TV Reviews : ‘Ties’ Has Chilling View for Labor Day Weekend

Those Dodger fans who have turned Mike Busch into their new anti-union hero may not warm very well to the latest report in PBS’ occasional series “We Do the Work.” But for those apparently dwindling few who hold some value in worker unity against management abuses, “Ties That Bind” will make disturbing sense.

The fans who would rather boo the Jerry Reinsdorfs and Fred Claires of the world than the Brett Butlers will fully understand the report’s accounts of threats, intimidations and belligerent tactics of both Avondale Shipyards and Tultex against workers attempting to organize into a union.

Just as the baseball owners’ shameful history of collusions and lockouts has been a clear case of union-busting, so the Avondale, Tultex and other disputes have been powerful evidence of a nationwide movement by corporate management to squelch workers trying to democratically organize.

The central point in this hourlong report, narrated by the smart, underappreciated comic Will Durst, is a chilling one on this Labor Day weekend: Where unorganized labor forces have tried to stage elections to formally organize, companies such as Kmart, Sprint and Tultex have used legal and illegal methods to either block an election or nullify election results that go against management.

“Ties That Bind” shows a montage of revealing clips from the TV campaign waged during the union representation election at Virginia-based Tultex, and it’s easy to see why the union won by a 2-to-1 margin.

Many elections are much closer, which only reinforces the importance of the election process. The sinister side of all of this is uncovered by a former professional union-buster, Martin Levitt, who describes various methods of subterfuge, deceit and fear-mongering (vote union, and the plant will close) that have been mastered to a fine art.

This and other undercover operations point to an ongoing hidden war against unions. It’s the quiet side of the same anti-union coin visible nightly at Dodger Stadium.

“Ties That Bind” airs at 3 p.m. today and at 5:30 p.m. Sunday on KCET-TV Channel 28, and at 9 p.m. Monday on KVCR-TV Channel 24.