As workers' rights erode, unions are fighting back

Have you heard this one? The federal government says your boss can tell you not to talk with your coworkers when you're off duty. Can you imagine not being able to say "hi" to your coworkers at the local coffee shop or department store? The idea of a backyard barbecue for friends and coworkers just got a lot more complicated.

In a Big Brother ruling that is a slap in the face to American workers, the National Labor Relations Board issued its decision this summer that a boss can direct employees not to "fraternize on duty or off duty." The decision was issued June 7 in the case of Guardsmark, a private security firm.

It's a sad fact that the Constitution's Bill of Rights governing our civic life has never been applied inside the workplace. In other words, your freedoms of speech and association have been suspended at the employer's door. Organized labor has always questioned this lack of freedom for American workers, but so far, the federal government has kept the workplace "off limits" for free speech and free association.

Now, the federal government apparently wants to make American workers' rights of free association and free speech "off limits" off the job, too.

The Republican majority on the labor board argued that workers would simply interpret the ruling as a ban on dating. But the lone dissenter on the NLRB pointed out that workers would understand that the ban on off-duty "fraternization" would also apply to the freedom to associate with coworkers to form a union. (Besides, there was already an explicit prohibition on co-workers dating at the company.)

The majority of the board members must think American workers are just too stupid to get the message.

And the media seem to have the same attitude. Recently, a Zogby poll conducted for an anti-union organization was cited as "proof" that unions were no longer popular. The facts tell us another story.

Despite the recent "doom and gloom" media coverage of organized labor, it's important for the public to understand that union membership is actually increasing in our state and that unions are working on new ways to reach out to workers who need the higher wages and decent health-care benefits that a union brings.

In the past couple of years, we have seen an increase of more than 50,000 new union members in Washington, and our union "density" is increasing. But it's hard to organize new members in an anti-union political climate dominated by anti-union media.

That's why labor supports passage of the Employee Free Choice Act by Congress. This bipartisan bill would strengthen protections for workers who want to join a union. It would restore Americans' right to freely associate with and speak to union advocates. The NLRB's ruling would become irrelevant.

Earlier this year, a survey of 1,682 adults by Peter D. Hart Research found that the majority of Americans would vote to join a union if they were free to do so without intimidation from their employer. Among nonunion workers, 53 percent reported they'd vote to join a union.

That is the highest level of support for unions since the poll began asking the question more than 20 years go. In 1984, only 30 percent answered in the affirmative. But that's one trend you won't find in newspaper columns. There always seems to be a "blackout" on positive news about unions. Over the past few weeks, all we've seen is dire warning of the impending implosion of organized labor.

In my opinion, the highly publicized "breakup" of the AFL-CIO will be resolved with a labor movement that is stronger than before. We can work together in new and creative ways. Change is often difficult, but we are working hard to make change productive. After all, we share the same goals: to improve the working lives of all Americans and to protect the rights of American workers.