board – on whether a union should be recognized.

Republicans argue that the bill would allow employers and union officials to intimidate workers during organizing campaigns because it changes the process for union elections from a secret ballot to a card check in which workers’ votes are recorded.