A War Against Organizing Facts

by Brad Peck

Tired of toiling behind the scenes for Big Labor Kate Bronfenbrenner jumps to the Op/Ed page of the Washington Post today to highlight her opinion poll of union organizers, which "proves" that there is a "A War Against Organizing"

Late last month I published a study, "No Holds Barred," that was presented at the hearing at which Angel spoke. I looked at a random sample of more than 1,000 union elections over a five-year period to determine the parameters of employer behavior during union representation elections in the private sector and the limitations of the labor law system established to regulate that behavior. In 34 percent of the elections I studied, companies fired employees for union activity.

Wow! In a third of cases! Why isn't the National Labor Relations Board doing something about this?  Well, they too have looked at the union elections and their numbers are what can only be described as significantly lower. Why the difference?  Mike Eastman explained last month:

The data that Bronfenbrenner relies on to show employer misdeeds comes not from some unbiased source, but from surveys of union organizers. Not surprisingly, the surveys of union organizers yield a much higher rate of alleged illegal conduct than NLRB data suggest. Perhaps this is why Bronfenbrenner spends considerable time discussing NLRB charge data and positing reasons why unions might not file charges.

What is missing from this discussion is the simple fact that NLRB "charges" are simply allegations, nothing more. Unions routinely file frivolous charges as part of the organizing process and especially as part of corporate campaigns designed to force the employer to capitulate to union demands (for more on corporate campaigns, see Trends in Union Corporate campaigns: A Briefing Book). In fact, as NLRB data show, the NLRB does not issue complaints in most cases as most charges are found to not have merit or are otherwise disposed.

I actually feel for Big Labor's communication folks on this issue. It is truly hard to convince a bunch of Americans that secret ballot elections are bad and should be eliminated -- private choice is in our DNA. So with great empathy I will give them a tip, when trying to make your case you should avoid using, as Bronfenbrenner does, public sector unions as your beacon of hope. That particular regulatory capture isn't working very well.