Union Free Hard Hat Corner

Hard Hat's Corner:

Construction workers have special problems maintaining a union free status because the federal laws are even more stacked against them.

Back in the 1950's after Congress held extensive hearings on union corruption they enacted the "Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act." A small part of that act was the "union members bill of rights." It included provisions giving union members some rights with unions. For example, it said that a union had to show a union member a copy of the contract under which they were working.

Giving union members rights was a bitter bill for union officials to swallow. As a sweetener, to help union officials swallow this bitter pill, Congress gave construction unions the privilege of so called "pre-hire agreements."

Under a pre-hire agreement contractors sign agreements with unions even before there are any employees. This denies construction workers the right to choose whether they want to be union. In a pre-hire agreement the employer agrees to get all employees through a union hiring hall. Legally these hiring halls are supposed to refer craftsmen who aren't union members but the reality of it is that the unions have a system under which a person who isn't a union member almost never gets sent out on a job.

Union Free construction workers are also being victimized by "union only" Project Labor Agreements in which unions use their political clout to get government agencies to insist that all work on public works projects be done by union members.

The unions have figured out that since workers don't want to be union the only way they are going to get anywhere is to use their political power to force unionism on workers.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2006 only 13 percent of all construction workers belonged to unions. Most of that is in urban areas where unions can use their political clout to make things difficult for union free workers.

It is insane for any elected official to insist on a "union only" Project Labor Agreement on a public works project. They are keeping off the job more than 85 percent of the construction workers whose taxes are paying for the work.

Construction workers who want to show the flag for their desire to stay union free should check out our American Flag "America Works Best Union Free" hard hat stickers. Click here for more information.