A Friend at the Top

HOW MUCH HAVE REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATIONS had to do with the decline in union membership to 16% of the work force, the lowest in 50 years? Plenty, say labor leaders: unfriendly Administrations have enabled employers to stall off union- representation elections for years and even break strikes. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich now proposes to change all that. Meeting with the AFL-CIO executive council in Bal Harbour, Florida, Reich repledged Bill Clinton's support for a law to prohibit employers from hiring permanent replacements for striking workers (the certainty of a George Bush veto long kept the Democratic majorities in Congress from even trying to pass such a law). Further, said Reich, Clinton will appoint a special commission to recommend other ways to equalize the power of unions and companies, both by administrative action and by rewriting basic labor law. The labor federation promptly reciprocated by pledging support for Clinton's deficit-cutting program.