DeMint Tries to Make it Legal to Fire Workers for Organizing Unions
S. 1227, the “Truth in Employment Act of 2009,” has just one active clause within its volumes of rhetoric:
Section 8(a) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 158(a)) is amended by adding after and below paragraph (5) the following:
`Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as requiring an employer to employ any person who seeks or has sought employment with the employer in furtherance of other employment or agency status.’.
Those are fancy words that may confuse the reader, but what they boil down to is this:
If you act in furtherance of the interests of a union — say, by advocating for its formation — your employer can fire you. If it passes the Senate and then the House, S. 1227 would make it legal for corporations to fire any employees who are working to organize the corporation’s workers into a union. The bill, introduced by Senator Jim DeMint, would allow corporations to retaliate against employees for doing union organizing.
In short, the bill legalizes union-busting.
