{"id":4042,"date":"2008-05-11T16:59:39","date_gmt":"2008-05-12T00:59:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/migrator.rab.olt.ubc.ca\/workplace\/2008\/05\/unions-forge-secret-pacts-with-major-employers\/"},"modified":"2008-05-11T16:59:39","modified_gmt":"2008-05-12T00:59:39","slug":"unions-forge-secret-pacts-with-major-employers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/2008\/05\/unions-forge-secret-pacts-with-major-employers\/","title":{"rendered":"Unions Forge Secret Pacts With Major Employers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wall Street Journal:
\nUnions Forge Secret Pacts With Major Employers<\/a><\/p>\n

May 10, 2008<\/p>\n

From The Wall Street Journal<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.seiuvoice.org\/2008\/05\/wall-street-journal-unions-forge-secret.html<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB121038122486582367.html?mod=djemalertNEWS:<\/a><\/p>\n

By Kris Maher<\/p>\n

Two of the nation’s largest labor unions have
\nstruck confidential agreements with large employers
\nthat give the companies the right to designate
\nwhich of their locations, and how many workers, the
\nunions can seek to organize.Two of the nation’s
\nlargest labor unions have struck confidential
\nagreements with large employers that give the
\ncompanies the right to designate which of their
\nlocations, and how many workers, the unions can
\nseek to organize.<\/p>\n

The agreements are raising questions about union
\ntransparency and workers’ rights. A summary
\ndocument put together by the unions says it is
\ncritical to the success of the partnership “that we
\nhonor the confidentiality and not publicly disclose
\nthe existence of these agreements.” That includes
\nnot disclosing them to union members.<\/p>\n

The agreements involve workers who provide food,
\nlaundry and housekeeping services on an outsourced
\nbasis. The employers are Sodexho Inc. and the
\nCompass Group USA unit of London-based Compass
\nGroup PLC. The unions are the 1.7 million-member
\nService Employees International Union, or SEIU, and
\nUnite Here. The unions say they negotiated a
\nsimilar agreement with Aramark Corp. but that
\nAramark broke the deal last year, and they’re
\ntrying to reach a new one. An Aramark spokesman
\ndeclined to comment on that.<\/p>\n

The unions defend the agreements and their secrecy,
\nsaying they’ve helped workers join unions in
\ngrowing industries at a time of declining union
\nmembership in many sectors. Last year, 7.5% of
\nprivate-sector workers belonged to unions, compared
\nwith 17% 25 years ago. The agreements have
\n“resulted in tens of thousands of workers getting
\nunions” and been a major advance for the labor
\nmovement, said the president of Unite Here, Bruce
\nRaynor.<\/p>\n

He defended keeping them confidential, saying the
\ncompanies involved insisted on that for competitive
\nreasons.<\/p>\n

The agreements go a step beyond what are called
\nneutrality agreements. Those agreements give unions
\nthe ability to organize workers free of employer
\nopposition. Unions often seek these in conjunction
\nwith an agreement to organize workers via card-
\nsigning — a speedier alternative to secret-ballot
\nelections, which can drag on and trigger counter-
\ncampaigns by employers. Companies often agree to
\nneutrality after unions bring pressure on the
\nemployers from investors, local politicians and
\ncommunity leaders.<\/p>\n

Labor experts said agreements such as those the
\nSEIU and Unite Here reached open a window on a big
\ndebate within organized labor: what kind of
\ntradeoffs to make when forging neutrality deals,
\nand whether to let union members know of the
\ntradeoffs.<\/p>\n

The SEIU’s president, Andy Stern, said the unions
\nsought the agreements after realizing that
\ntraditional organizing campaigns at individual
\nsites were proving ineffective. “The old ways
\naren’t working, and we’re trying to find different
\nrelationships with employers that guarantee workers
\na voice,” he said. He dismissed the idea that the
\nnew agreements are undemocratic. “These workers
\nhave no unions; that’s where we start from,” he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n

In 2005, the SEIU and Unite Here created a
\npartnership to represent workers that provide food
\nand housekeeping services. Then they approached the
\ncompanies individually. Since 2005, the unions have
\norganized about 15,000 workers at Aramark, Compass
\nand Sodexho, which collectively employ more than
\n300,000 people in North America, according to an
\nSEIU spokeswoman.<\/p>\n

A key question in the agreements is determining at
\nwhich sites a union can organize. Unite Here’s Mr.
\nRaynor said specific sites where unions can
\norganize are selected jointly by the companies and
\nthe unions.<\/p>\n

The agreements reached with Sodexho and Compass in
\n2005 give the companies “the right to designate the
\nsites” where unions may try to organize workers,
\naccording to a confidential summary of the
\nagreements reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. The
\ncompanies wouldn’t comment on how locations were
\nselected for organizing.<\/p>\n

The agreements, which expire at then end of 2008,
\nstipulate the number of employees that the unions
\ncan try to organize: 11,000 Sodexho workers and
\n20,000 Compass workers.<\/p>\n

The Right to Strike<\/p>\n

The unions gave up the right to strike and to post
\nderogatory language about the companies on bulletin
\nboards. With Compass, the unions agreed to these
\nrestrictions “anywhere in the world.” In exchange,
\nthe companies agree not to oppose union organizing
\nat the designated locations.<\/p>\n

But limits are also set. “Local unions are not free
\nto engage in organizing activities at any Compass
\nor Sodexho locations unless the sites have been
\ndesignated,” says the confidential summary.<\/p>\n

Mr. Stern said that if workers wanted to join a
\nunion at a location the companies had ruled out,
\nhaving these agreements would enable a union to
\nnegotiate on the matter. “If workers want a union
\nwe can discuss that,” he said. “Trust me, a lot
\nmore workers are coming in than being excluded by
\nthe agreement.”<\/p>\n

The companies said they reached the agreements
\nbecause they support their employees’ right to
\nunionize. A spokeswoman for Compass, Cheryl Queen,
\nsaid the agreement “protects the interest of both
\nour associates and our clients, while allowing us
\nto develop positive relationships with those trade
\nunions.” A Sodexho spokeswoman, Jaya Bohlmann,
\nsaid, “We pride ourselves on having a very open
\ndialogue with the union and their representatives.”<\/p>\n

The SEIU has added more members in recent years
\nthan any other labor union. But resentment against
\nMr. Stern has been building among some in the
\nunion, who see him as too close to management and
\ntoo insistent on centralizing power.<\/p>\n

Some argue that the SEIU is adding new members at
\nthe expense of current ones. “We really believe
\nthat Stern and the international are putting growth
\nin numbers ahead of any other consideration of what
\na union means in the lives of working people,” said
\nZev Kvitky, president of a small SEIU local that
\nrepresents food-service and custodial workers at
\nStanford University. Mr. Stern, rejecting the
\ncriticism, said the union actually is becoming less
\ncentralized.<\/p>\n

‘Not Widespread’<\/p>\n

Labor experts said it was highly unusual for unions
\nto give employers the ability to choose which
\nemployees a union can try to organize. “That’s not
\nwidespread,” said Robert Bruno, associate professor
\nof labor relations at the University of Illinois at
\nChicago. “When you agree to these kinds of
\nconditions the question is what is lost and what is
\ngained?”<\/p>\n

The agreements enable the unions to organize
\nworkers through a simple card-signing process in
\nwhich the companies agree to remain neutral, rather
\nthan a secret-ballot election. The companies agree
\nto provide the unions with lists of employees and
\naccess to workers. The unions give up the ability
\nto strike and agree that they will present issues
\nbefore a labor-management committee before engaging
\nin leafleting or rallies.<\/p>\n

_____________________________________________<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wall Street Journal: Unions Forge Secret Pacts With Major Employers May 10, 2008 From The Wall Street Journal http:\/\/www.seiuvoice.org\/2008\/05\/wall-street-journal-unions-forge-secret.html http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB121038122486582367.html?mod=djemalertNEWS: By Kris Maher Two of the nation’s largest labor unions have struck confidential agreements with large employers that give the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2275],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-unions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4042\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/workplace\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}