AFF Sentinel Vol.5#37
Presidential
Candidate Envisions Unionized U.S. Agriculture
If you're a cattle feeder, did you know that Barack
Obama wants to help you run your operation?
Believe it. Obama sent a letter to a Northwestern
feedyard expressing his wish that employees at all their feedyards be unionized
and emphasizing his support for unionization of all American farm operations.
You may recall the AFF Sentinel of 6/20/08 (Sen.
V5#28,"Union Deploys Vicious Methods on Natural Beef Program &
Feedyard"), revealing the United Farm Workers' (UFW) exploitation of a
loophole in Oregon law to attempt pressuring Whole Foods and Country Natural
Beef into a secondary boycott of Beef Northwest. Beef Northwest is a
cattle-feeding company based out of North Powder, Or. The UFW had pressured
Whole Foods into insisting that Country Natural - which sold a large share of
its beef to Whole Foods -- had to feed its cattle in a unionized feedyard.
When the union had taken a delegation to Whole
Foods' Austin, Texas headquarters to apply pressure, only one of Beef
Northwest's 150 employees could be persuaded to go along.
The crux of the issue is that in most states,
employees have the right to a secret ballot in voting whether to join a
union. That traditional right to a secret ballot is now a key target of
union organizers. They want Congress to pass federal legislation
allowing union organizers to use a simple "card check" campaign
instead of a secret ballot election.
In a card check campaign, union organizers can
approach an employee at work, at his home or elsewhere and
pressure him into signing a card in front of them - no privacy and
no secret ballot. The union is not required to have the employer's
participation nor even alert the employer to their activities or pressure.
Card check legislation is a priority for
both the Democrat party and candidate Barack Obama. That's why he's interested
in the Beef Northwest saga.
Beef Northwest has indicated it would abide by the
wishes of its employees in a truly neutral election monitored by a qualified
third party. Instead, the union had a "party" for
employees, complete with various free mood-altering substances, to lean on them
to sign union authorization cards. The union refused to allow employees who,
upon sober reflection, later wanted to withdraw their card.
But those kinds of tactics evidently are fine with
Obama. His letter to John Wilson at Beef Northwest said in part:
"I encourage you to recognize the card check
election of June 13, and to negotiate with your employees' chosen bargaining
agent, the United Farm Workers. Your prompt attention to this issue is greatly
appreciated, and I look forward to hearing from you soon."
A UFW statement referred to the card check party
as a "free and fair election" - failing to explain that no secret
ballot election had taken place at all. They've also refused to show
the signed cards to Beef Northwest.
Instead, the union was attempting to capitalize on
Obama's letter to pressure Beef Northwest.
"If this election is good enough for who
[sic] we expect to be the next president of the United States, it
should be good enough for Beef Northwest," Steve Witte said. He is UFW
Pacific Northwest director of strategic campaigns. The statement also quoted
Obama's letter that he "is committed to the ability of our nation's
agricultural workers to organize ... "
Part of AFF's mission is to remind livestock
industry folks that politics, while not the favorite interest of many
producers, can have a critical impact on their business. We've discussed
the impact of party politics on Supreme Court nominations and their
impact on rulings involving the Endangered Species Act, private
property rights and EPA regulations. The change in party majority
in both houses of Congress in 2006 changed leadership and committee
chairmen and drastically affected this past year's Farm Bill debate.
Washington observers say both the Farm Bill and
mCOOL legislation could well be re-opened in the next Congress.
As the election bears down upon us, AFF will
provide food for thought regarding both the presidential and Congressional
elections and their potential impact on the livestock business.
Meantime, Beef Northwest sits tight, hoping for a
fair and reasonable outcome of a difficult situation not of their own making.
They certainly did not expect to become an illustration of what Obama as
president would like to see for U.S. agriculture.
Click
here to view Obama's signed letter
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