Reactions to the “Republicans hate Unions” special session

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The "Republicans hate Unions" special session has concluded with its singular non-achievement: passage (for the second time by this legislature) of a referendum, "save our secret ballot," which purports to create a state constitutional provision to require secret ballots in union organizing elections.

This bit of union hating theater is in response to the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) which has been languishing in committee in Congress since last year, and has little to no chance of passage.

Briefly, present federal law permits employees to sign a card requesting a union. When a majority of employees request a union, an election period commences followed by and NLRB sanctioned vote by secret ballot. All EFCA would do is make the election optional, i.e., that a majority of employees signing a card requesting a union ("card check") would be sufficient. However, if 40% of employees request an election by secret ballot, that optional procedure is still retained in EFCA.

In the area of labor law, federal law preempts conflicting state laws. Should Congress ever pass a law like EFCA in the future, federal law would preempt this referendum (constitutional provison) and render it void.

In other words, the radical Republicans in the Arizona legislature just pissed away your taxpayer money on a three day "Republicans hate Unions" orgy, er special session, that in the end is an entirely useless exercise in futility. Arizona deserves better.

Reactions to the "Republicans hate Unions" special session are coming in:

Today Attorney General Terry Goddard released the following statement:

"Jan Brewer is wasting time and money on a Special Session that is nothing but a political sideshow.  This Special Session will not produce one Arizona job or do anything to deal with a budget that is $1.7 billion out of balance.  It does not fix our prisons.  It does not fix our schools.

Arizonans are reeling, our unemployment rate has gone straight up since Brewer assumed office.  She should be focused on restoring lost jobs, not playing political games.

I call on Jan Brewer to start dealing with the real problems facing Arizona: a dangerous prison system, a horrifying budget deficit, a bottom-of-the pack educational system  and a badly broken economy. There is too much serious work to do to be wasting the Legislature's time on this political game."

And also:

Arizona AFL-CIO: Referendum Shows Wrong Priorities
 of Gov. Brewer and Republican Leadership

Phoenix – Today, in a special session that specifically targeted the rights of working Arizonans, the State Legislature referred to voters a ballot measure intended to safeguard the status quo that benefits corporations resisting unionization.

“At a time when unemployment is above 9 percent and kids are headed into preschool classrooms with 40 or more other students, it’s beyond belief that Governor Brewer took this time just to attack workers,” said Rebekah Friend, Executive Director of the Arizona AFL-CIO. She also took issue with the referendum because federal law will supersede this constitutional amendment for the vast majority of Arizona’s workers. “The money the state will have to spend defending this clearly invalid referendum in court could be going towards keeping teachers in classrooms and police on our streets. Spending taxpayer dollars on a political stunt like this shows Jan Brewer has the wrong priorities as Governor.

“The 180,000 member-strong labor movement in Arizona will push back against this hijacking of the referendum process in order to propagandize against unions. Together with the allies of working families across the state and nation, we will continue our fight for better wages, job security, and an economy that works for all.”

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