Here's a New One

The AP is reporting a story about a family moving from Washington state to Idaho to avoid child labor laws that prevented them from employing their sons, aged 11 and 13, in their house-moving business. That's house-moving as in "drive backhoes, bulldozers and tractors and move low-hanging cable and telephone lines while riding atop a home." Yeah, okay.

This is the first time I have heard the Bible invoked to avoid labor laws. "Doty and his wife, Angela, a Central Washington University graduate, have a parenting philosophy defined by their Biblical beliefs - 'home birth, home school, home business' - that they say requires them to put their children to work at an early age."

"I think it's pretty clearly outlined in the Bible," said Zach. "It says to be with your children all the time, 24/7."

I am pretty certain this is not in the Bible, although I would welcome the reference to check for myself. It would not surprise me at all, though, if this is the first of a flood of anti-competitive, anti-labor law Bible thumps. Really, it was only a matter of time before this particularly conservative loop was closed.

I just got home from the Change to Win organizing conference in Vegas. I wouldn't say that it was "fun" but it was very interesting. All seven CTW unions sent their heavy hitters (e.g. Andy Stern, Chuck Mack), along with hundreds of organizers from each union, just meeting for three straight days about industry and sector organizing, joint campaigns and strategies. It was fun to see Teamsters, Carps and Laborers rubbing elbows with SEIU, UFW, UFCW and UNITE HERE folks. I only went to lawyers' sessions but at least one of those was more fruitful than almost any other meeting I have attended of its kind. If CTW does not turn out to be a bust, then this conference could go down as its Port Huron meeting (okay, there's probably a better analogue, but I am too tired right now), sans the, you know, statement.

One bit of bad news: Peter Kirsanow has been nominated for the NLRB. It will get worse before it gets better.

Organizing in the South

I recently had the good fortune to spend a year living in Montgomery, Alabama. Our family had a great time, met great friends, ate great food. Alabama has a couple of very strong unions - the Alabama Education Association, for instance - but generally, I didn't see much organizing. Around the time I moved there, Hyundai started building a plant south of Montgomery, and this was a very big deal. The reason the South is so tempting to these new auto plants is the reduced risk that they will be unionized. I am glad to report that trouble, at least for the automakers*, is already afoot.

The Teamsters** are organizing workers at an auto plant outside of Montgomery. The NLRB has just issued a complaint against the employer Daehan Solutions for threatening to close the plant if the workers chose the union in the upcoming election. The election will be held on November 30, and, if the union wins, it would be one of the first union auto plants in the area.

* Of course, the workers are probably going to face some troubles of their own. The Teamsters filed this unfair labor practice charge on November 2, and the Board already issued a complaint. That suggests that the Board got good evidence quickly (and that they don't have much else to do). It also suggests that management expects that they can act with impunity against pro-union workers since most "trained" managers know better than to come out and tell folks that the plant will close if they choose the union.

** I wonder whether the fact that the Teamsters are doing this organizing reflects a jurisdictional challenge to UAW, now that IBT are CTW, not AFL-CIO. I don't know whether the United Autoworkers are also organizing down there or not. Anyone?

The High Cost of Low Price

I am interrupting my accidental hiatus to recommend the new Wal-Mart movie. I haven't actually seen it, so I am "recommending" it only insofar as I recommend that everyone get fully informed about Wal-Mart's nefarious practices.

And sorry about the hiatus. Work has sort of overtaken my ability to keep this blog current. I will do my best to start posting regularly again soon.