Press & News

John Collins Quoted in Houston Chronicle
02/16/2006

John Collins was quoted in an article (“Unions’ fight to win over city workers a real brawl”) published in the February 16, 2006 issue of the Houston Chronicle detailing a battle between two unions in contention to represent the 12,600 workers employed by Houston’s City Hall. Both sides, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), are objecting to the other’s use of unflattering images and accusations in their campaign literature.

Both unions stand the change of turning off the very people they’re trying to woo. John said people don’t like it when they feel one side or another has sunk to levels of childishness. Even if employees sign a petition, it doesn’t mean they’ll join a union if it becomes the bargaining representative, John said.

It is unlikely that the National Labor Relations Board will interfere in the two unions’ mutual attack ads. The article concludes, “In the private sector, the federal agency doesn’t referee the content of campaign literature unless it involves threats against employees, Collins said. And he doesn’t expect anything different for this public union dispute. While the agency used to wade in neck deep, it became a terrible morass to sort through the claims and decide which statements are misleading, he said. Now the NLRB has taken the position that both sides have free-speech rights and that the voters can decide what’s accurate and what isn’t. The bottom line: as long as there are no threats, it’s generally OK to bash the other side.”