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KGO/ABC Network Radio: The Changing Face of Labor Unions

Columbus partner Mike Asensio, who practices exclusively in the area of Management Labor and Employment Law, was featured on KGO Newstalk Radio, San Francisco (ABC Radio Network), on October 27 discussing the changes facing the country's labor unions and employers, in light of the impending presidential election.

Asked which unions that historically supported Republican candidates are now supporting the Democrats—and why—Asensio said, "What's changed [is that] in the past, we've had unions like the Teamsters that have been a little renegade and have gone out and supported Republican candidates, but what's really at stake this go round for the labor movement is the chance of a lifetime to affect political change and legislative change if they're able to get the Democrats elected, not only in the White House, but get a significant number of Democratic senators elected so they can get close to that filibuster-proof majority of 60."

Asked to comment on why the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is such a big factor and why it is making such an impact, Asensio said, "The Employee Free Choice Act would change how employees in the private sector choose whether or not they want to be represented by a union. Currently, and for the history of the private sector unionization in the United States, a secret ballot election has been the means by which employees make that choice. If EFCA is passed, employees are going to be able to, instead, be organized through a card check recognition process. Unions will be able to go out and get a majority of the employees in a targeted unit signed up on authorization cards and then, without an election, gain representation rights . . . It would be a lot easier [for unions] to organize, [it] probably would double or triple their numbers in the next 4 to 10 years."