Saxman fights for right-to-work status
Del. Chris Saxman said Monday he will introduce a constitutional amendment in next month’s General Assembly to protect the state’s right-to-work law.
The Staunton delegate’s anxiety about Virginia’s right-to-work status is in part motivated by pending federal card check legislation.
The legislation, known as the Employee Free Choice Act, was stalled in the 110th Congress, but is expected to be reintroduced in the 111th Congress next year.
If the legislation is passed, it would eliminate secret ballots by workers when unions are formed in the workplace, and would replace collective bargaining with binding arbitration when contract negotiations stall.
All ballots would be cast in full view of union organizers, leading to what Saxman fears would be coercion of the workers and irreparable damage to Virginia’s right-to-work law.
The delegate also fears that the loss of right-to-work status in Virginia would deter companies from locating in the state.
“The first thing companies ask when looking to relocate is, ‘Are [you] a right-to-work state?’ They also ask that when expanding,” Saxman said.
Virginia is one of 22 right-to-work states, defined as states that prohibit unions and employers from making payment of union dues a condition of employment.
Assaults on right-to-work laws are especially ill-conceived with the country mired in recession, Saxman said.
“It’s the worst time to take on that legislation with the economy the way it is,” he said. “It’s a bad signal for business.”
Virginia union representatives say the Employee Free Choice Act would provide a fairer process for workers minus the interference of employers.
Jim Flickinger is president of the Local 381 of the International Brotherhood of DuPont Workers, a union that represents Waynesboro Invista employees.
Flickinger said, under the current union organizing system, there can be a lag of three months between the time the National Labor Relations Board certifies a union election and one occurs.
In other states where he has helped organize unions, Flickinger said employers would hold meetings and show videos of union strikes and other negative union activities during the time leading up to the union election.
“There is no greater coercion than that,” he said.
With the Free Choice Act, Flickinger said a union could be organized without that lag time if a majority of the employees sign the card.
James Farkas, of Sandston, a member of the Virginia AFL-CIO Executive Council, said Virginia’s right-to-work law and others like it across the country are designed “to keep unions out” of the workplace.
And he said unions have helped build the country and assure everything from 40-hour work weeks to insurance and vacation benefits.
Flickinger said he has no objection to Virginia’s right-to-work law.
For Saxman’s amendment to pass, it would need two years of successful votes in the General Assembly and the passage of a statewide referendum on the Virginia ballot in 2010.
The delegate said he will release a list of Virginia House patrons to his legislation in the next couple of weeks. He said there is support in both the Virginia House and Senate for his amendment.
Julia Hammond, the Virginia director of the National Federation of Independent Business, said Saxman’s legislation is vital to Virginia remaining a right-to-work state.
“The legislation safeguards an employee from being forced to pay union dues as a condition of employment,” Hammond said.
Also lobbying against the card check legislation is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
In a study released earlier this year, the Chamber concluded that “the secret ballot election is recognized by federal courts as the best vehicle for employees to render an uncoerced decision about union representation. Anything short of that will send the process of card signing into the back alleys of unregulated, uncontrolled, and un-remediable coercion and intimidation by both sides.”
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Reader Reactions
might want to do it sooner than the 7th….it will be to late then.
Wow..God love you. I have to go to bed now, because you have completely confused me. Now you are advocating showing up with protest signs??? On Feb 8th? I’ll be there if you set it up. Maybe we can can have a cup of coffee afterward and quietly shout at each other. In solidarity, peace and justice.
wow…not bogus
ok genius…you have to figure everything
hourly wage
401k
pension
health insurance
life insurance
vacation
common…..it is not a loiterally $75 per hour. Oh I gues they should have tuition reimburtsment so people can figure out the simple equations!
Geeezusssss Wow…you make my brain bleed. Are you still preaching the $75 AN HOUR FIGURE THAT’S BEEN SO DISCREDITED!!! How can we have a civil discussion when you site bogus discredited numbers??????? Okay. I’ll quote something to throw in the mix… Non union workers are sent a supplement check from the Planet Zatue, so they make more than $70 and hour. Ludicrous? YES!, but it fits in with your logic. Go beyond the local newspapers and Foxnews.
I never said I like what is going on or said I wanted this to happen, especially to our community. I am just trying to bring out the facts of how it is looking.
Now is the time to take advantage of us and bring us to our knees…..never said YOU.
Now that I have some attention…..lets not let this happen to our area.
I am with all who has read and or commented on this post.
Feb. 8th the “people” of waynesboro, not just the employees need to be standing in constitution park with picket signs to protest or Mr. Koch will have a cheaper plant.
Okay…Let’s just close everything down and open it all up at….mmmmm…say minimum wage with NO benefits. We’ll all become a third world country. Is that what you want? Why is it the rush to pay a lessor wage and less benefits? Are we to compete with Thailand and Viet Nam…perhaps China? Think about it for God’s sake.
comparative wages…..lets talk on this a bit. Just like the auto workers with benifits making $75 per hour. The local wages should be lower. So then, McKee and Holister will be the new guidlines (comparative wages) for the area. INVISTA and ASR is hurting our local competability with other plants coming to the area. I am guessing thaq INVISTA employees with benifits are about $65 per hour.
This area has a pretty low cost of living, and we do not want it raised such as up north or even as far as fredericksburg. Rent in those areas alone can reach $1200 and that is RENT.
So, we (the area) needs to keep stimunlation relatively low, not shut down but lower wages have lower cost of living. Good for the area.
Yeah, excuse me “idle”. You can not idle a polymer plant. It is shut down beleive it or not…..why is INVISTA “idling” all the union plants and not “idling” the non union plants.
Problem plants, environmental and safety is the cause of the local INVISTA plant Idle decision.
idbw, amen. an insult to one is an insult to all.
Let me set the record straight regarding a comment posted by WOWITSCRAZY.
First of all, Invista is not closing the plant, it is idling a portion of the plant due to economic circumstances - the housing industry and the reduced need for carpet.
Second, the comment posted eludes to the incorrect belief that unions alone are the cause of company failures. This is far from the truth. In most cases, unions work with the companies to find solutions to difficult problems. In the end, even when solutions are found, the employees blaim the easy target - the union - instead of recognizing what put them in the difficult situation. In some cases, employees do become victim to poor management who fail or refuse to recognize what needs to be accomplished. Poor managment can occur on both sides - union and management. However, this is not the normal occurance. For the most part, unions and management across the U.S. work together to find solutions to difficult problems. Regardless of the outcome, when a union is involed they are the ones to take the blame and never the credit.
Last, the posting states that Hersey and McKey are still running and paying good wages. It does not recognize Invista as among the highest paid employers in the area. The comment also does not recognize that if it were not for the unionized manufacturing base in the area at the time of the start up of Hershey and McKey, wages most likely would have been significant lower for these employees. Anyone who understands comparitive and competive wages understands that companies pay only what is necessary to attract and retain good employees. As a result of having to compete with unionized companies such as Dupont (now Invista)and ASR, Hershey and McKey had no choice but to pay competive wages. If Dupont (Invista) and ASR were paying far less, then the employees of Hershey and McKey most likely would also be making far less. So instead of comdeming unions, recognize their role in supporting a high standard of living in our area. Without unions, workers in the U.S. and the Shenandoah Valley would be much disadvantaged.
Invista has been a part of the Waynesboro area since 1929 and has been unionized since 1937. This represents almost 80 years of history as a company and over 71 years of history as a union. This is a history unmatched by any company or union in or area. I am proud to be part of this history, and I want to be part of continuing its history for the employees of Invista and the community. I am unaware of any non union manufacturing company in our area who can say the same. This is a history that our area should be proud.
Proud Invista employee and Union Member
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