Law Enforcement - A Local Issue (Hobbs Act) 1970s

It's universally [music] recognized that the American labor management relationship works well. The collective bargaining [music] process is the heart of that system and is the envy of people throughout the world. Millions of workers in Poland [music] are willing to risk confrontation in order to have their right to a free labor movement recognized. Collective bargaining as [music] practiced in this country recognizes the right of employers to disagree with workers and the right of workers [music] to disagree with management. Such disagreements are rare but settled amicably. Yet [music] little is heard of that accomplishment. Instead, the focus is on the 4% of the situations in which [music] there is a lockout or strike and picketing. Picketing is a form of free speech [music] protected by the First Amendment. In our society, there is picketing over all sorts of issues. Most people have to have a strong commitment in order to carry a picket sign. >> [music] >> Strikes usually don't last long. The picketing is peaceful and an agreement is reached. When union members walk a picket line, they [music] are risking their paychecks and sometimes their jobs. They may be protesting [music] unlawful or unreasonable action by the employer that has driven them out of work. >> [music] >> Plainly, when that is true, the situation is tense and the emotions run high. I got 27 years in here and they can just walk away and and leave me and I've no job whatsoever. All we want is a guarantee that the the plant if they do have to move that our contract will go with them and we'll be out of a job. IN THAT DAY PEACE. WHEN human emotion gets out of hand, when tempers are short, >> [screaming] >> there can be violence. No one defends violence, especially in labor disputes, where resolving problems depends on clear thinking and compromise. REMEMBER ONE THING. THAT WE DON'T NEED VIOLENCE BECAUSE WE GOT UNITY. BUT violence does happen. Rarely, but it does happen. And when it happens, it can come from either side. From a worker fighting for his job or an employer or supervisor angry at strikers. It is those rare instances of violence on the picket line that are now the subject of major debate in Congress. Certain anti-labor groups are pushing a bill in Congress that would leave picket line violence by [music] employers a matter for local courts while making the same offense for union members a federal crime carrying much higher penalties. Under present law, picket line wrongdoing is a state crime punishable by state penalties. A fistfight on a picket line is treated like a fistfight anywhere [music] else. A fistfight over a labor dispute is no more wrong and no more right than if it occurred in a parking lot after a football game. It is no more wrong or right if started by an employer or by a union member. The one labor organization that represents most of our country's union members, the AFL-CIO, does not believe that the federal government should police picket lines in the interests of employers. We've had that one-sided approach to labor relations before and it didn't work. The AFL-CIO is not alone in that opinion. State and local prosecutors and police believe that there are already sufficient federal and state laws that cover any serious crimes committed during a labor dispute. William J. Guste, Attorney General of Louisiana. Several issues are involved. The first is whether it is equal protection of the law to make picket line violence by union members a federal offense without making similar crimes by employer representatives federal crimes as well. Now, it seems to me it's fundamentally discriminatory not to do so. It discriminates against one class of citizens and represents unequal protection of the law. The second issue is whether the country needs the federal government getting involved in crimes like simple assault and malicious mischief. State laws and local law enforcement agencies are fully capable of handling this kind of situation. The FBI and the federal courts have far more important problems than to divert manpower and resources to handle this kind of problem. How serious [music] a problem is picket line violence? The most recent FBI crime report doesn't refer to a single incident. You have to wonder, are the people [music] who want to label as extortion any threat or wrongful act by workers on a picket line opposed to picket line violence or are they just opposed to unions? If they had their way, for the same offense, an employer would get 30 days in jail while a union member would get a $10,000 fine and 20 years in prison. That's not [music] fair. That's plain anti-unionism. AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland. All laws, including labor laws, should be administered fairly and enforced evenhandedly. No one condones picket line violence. In fact, unions try to prevent it. But carrying a union card should not make someone a felon when he commits a misdemeanor. If you agree that law [music] enforcement should be fair, please tell your senator and representative. Picket line violence is the responsibility [music] of our state and local law enforcement agencies. That's where enforcement should remain on the local level. >> [music]