ATLANTA — Although Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill this week restricting how some companies could unionize, organized labor in Georgia says unions are trending upward.
Georgia’s institutional hostility to organized labor predates the capitol building built in the 1880s. But labor backers say there is reason to suspect the hostility is easing.
Exhibit A is a hundred miles south of Atlanta, where workers at a Blue Bird school bus assembly plant voted to unionize last year. Exhibit B is a hundred miles north of Atlanta in Chattanooga, where workers at the Volkswagen auto assembly plant voted to unionize last weekend.
Labor unions are winning southern hearts and minds, says Yvonne Brooks.
"They want to make sure they have safe working places, that they're treated fairly on the job," said Brooks, the president of the Georgia AFL-CIO. "It’s not just Georgia. It’s the south."
Union backers say the Volkswagen contract could give them momentum to unionize a Mercedes auto assembly plant next month in Alabama.
Yet, many Georgia politicians – mostly Republicans led by Kemp – are being very vocal about keeping labor unions at arm’s length.
Kemp signed a bill Monday that would limit state incentives for new industries entering Georgia that play ball with organized labor. Kemp and his allies argue unions inhibit businesses that want to employ workers and make money.
"We're a right-to-work state," argued state Sen. Mike Hodges (R-Brunswick), Kemp's floor leader in the senate argued in January, as he presented SB 362 in January.
Brooks said the bill represented "a fad that states in the south are putting forth" by GOP leaders.
"It’s not a partisan issue. It’s a worker issue. It’s a worker, family and community issue," she said.
