Love of Labour

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: Three years ago, when negotiations with the union representing air-traffic controllers reached an impasse, the administration of George Bush simply imposed a deal that froze salaries, slashed entry-level pay and even set a dress code. Barack Obama, then a senator, sponsored a bill to send the parties to arbitration, without success at the time. As president, Obama ordered talks to resume. In late September, with the help of the arbitrators, the union got its new contract: 3% annual pay increases, higher starting pay and the right, once again, to wear jeans.

Ronald Reagan’s mass firing of illegally striking controllers in 1981 came to signify a turning-point in the fortunes of organised labour, whose share of private-sector workers has fallen to a new low of 7.3% so far this year (see chart). It is tempting to see the controllers’ new deal as marking a turning-point in the other direction.

Obama is the most pro-union president since Jimmy Carter at least. His address to the AFL-CIO, the unions’ umbrella group, in September had the energy of an election rally. Since becoming president he has signed orders that discouraged federal contractors from using non-union labour, elevated workers’ claims in the bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler, and imposed tariffs on imports of Chinese tyres at a union’s request. But these pale beside other issues the labour movement is pursuing.

The unions’ main priority is the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as card check. It would enable workers to form unions without a secret ballot, provided that at least 50% of eligible workers had signed a union card. It would also speed up the process by which a new union gets its first contract and would impose tougher penalties for violation of workers’ rights.