WILLOUGHBY, Ohio - He's only been in the oval office for a month, but national and local labor union leaders are already calling President Barack Obama the most labor-friendly president in decades, the News-Herald reports.
During Obama's presidential campaign, he promised to push for and sign the Employees Free Choice Act.
The legislation would enable working people to bargain for better benefits, wages and working conditions by restoring workers' freedom to choose for themselves whether to join a union, according to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.
Although the U.S. House passed the EFCA in 2007, the bill got no further and faced a veto by President George W. Bush.
"We are hoping after eight years of probably the most anti-labor union president of our lifetime that Obama will level the playing field a bit, giving workers union, and nonunion, a voice at the workplace a chance," said David Thomas, business manager for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 673. "Time will tell, it's all hope right now. If he can rebuild the middle class and help lower class, everyone will benefit."
Keith Hocevar, field representative for Bricklayers & Allied Craftwokers Local 16, said he can tell Obama is committed to rebuilding the middle class.
"I think being favorable to the middle class is what is important to him," he said. "Labor always works for getting the everyday working-class man or woman and their families health-care benefits and fair ways where they can go out and spend money."
Thomas is hoping that Obama will reform health care, making it more affordable for everyone, especially to employers who offer it to their employees.
"With labor unions, 50 percent of contract talks are centered around health care," Thomas said.
Besides signing the ECFA, Hocevar said he hopes Obama will keep more companies from leaving the United States.
"We need to bring manufacturing back to the country and find ways to bring things here locally," he said.
"When companies come in and decide to manufacture a certain product in our area, that creates more jobs."
Last week, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that trade union membership rose to 12.4 percent of the workforce in 2008, up from 12.1 percent in 2007.
Locally, union leaders have seen an increase in union memberships.
Thomas, who is also a member of the Lake County AFL-CIO, said the building trades have been very strong because of people realizing the benefits of being part of a labor union.
Hocevar said he has seen union memberships increase by 10 percent in the past year and a half and Ralph Nazario, president of United Auto Workers of America Local 2262, said his union membership has increased "dramatically."
Although union leaders are optimistic, Robert Trebar, dean of management studies for Lake Erie College, said an increasing amount of union workers eventually could take a toll on employers financially.
"The biggest impact Obama can have on our labor is his ability to effectively, through his policies, turn around the economy," he said. "There are two sides to this coin. Will the so-called labor-friendly policies impact cost to employers?
"Will it make it more difficult for them to add staff?" he said. "Looking at it as an employee, it may appear beneficiary, but if it imposes costs to the employer, it may discourage them to add jobs or retain jobs."
Regardless, Nazario as well as the other union leaders say they are excited to have someone in the White House who will stand up for them.
"He'll be very good, he'll be fair," Nazario said.
"I don't think he'll go overboard and give us everything we want, but he'll take a fair approach. Give him some time, I think we'll find out he'll be one of the better presidents for labor we've seen in a long time."
(This item appeared Feb. 20, 2009, in the News Herald.)
