A Union-Approved Candidate
Here at Labor Pains, we often talk about the political clout of unions, how they funnel millions upon millions of dollars into elections, the vast majority of which goes to Democratic candidates. But it’s not often that a union makes a power play this blatant: A government studies teacher at Washington Irving High School in [more...]

Posted Tue, 31 Aug 2010 .

What They Are Really Thinking
The recent kerfuffle over the Los Angeles Times releasing scads of data on LA’s teachers has provided some interesting insights into how defenders of teachers unions think. The head of the LA teachers union, for example, said he was “outraged” that the Times would publish data revealing which teachers were effective and which teachers weren’t [more...]

Posted Mon, 30 Aug 2010 .

Poor Elections Record

Freedom of choice is a matter at the very center of our national labor relations policy, and a secret election is the preferred method of gauging choice.

— Avecor v. NLRB, D.C. Circuit, 1991

Bruce Raynor, president of the union UNITE HERE, explains: "There's no reason to subject the workers to an election." One SEIU local leader has flatly admitted to the Wall Street Journal, "We don't do elections." And no wonder. Even though unions have ultimate control over if and when certification elections are held, they still lose four in ten elections they call. And employees have chosen no representation at all in more than 2,000 certification and decertification elections over a two-year period.

According to the National Labor Relations Board 's annual report figures for cases closed in 2003 and 2004 (covering all NLRB-overseen certification and decertification elections):

All Representation Elections	2004	2005
Overall Union win (%)	53.2 %	56.8 %
AFL-CIO Win (%)	50.8 %	53.8 %
Elections in which no union was chosen	1,272	1,145

In the first half of the government's Fiscal Year 2005:

Unions organized about 24 percent fewer workers through elections than in the same period in the previous year.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) organized half as many workers through elections as it did in the first half of 2004.
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) won only 43 percent of the elections it held.

Source: Bureau of National Affairs, Dec. 9, 2005