HJR 25-SUPPORTING RIGHT TO FORM LABOR UNIONS  1:33:47 PM CHAIR ELLIS announced HJR 25 to be up for consideration. PETER FELLMAN, staff to Representative John Harris, sponsor of HJR 25, said there is no doubt that unions and corporate labor is a hotly debated subject, and both sides are right to some degree. It's easy to show that corporations have intimidated, harassed and threatened employees who have considered joining unions. Examples of that exist today. On the other hand it's easy to show that past unions have engaged in some of the same tactics. "It's history." He said there are good examples of honorable companies that pay fair wages and treat their employees fairly and with good benefits. Unions have also negotiated good, fair contracts for people that needed representation. MR. FELLMAN stated: Members of the committee, you know, if we lived in a perfect world and people gave a fair days work and received a fair wage for that work, we wouldn't have this debate. Our concern on the other hand is for the working people. You know, some of those folks may not have the ability, the capability or the tools at hand to make sure that they can support themselves, and that they will have support from their employer or their employee relations. 1:36:53 PM He related how the Iron Workers Union taught his son a good trade and that he admires what the labor unions do for people. On the other hand, he is a small business owner and he has never been in a situation where he has had someone come to him with a concern and because he didn't address it, threaten him with union activity. Going through that process would be very serious and stressful for him. CHAIR ELLIS asked if he supported the resolution. MR. FELLMAN answered yes. VINCE BALTRAMI, President, Alaska AFL-CIO, said President Bush has threatened to veto this resolution if it passes Congress. The reason it was introduced is because the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) elections are largely perceived to be a broken process. A lot of misconceptions exist about what the bill would do, but it doesn't take away the right for a group of people to have an election (secret ballot) if they so choose. On the other hand, he explained, the National Labor Relations Board process is not like any other election process that people go through when they go to the polls, go behind a booth and check a box for a candidate or bond. That never has the same kind of coercion or negative outcome associated with casting that ballot. 1:40:49 PM MR. BALTRAMI explained the way union elections work now is when employees sign an authorization card and put the election process in motion, if it's successful, that gives them the right to have a labor organization sit down with them and negotiate a contract. When the petition has been filed and a campaign has begun, however, is when a lot of things start happening - like discrimination, firing and intimidation. It's very unlike what happened when the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was first put into place in 1935. The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is an attempt to try to put a little more control back into the hands of the employees for whom the NLRA was created. He explained that under National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) procedure, it takes more than 30 percent of employees signing an authorization card to get the process of going. The EFCA says if more than 50 percent of the employees sign authorization cards, that, in fact, is the election. Upon verification of the signatures, the employees would sit down with the employer who would be committed to bargaining with them. Today, after a successful election, employees can go for years without getting a contract through the employer's stalling tactics. If this bill passes, it would require the employer and the union to come to an agreement within 120 days; if they didn't, it would go to mediation or arbitration. He said if 30 percent of employees still wanted a secret ballot election, it would still be available under this bill. 1:44:34 PM SENATOR STEVENS said he understands that no one can force an employee to vote one way or the other in a secret ballot; that is democracy at work. He asked him to explain, however, how signing an authorization card in front of someone was an improvement on the system. MR. BALTRAMI explained that today if people want to have an election to get organized, at least 30 percent of them have to sign the authorization cards. People who sign those cards do so willingly, but the difference that this bill makes is that it says those signatures could constitute the election. When he was a union organizer, he related that he wouldn't go forward with a petition without at least 60 or 70 percent of the employees signing authorization cards because intimidation tactics would be used against them. He said voting to organize is not like any other secret ballot election process. People are not subject to any kind of intimidation, harassment or firing for regular elections, but all those tactics are used today in almost every single NRLB election process. MR. BALTRAMI stated that the authorization card process the EFCA would allow is one that a lot of employers have lived up to voluntarily. Cingular Wireless is the biggest example, where if a majority of its employees at any property sign these authorization cards, Cingular recognizes that and goes immediately to the bargaining process. SENATOR STEVENS said that Mr. Baltrami didn't answer his question and repeated, if an employee has to sign a card in front of a union representative, the element of secrecy has been lost. MR. BALTRAMI explained that authorization cards have been voluntarily signed by employees and given to the union organizer the same way since 1935 and that won't change. 1:49:30 PM TOM BRICE, Alaska District Council Laborers, supported HJR 25. He explained that sometimes people view the unions as an outside entity coming in, but that is not true. The employees, themselves, are signing a petition saying they want a contract. CHAIR ELLIS asked if his understanding was the same as Mr. Baltrami's, that nothing would change about revealing peoples' identities. MR. BRICE answered that the point Mr. Beltrami was trying to make is once those cards are signed and presented to the labor relations board, the employer has an idea who has signed them. The employer can then try to get those cards thrown out or talk with those employees in closed door sessions and use certain tactics to influence that employee's voice. In 1992/93, the Fairbanks Fred Meyer's did that to its workers when they tried to organize. Just recently in Juneau, Wal-Mart had closed-door meetings where employees were required to come in and sit down and listen to three or four hours of anti-union propaganda. They were paid for the time, but people who did not attend weren't hired. He said that having a signed card serve as the vote would minimize that length of time the employer has to try to influence an employee's decision. 1:52:50 PM SENATOR STEVENS said he still had trouble understanding what is wrong with having a secret election. MR. BRICE answered the point is that after the cards are signed, there is no secrecy. The employer has the ability to know who those employees are and can try to unduly influence them through intimidation and coercion. The EFCA says if over half the employees have indicated by signing a card they want to join a union, then they have made their voice heard and that serves as the election. Employees should be able to go straight to negotiations at that point. 1:54:37 PM MR. BALTRAMI added when the authorization cards are given to a union organizer, they are sealed and go to the NLRB. The names of the people who signed the cards are not revealed, but they can be discovered when the company provides a list of those employees to the board to confirm that they are, in fact, employees in the proper bargaining unit. 1:56:33 PM DENNY DEWITT, Alaska Director, National Federation of Independent Business, said he didn't understand the full context of HR 800, but he had some concerns with moving away from the secret ballot. His concern was that currently, 30 percent or more of the employees can sign an authorization card and then can have a secret ballot election. But many folks, when presented with a card, might get a little pressure from colleagues to sign the card. However, when they have a secret ballot option, they can truly reflect on how they believe an issue ought to go. That's why elections traditionally are by secret ballot. As he understands it, Mr. DeWitt said, this measure makes 50 percent of employees publically signing an authorization card the election. It's another bit of pressure that is also inappropriate. He thought it was appropriate for 51 percent of Cingular's employees to sign cards and then go to negotiations, and the law wouldn't need to be changed. Another concern he had was that the bill had a lot of things in it that no one knew about and going forward with that was just poor public policy. 2:00:09 PM REPRESENTATIVE HARRY CRAWFORD said he used to work as a union organizer and many times he was able to get 75 - 80 percent of employees on non-union jobs to sign the cards, but the actual NLRB vote would be delayed so that people could be worked on. People who were union supporters were laid off or fired and the vote would be delayed so long that the job would be over before the election happened. In all his years as a union organizer, he stated that he was never able to actually get to the point of having an election. 2:01:58 PM SENATOR STEVENS said he understood that, but asked if there is recourse other than changing the law if someone is fired because he wanted to unionize. REPRESENTATIVE CRAWFORD replied that he was fired for trying to organize by the company that was expanding FedEx at the airport. He actually got a few weeks back pay about three years later, because he had proof of what happened, but all the other people who sided with the union didn't get anything. SENATOR THOMAS said that most people discuss the authorization card with their significant other or another colleague before signing it. He found that the timeframe it takes to get to the election the real concern, because that is when there is usually a fair amount of intimidation by the employers. 2:05:18 PM He knew of that happening at Prudhoe Bay when an election time was set. Then the only way to appear you were not in favor of unionization was to not show up on the day of the election. There is a great disparity between the number of people who sign the authorization cards and the number who actually show up to vote. 2:07:34 PM CHAIR ELLIS closed public testimony and held the bill for further consideration. SENATOR DAVIS said she supported HR 800 and wanted to know where it was now and why it wasn't referred to the Speaker of the House. 2:08:32 PM MR. FELLMAN answered that HR 800 passed the House, but not the Senate. He would have to check on why this resolution wasn't referred to the Speaker of the House. SENATOR STEVENS said he was concerned that HJR 25 covered other issues that hadn't been discussed. MR. FELLMAN commented that was not his understanding. CHAIR ELLIS set the resolution aside.