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Show "PTH Your Man fly J In Washington jjkl J By u,s' Senator rrin G-Hatch Labor's Naughty-Boy Image hold out any longer. Most of them would trade much of that increase in pay today for a decent pension plan and adequate hospitalization insurance. Another example is the Panama Canal Treaties. While public opinion opi-nion polls showed a wide majority of Americans against the treaties, AFL-ClO AFL-ClO President George Meany was pushing for the giveaway. National Opinion Poll Magazine later disclosed that the one group most against the Panama Canal Treaties 168 percent! were our skilled workers, many of whom belong to Mr. Meany 's union. Labor's answer to this image crisis is its number one request of Congress this session -- a measure called "labor law reform." The bill basically transforms national labor law into a vehicle to punish those who fail to cooperate in the wholesale organizing of the U.S. work force. Big labor would rather overturn the National Labor Relations Act and its 40 years of good service than change its sullied image. How does "labor law In the last two years the national labor movement move-ment has frightened away three-quarters of a million members. It has lost more than half of its organizing elections of the last few years, and in the last year alone, it lias lost over three-fourths of the elections elec-tions to retain big labor as workers' representative. Over the past three decades union representation representa-tion has slipped from a high of 35 percent to an all-time low of only 20 percent per-cent of the national work force. The largest union, the AFL-CIO, has lost I ,."i(M locals in the past 24 months alone. Dig labor explains these statistics as reflective of a sluggish economy with high unemployment. But history records that when times are tough, workers flock to unions for protection protec-tion rather than abandon them as is occurring today. What is causing this defection? Why would workers rather bargain for their earnings without the help of a union, or have a local union without affiliation affilia-tion with one of the nationally-known "powerhouse" organizations? organiza-tions? The answers is simple -- a bad image. reform perpetuate labor s dirty dynasty? First, with quickie elections that will force employees to make corresponding quickie decisions -- decisions they might later regret if recent history is any indicator. Next, greater access to employees both at home and at the place they work. And finally, three-year three-year blacklisting to deny federal contracts to companies com-panies who are out-of-step with the new law. These changes will severely injure in-jure small business and is bound to aggravate unemployment. This inflation-causing legislation is supported by the Carter Administration and speaks of a double standard when it conies to controlling labor's demands, based on their heavy support of the President's Presi-dent's political campaign. Big labor will apparently continue its history of political influence-buying without correcting its faulty faul-ty reputation. It is clear that big labor needs a house cleaning, not a new package of organizing tools. Pension fund embezzlements; extortion to obtain dues; misuse, unauthorized use, and un-opular un-opular political use of union funds; beatings and even deaths all contribute to this bad image. Such activities ac-tivities do not encourage memberships. The national na-tional labor leaders have, shown total disregard for the wishes of their grassroots members in the spending of' political funds, the investment of union dues, and the spreading of political influence. in-fluence. There are many examples of labor-leader deafness when it comes to local union desires, but recently there have been two glaring cases. During the recent coal strike coal miners stayed out of work for over three months, spent their savings, and second-mortgaged second-mortgaged their homes while their leaders settled for a contract miners didn't want. Finally an agreement was reached which contained a 37 percent per-cent increase when the miners couldn't afford to |