by Charles W. Baird
Unionized labor makes up only 9.4 percent of the U. S. private sector workforce, and that number continues to fall across the country. By the end of the year 2000 it will be close to 7 percent - exactly where it was in 1900. Unionization is, in a word, a declining institution, and it has been since 1953. Inasmuch as over 90 percent of private sector workers are, by choice, union-free, we must carefully distinguish between the interests of unions on the one hand and the interests of most labor and consumers on the other. Yet the California Legislature seems shamelessly poised to serve the interests of unions and their union-impaired contractors to the detriment of the rest of us in the state's building and electrical industry.
The offending bills are AB 931 and AB 921. The former would require the state Division of Apprenticeship Standards "to establish and validate minimum standards for the competency and training of electricians through a system of testing and certification." Electricians are defined to "include all employees who engage in the connection of electrical devices for [licensed] electrical contractors." The latter would turn control of the California Apprenticeship Council over to employer and employee organizations that jointly sponsor apprenticeship programs. All apprenticeship programs must "ensure meaningful and trustworthy representation of the interests of employees in the management of the program[s]."
The principal supporters of the bills are the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (a union) and the National Electrical Contractors Association (a group of union-impaired contractors). Both groups find it very difficult to compete with union-free workers and contractors on a level playing field, so they have appealed to the Legislature to skew the playing field in their favor.
The proponents of licensing electricians argue that tighter control over electricians is required because "improper wiring can lead to electrical fire and is a danger to consumers and workers. Now, only 1 to 2 percent of fires in the industry are electricity-related; and, according to Ron Coleman, the State Fire Marshall, the overwhelming majority of those fires are due to faulty equipment such as CSEDs (combination service entry devices) not to faulty installation. Moreover, the safety records of union-free electricians are just as commendable as those of unionized electricians. When it comes to fires, AB 931 is a solution in search of a problem.
The actual problem it addresses is the unions' declining market share. The minimum standards for competency and training of electricians will be those imposed by unions in their apprenticeship programs. That is, union-free electricians will in effect be forced to be approved by the unions before they can practice their trade. The unions impose far higher standards than are required for safety reasons. Their standards are imposed in a shameless attempt to restrict the supply of electricians relative to the demand for them in order to keep wages above competitive levels. Union-free contractors can often outbid union-impaired contractors because they pay competitive wages rather than artificially high wages. Unions figure that if they can gain control over the supply of union-free electricians they can erase that competitive advantage. This is not rocket science. It is malice in plunderland. The unions' declining market share proves that without special favors from the Legislature and a complicit governor, unions cannot compete. Plunder is the only proper name for using the coercive power of government to overcome self-imposed competitive disadvantages.
It should be obvious to anyone that consumers will be harmed by the imposition of above-market wage rates in the union-free sector of the construction industry. Even if rates in the unionized sector of the industry aren't raised, decreased competition from the union-free sector will raise costs to consumers. But politicians don't care about that because the increased costs are spread over thousands of consumers. On an individual consumer basis it may increase housing costs by a few thousand dollars. But to the unions it means hundreds of thousands, even millions, of dollars added to union coffers. Moreover, unlike unions, consumers are not organized for lobbying politicians. Politicians, whose principal interest lies in getting and keeping political power, naturally pay more attention to the interests of those organized to contribute manpower and cash support to their electoral campaigns than to the interests of unorganized and far less generous consumers.
The unions' game of malice in plunderland is not limited to imposing artificial union standards for licensing electricians. AB 921 would insure that unions have unbreakable control over the California Apprenticeship Council that sets requirements that must be met by any contractor bidding on California public works projects. Existing law stipulates that the Council be made up of representatives from employer and employee groups, not just those with joint apprenticeship programs. The bill requires that the Council be made up of representatives from employer and employee groups that have joint apprenticeship programs. The reason is simple and shameless. Unions and union-impaired contractors control most joint apprenticeship programs. Moreover, the requirement that the programs "ensure meaningful and trustworthy representation of the interests of employees" almost guarantees that approved programs will be limited to union programs. In the 1992 Electromation case the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that any form of labor-management cooperation that is not union-management cooperation amounts to an illegal company union. To the NLRB, meaningful representation means union representation. Thus the guiding principal of the newly constituted Council will be to serve the interests of unions, not the interests of all labor, all contractors, and the general public.
It is remarkable how brazen the unions, their contractors, and their
politicians are in this power grab. It is bad enough that the unions and
their contractors try to buy the favors of politicians. It is much worse
that the politicians are so willing and eager to supply those favors to
the detriment of the rest of us. It really is malice in plunderland.