Republicans Have a New Favorite Union-Busting Tool
Amid an organizing renewal in the South, GOP politicians are pressuring bosses to union-bust. Plus more in our state news round-up.
By Paul Blest, More Perfect Union
There’s finally good reason to be optimistic about labor’s prospects in the South.
The Union of Southern Service Workers grew out of the Fight for $15 movement a few years ago and is taking high-profile actions like striking at Waffle House. Labor unions are starting to flex electoral political power in right-to-work states. And United Auto Workers, fresh off of winning historic gains at Big Three Automakers, have an election date set for a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee while also pushing to organize Mercedes and Hyundai in Alabama, to name a few targets.
But bosses in the South have friends in high places: namely the right-wing, anti-labor politicians who occupy governors’ mansions and power positions in state legislatures.
And in Tennessee, Georgia, and now Alabama, they have a new weapon to incentivize employers to union-bust. Last week, Georgia passed legislation banning state economic subsidies for employers that voluntarily recognize employee unions; that is, to acknowledge that a majority of workers have signed cards stating their intent to unionize, rather than forcing a longer and costly election process at the National Labor Relations Board.
Gov. Brian Kemp publicly backed the legislation and referred to strikes as “damaging anti-business actions” during an event with business leaders this year. And it’s especially notable because Georgia has seen a clean energy manufacturing boom in recent years helped along by subsidies from the Biden administration, which incentivized the use of union labor and prevailing wage standards.
Hyundai is building a $7.6 billion plant in coastal Georgia, and solar panel manufacturer QCells has said its Dalton plant—set to be the largest facility of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution— will begin production in April.
Hannah Perkins, the political director for the Georgia AFL-CIO, told More Perfect Union that SB 362 is “absolutely a reaction to the movement that labor unions have made in the South.” Last year, workers at the school bus manufacturer Blue Bird in Fort Valley voted to unionize, one of the biggest wins for labor in the South in the 21st century.
The Georgia bill is similar to legislation passed last year in Tennessee after Ford said it would voluntarily recognize a union at a lithium battery plant in the state. As autoworkers continue to organize at plants in Alabama, the state legislature there is moving a similar bill that would “condition an employer’s eligibility for economic development incentives upon the employer refraining from certain practices relating to employee representation by a labor organization.”
Like Kemp in Alabama and Bill Lee in Tennessee, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has made union-busting a feature of her administration. She wrote an op-ed in January accusing the UAW of attacking “the Alabama model for economic success” (i.e., luring corporations with the prospect of low wages for workers).
It turns out this isn’t exactly an organic push. After the passage of the Tennessee law last year, the American Legislative Exchange Council — the Koch-funded clearinghouse for conservative economic policy across the country — published “model” legislation that mirrored it. (The Alabama bill is sponsored by state Sen. Arthur Orr, who was described by ALEC this week as a “policy champion.”)
The legislation is marketed as a way to combat “intimidation” from unions and protect taxpayer dollars, but Perkins said it’s “patently false rhetoric,” pointing out that U.S. employers are accused of unfair labor practices in more than 40 percent of all union elections. Perkins also alleged that Kemp pressured members of his own party to back the bill; in the end, just one Senate Republican and one House Republican joined every Georgia Democrat in voting against SB 362.
“As union organizers, we know intimidation when we see it,” Perkins said. “And we’ve seen it clear as day under the Georgia Gold Dome.” (As of Friday morning Kemp’s office, had not responded to questions from More Perfect Union.)
Labor advocates have argued that the Tennessee bill violates federal labor law, and a statement from the North Alabama Labor Council accused the legislature of trying to not only erode labor rights but drive up costs for businesses as well.
“Recognition by employers is the fastest avenue for employees to legally organize a union in their workplace,” the council said in a statement to the Alabama Political Reporter. “By removing this avenue, this bill is a direct attack on Alabama’s labor movement and will force costly, unnecessary elections on business owners who want to do right by their employees.”
Asked if she expects litigation over Georgia’s SB 362, Perkins responded: “Absolutely and without question.”
What’s happening in the states
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek signed the strongest electronic right-to-repair law in the country Wednesday, and Colorado could soon become the next state to pass right-to-repair.
The Vermont House passed a bill expanding access to Medicare and Medicaid for people under 21, pregnant people, and older residents.
An effort is underway in Ohio to gather signatures for a $15 minimum wage ballot measure. If passed, local activists say, 1.4 million Ohioans will see an immediate raise.
Kansas City residents will vote next week on a plan to raise sales taxes to fund a new baseball stadium for the Royals and renovations at the Super Bowl champion Chiefs’ Arrowhead Stadium. Both teams are owned, of course, by billionaires.
The pharmaceutical company Amgen has sued the state of Colorado over its prescription drug affordability board after the board declared the company’s autoimmune drug Enbrel (annual list price $96,223) unaffordable. (Colorado may limit the scope of the board’s authority to exclude “orphan drugs” used to treat rare diseases.)
Chevron is paying a record $13 million fine to two California agencies as a result of past oil spills, but as ProPublica notes, state officials said the agreement “creates a framework for managing the spills with State oversight, not stopping the spills entirely.”
As California’s new $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers comes into effect next week, the left-leaning Roosevelt Institute has a new study out showing that employers can absorb increased labor costs “without increasing consumer prices or reducing employment.”
The right-wing Louisiana legislature, with backup from new Gov. Jeff Landry (R), is moving a bill that would eliminate payroll deductions for union dues for public employees, including teachers, city workers, cops and firefighters. It’s part of a
What we’re reading
Suicide Mission: What Boeing did to all the guys who remember how to build a plane | Mo Tkacic, The American Prospect
What we know about the victims and survivors of the Key Bridge collapse | Clara Longo de Freitas, Hallie Miller and Daniel Zawodny, the Baltimore Banner
Some of Florida’s sickest kids are losing Medicaid coverage on Easter Sunday | Caroline Catherman, Orlando Sentinel
Ex-Apple leader says iPhone maker is in a 'battle for the soul' as it goes up against the DOJ | Aaron Mok, Business Insider
Georgia Is Trying to Make It Harder for Workers to Unionize | Alex Press, Jacobin