Baking & Snack - March 2009 - 11

EDITORIAL

EDITORIAL STAFF
Executive Editor
Laurie Gorton
lgorton@sosland.com

A Bad Choice

'll state it up front, I don't like unions. They are bad for business, bad for the
economy and no longer serve a viable purpose, especially in the baking industry.
And the proposed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is a catalyst to that end.
At some point in the early 20th century, unions were useful, yes. They played
a critical part in the revolution from sweatshop ethics to modern-day business practices. They exposed horrendous work environments put in play by greedy, tyrannical
business owners. However, even then, most of the headlines were ﬁlled with examples
from the meat and textile industries, not bakeries.
Over the years, union representation has dropped from a high of 35% among private sector employers in 1950 to a low of 7.4% in 2006, according to Husch Blackwell
Sanders LLP, Kansas City, MO. In a recent release, the law ﬁrm noted the decline
can be attributed in large part to "campaigns" that employers mount in the period
between the petition and the election. The campaign enables employers to inform
their employees of the consequences of accepting union representation. Companies
are allowed to ﬁnd and disseminate information that unions never tell the employees
during the petition drive such as the cost of union dues, examples of companies driven
out of business by the union, lost wages during a strike to achieve union demands and,
sometimes, instances of corruption within the union.
Declining union representation can also be attributed to employers realizing, acknowledging and treating employees as the prime assets they are. In the 22 years I
have worked for and visited bakeries around the country and around the world, the
universal mantra of management has been "Employees ﬁrst," "Employees are our biggest asset" and "Employees are treated like family."
At the core of EFCA is the proposed ability for union organizers to inﬂuence employees
to sign "Card Check" authorization cards, effectively exposing to everyone an employee's
vote for or against forming a union. How is that in an employee's best interest?
Regardless of how I personally feel about unions, passage of EFCA to amend the
National Labor Relations Act that President Obama and his administration are pressing
would be disastrous for the baking industry. It would open the doors to further plant
shutdowns, business failures and destruction of management/employee relationships.
This industry knows the value of its bakery employees who interact with the products and the customers on a very personal level throughout the supply chain. Employers know that without employee loyalty and dedication, which has been nurtured and
developed over the years, they would be nowhere.
I join ABA, IBA and SFA in their opposition to
EFCA passage.
In an economy that is going from bad to worse, the
last thing this industry needs is pressure from unions
trying to convince employees to organize: For what
purpose other than the unions' own preservation?
- Steve Berne, Editor
sberne@sosland.com

Editor

Steve Berne
sberne@sosland.com

Managing Editor

Holly Bradley
hbradley@sosland.com

Senior Associate Editor

Jennifer Barnett Fox
jfox@sosland.com

Associate Editor

Kimberlie Clyma
kclyma@sosland.com

Senior Editor

Shane Whitaker
swhitaker@sosland.com

Contributing Editors:

Columnists:

Donna Berry
Rebeca López-García
Richard F. Stier
Jim Kline
jkline@theensolgroup.com
Theresa Cogswell
bakercogs@sbcglobal.net
Anne Giesecke, Ph. D.
info@a-dpolicyanalysis.com

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Baking & Snack - March 2009

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