It has been a long time since labor unions played a meaningful role in a statewide election in Arkansas. The reason for that is simple: labor unions, while influential players on the national political stage, carry little influence as a constituency in Arkansas.
The laws of the Natural State are substantially anti-union. Major businesses, like Wal-Mart, have thwarted efforts by unions to infiltrate their company. The number of union members in Arkansas is much smaller per capita than many other states. In 2007, only 8.8% of Arkansas workers were members of a union.
But the 2010 Democratic primary for the United States Senate has brought labor unions to Arkansas.
The Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, first made noise when it announced that it would provide Lt. Gov. Bill Halter with some assistance in retiring a substantial debt that lingers from his 2006 campaign.
It was not an inconsequential maneuver even if the contribution was minimal when compared to the overall amount of debt. The reason being that labor has a definite stake in the outcome of the 2010 election.
Its lead issue, the Employee Free Choice Act, or EFCA, made a lot of headlines in 2009. The bill itself, which passed the House in 2007 but has yet to be brought to a vote in the Senate, would make union organizing an easier process. In short, the act would require businesses to recognize a union if a majority of workers at a workplace sign cards indicating they wish to unionize.
Unions also believe they make a substantial impact on other issues like ensuring health care and pension coverage, and that EFCA would help further that aim. The Center for Economic Policy and Progress estimated that if the EFCA passed, 14,157 additional workers in Arkansas would receive health insurance, and 11,164 more would receive pension benefits.
Corporate America, to make the broad generalization, has long been opposed to unions. That is certainly the case in Arkansas. Jeff Hankins, publisher of Arkansas Business, wrote in op-ed on March 8, 2010,
“Enemy No. 1 for the business community — locally and nationally — is Lt. Gov. Bill Halter, who instantly received the endorsement of the AFL-CIO and has been promised some $4 million in national union money.”
Former Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott once characterized Wal-Mart’s opposition to the EFCA by saying, “We like driving the car, and we’re not going to give the steering wheel to anyone but us.”
Matt Yglesias, a prominent left-leaning blogger, wrote on his Think Progress blog: “Non-union Arkansas is a bastion of prosperity! Well, actually, no, it’s poverty-stricken and features ultra-low wages. But guess who likes low wages? Wal-Mart. And guess who loves Wal-Mart? Arkansas politicians like Blanche Lincoln.”
Lincoln, after all, has had a difficult history with the EFCA, also known casually as Card Check.
In 2007, Lincoln signed on as a co-sponsor of the legislation in the Senate. But after the 2008 elections in which President Barack Obama lost Arkansas badly, her position on the matter changed.
In December 2008 she stated that the EFCA was “not necessary right now.” The Weekly Standard, a leading voice on the political right, declared it a “shrewd move.” It continued: “Her early declaration of opposition is sure to anger the unions.”
In April 2009, at a luncheon at the governor’s mansion, she stated, “I cannot support that bill. I cannot support it in its current form. I may not have said that as clearly before, but I am saying it now.”
Republicans characterized her as a flip-flopper. Organized labor gravitated to Halter.
But Halter hasn’t exactly been forthright in his position on the EFCA. In fact, he has ducked the matter entirely, because the EFCA in its current form is going nowhere in the Senate. Still, Halter has intimated that he would be a friend to labor on several issues, including employer intimidation of workers who seek to form a union.
That has been enough to appease labor and liberals. Michael Whitney, writing for the liberal-leaning blog Fire Dog Lake, opined, “Halter says that he supports some kind of labor law reform, which is a hell of a lot better than Blanche.”
The issue has spilled over to both campaigns. Organized labor launched its independent expenditure effort last week with a television ad attacking Lincoln for voting in favor of measures that sent jobs overseas, favored credit card companies and bailed out Wall Street banks.
The Lincoln campaign responded by rebutting the charges on its campaign Web site.
Both campaigns exchanged a series of attacks over, for example, how much money Halter had taken from unions.
This is the most attention unions have received in a long time in Arkansas.
Hankins is right, Arkansas business leaders I’ve spoken to have a profane if not visceral reaction to the EFCA. But how big of an issue is it?
As Halter indicated, as of today the EFCA is dead in the Senate. With Americans more concerned about other matters — jobs, homeland security and taxes, notably — it is a longshot that President Obama will engage in this fight anytime soon.
In the meantime, Halter is gobbling up labor’s money. The $4 million independent expenditure campaign launched by the AFL-CIO has already had an impact. And then there’s the get-out-the-vote effort which is sure to come, and which labor has traditionally been quite effective at executing.
The Lincoln campaign seems unprepared to deal with this dynamic. If Halter is pro-labor, then the Lincoln campaign’s reactionary efforts about political contributions and debt retirement and negative campaigning are the political equivalent of fighting a wildfire with a water pistol.
About that wildfire: The Halter for Senate campaign feels a bit like one. Someone needs to arm the Lincoln camp with more than a water pistol.
Blake Rutherford is an Arkansas political analyst and public relations executive. He is the publisher of Blake’s Think Tank, a public affairs blog, and the host of Arkansas Sunday Edition on 103.7FM The Buzz. You can e-mail him at
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or follow him on Twitter: @blakerutherford. His column appears in the Courier on Fridays.
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