Oregon Bill Bans Mandatory Anti-Union Meetings

by Mike Hall, Jun 9, 2009

When Oregon workers are choosing to form a union and bargain for a better life, they would not be forced to attend coercive, mandatory anti-union meetings by management under the Worker Freedom Act passed Monday by the Oregon State Senate. It now goes to the House, where it won approval in 2007.

The legislation will make it illegal for an employer to discipline or fire a worker who chooses not to attend a meeting on politics, religion or union organizing during work hours.

Says Oregon AFL-CIO President Tom Chamberlain:

Workers should not have to give up their opinions or be lectured about their employer’s beliefs to get a paycheck.

Almost all anti-union campaigns are marked by mandatory meetings where employers or their union-busting consultants use a variety of tactics to intimidate workers. In many cases, workers who speak out for the union are disciplined and even fired.

Chamberlain says the forced meetings are not always about politics. One Oregon worker told the state federation that he was disciplined after walking away from a lunchroom after his employer started making anti-Catholic statements.

During the last election campaign, Wal-Mart forced workers to attend meetings in which managers told them electing Democrats to the White House and Congress could threaten their jobs. Wal-Mart is one of the leading corporate voices in the multimillion campaign battling the Employee Free Choice Act that would allow workers to form unions free of that type of intimidation and harassment.    

The Worker Freedom Act (S.B. 519) was passed, 16-14, by the Oregon Senate, with two Democrats, Ginny Burdick of Portland and Betsy Johnson of Scappoose, joining all 12 Republicans in opposing the bill.

Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski has said he will sign the bill if it reaches his desk.

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