As a child in Sunday School, I memorized the Ten Commandments. In fact, I regularly won the Bible memory-verse contests—I have some pink and green Bibles to show as prizes.
Most of the commandments I understood. The commandment that didn’t mean anything to me until recently was “Thou shalt not bear false witness.”
I suspect that those working with young men of color falsely accused of crimes they did not commit understand the significance of this commandment. I’ve come to appreciate its importance when I hear of workers fired on trumped-up charges for trying to organize a union in their workplace.
Labor law in the United States is clear that workers cannot be fired for trying to organize a union. So, employers claim they are firing workers for being late, or poor performance, or other issues that were never problems until the workers began organizing. Thousands of employers bear false witness against workers each and every year.
According to American Rights at Work, more than 86,000 workers filed claims with the National Labor Relations Board between 1996 and 2007 alleging that their employers fired them for trying to organize a union. Although many of the claims were never decided upon (either for or against companies) by the Board, the odds are that many of the cases had merit. And this 86,000 doesn’t count all the workers illegally fired who didn’t know they could file a complaint or chose not to bother, given the historic slowness of the Board’s actions. How many of us could “wait” to have our jobs reinstated two years after being fired?
Bearing false witness has significant consequences. Workers unjustly lose their jobs. Their families usually lose both income and health insurance. Congregations and communities lose those wage-earning productive members.
In addition to the immediate economic consequences for workers and their families and communities, firing workers by bearing false witness against them sends a chilling message to all other workers. One study by American Rights at Work estimated that for every worker fired, 395 coworkers receive the message that if you attempt to organize you’ll get fired.
Over the years I’ve asked hundreds of religious audiences what they think would happen to them if they tried to organize a union. Almost to a person, the response is: “I’d get fired.” Even those who work for religious institutions believe they would be fired for organizing.
Bearing false witness is not some abstract problem. It is a problem that is alive and well in the American workplace, which is why worker justice advocates support the Employee Free Choice Act. This simple bill would make it easier for workers to form unions and get first contracts, and would increase fines and penalties for employers who intimidate and bear false witness against workers by firing them.
Many employers are fearful of unions. In some cases it’s rational, like the fear that a union would force employers to share profits with workers; and sometimes it’s irrational—they just think unions are bad. This fear has generated a tornado of employer opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act.
For those who work for ethical employers or have never experienced this damaging practice wielded against workers, it is hard to understand all the dust thrown up by the tornado. Employer groups led by the Chamber of Commerce are in a tizzy, claiming the sky will fall if the bill is passed. Labor groups are united in their support for EFCA, believing it is essential to level the playing field in the workplace.
I’m for the Employee Free Choice Act because it would stop employers from bearing false witness. This important commandment is too often ignored, or in my case, not understood. I get it now. Bearing false witness is serious business.
