ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 31, 1995 TAG: 9601020130
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D-2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: WORKPLACE
SOURCE: CAROL KLEIMAN CHICAGO TRIBUNE
A case decided in November by the U.S. Supreme Court - involving a male worker; a labor union with the word ``brotherhood'' in its title; and a company in the male-dominated, blue-collar construction industry - is being described as ``vital to women?''
On Nov. 28, the Supreme Court ruled that employers can't discriminate against paid union organizers who, as their employees, try to organize other workers.
That was good news for unions. But the Women's Legal Defense Fund says the outcome of National Labor Relations Board vs. Town & Country Electric Inc. may be the ``most important case'' decided this year by the high court.
The case involves the alleged refusal by Town & Country, a nonunion electrical contractor in Appleton, Wis., to hire electricians who are members of and organizers for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. It also involves the firing - after two days - of Malcolm Hansen, an electrician and organizer.
Town & County alleged that Hansen was incompetent and that paid organizers are employees of the union and not entitled to protection under the NLRB.
But the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals took it one step further when it ruled in 1994 in favor of the firm and said that Hansen's role as a union organizer created a ``conflict of interest inconsistent with employer-employee relations.''
The NLRB, which found that Hansen was fired because of union activity, then took the case to the Supreme Court, which heard it in October. The court's unanimous decision was made quickly.
And here's why the case is so important:
``All the social science studies on the subject unequivocally demonstrate that union membership or coverage under a collective bargaining agreement, more than any other factors, increases women's wages, training opportunities and chances for advancement and reduces the wage gap, especially for low-income women and women of color,'' said Judith Lichtman, an attorney and president of the Women's Legal Defense Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group.
The nonprofit organization filed a brief with the Supreme Court in support of the NLRB.
Despite the fact that only 13 percent of all women and only 18 percent of men are unionized, the attorney says that ``decisions that limit union organizing limit employed women.''
Lichtman says women are affected by the decision because ``when you take other factors into account that affect wages - experience, education, training and workplace participation - unionized women earn 90 cents an hour more than nonunionized women.''
The importance of the case is underscored by the fact that unions, finally, are stepping up recruitment of women, in particular minority and low-wage workers.
LENGTH: Medium: 59 linesby CNB