CITIZENS OPT FOR SECRET BALLOT UNION ELECTIONS

CITIZENS OPT FOR SECRET BALLOT UNION ELECTIONS
According to a survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF) conducted from March 31 to April 7, 81% of US citizens support the use of secret ballots for employees when it comes to accepting or rejecting union representation. When the survey was conducted solely amongst union members, the number choosing secret ballot elections rather than card checks was even higher! It was 84%.

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which Congress will soon begin debating, is designed to do away with secret ballot elections in union organizing elections. Secret ballot elections have been integral to all organizing efforts since 1935 when Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act. If the EFCA becomes law, the NLRB would then have to recognize a new union if a majority of workers sign cards authorizing union representation.

Replacing secret ballot elections with card check will certainly open the door for union organizers to intimidate and coerce reluctant employees to join unions.

We hope that President Obama and the U.S. Congress are listening to the voices of citizens, for it is those citizens that the government represents.

IT WILL GET WORSE WHEN THE EFCA BECOMES LAW

IT WILL GET WORSE WHEN THE EFCA BECOMES LAW

In Grantie City, Illinois, an employee at AT&T filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The employee has claimed that the Communications Workers of America, Local 6300, that represents him made threatened legal action when he refused to go on strike.

The employee, David McBride, filed an unfair labor practices charge against the CWA because McBride and other union members refused to support a national strike. He is being represented by the National Right to Work Foundation.

If the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law, more and more employees will be subjected to union coercion not only when it comes to strikes, but also when it comes to organizing efforts. Corporate America must press for the defeat of the EFCA to ensure that American industries will be able to be competitive with industries throughout the world.

OBAMA'S PRO-LABOR ADMINISTRATION

OBAMA’S PRO-LABOR ADMINISTRATION

In addition to Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor, who comes from a strongly pro-union family, the Obama administration is full of many pro-labor advocates who will do what is necessary to consummate the successful passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. The list of pro-labor members of the current administration includes the following:

Parrick Gaspard, a political director in the White House, had been executive VP for legislation for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

Ronald W. Bloom, who had been an assistant to the president of the United Steelworkers of America, is a member of the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry.

J. Randolph Babbitt, who had been president of the Air Line Pilots Association, is now an FAA Administrator.

T. Michael Kerr, an Assistant Labor Secretary, has worked for AFSCME and the SEIU.
Wilma Liebman, who will serve as chair of the NLRB, had previously served as counsel to the Bricklayers and Teamsters Unions.

Joseph C. Szabo, Federal Railroad Administrator, had been the Illinois legislative director of the United Transportation Union.

Helen Kanovsky, general counsel at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, had previously worked for the AFL-CIO.

The list goes on and on, and it is apparent that the Obama Administration will be profoundly pro-labor. It is, therefore, essential that Corporate America develop effective and innovative techniques for dealing effectively with aggressive new union organizing and bargaining policies.

I have recently written an article entitled How Corporate America Can Deal with the Proposed Employee Free Choice Act, which appears on the website of Industry Week magazine and can be found at http://www.industryweek.com/articles/viewpoint_--_how_corporate_america_can_deal_with_the_proposed_employee_free_choice_act_18884.aspx

THE EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT WILL BE AN ANTI FREE SPEECH ACT

By passing the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and imposing card checks on Corporate America, the Democrats will – in effect – eliminate the free speech of workers. Since 1935, when the National Labor Relations Act was passed and signed into law, workers were assured that their opinions about unionization would be protected. During secret ballot elections in which employees could vote their preference about unionization, the opinions of workers would be kept private. Under the EFCA, however, private opinions will no longer be private. A worker’s colleagues and union organizers will readily know if that worker is in favor of unionization. Such a worker will no doubt be pressured and perhaps coerced into signing a card check authorizing union representation.

As two former Justice Department lawyers, David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey, who served under President Reagan and President George H. W. Bush, wrote in a recent Wall Street Journal editorial: "Three of the Constitution's Framers -- James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay -- wrote the Federalist Papers supporting its ratification under the anonymous pen name Publius." If they had announced their identities, British authorities would have arrested them for sedition.

The authors further wrote: "When courts have upheld restrictions on anonymous speech, they have required that such provisions be narrowly tailored to serve an overriding governmental interest." There is, obviously, no government interest in denying the protection of anonymity to workers.

Imagine what would happen to American democracy if we all had to state our votes in public, and our private speech was curtailed. We would all become victims of coercive politics. Strong arm tactics would be the order (or disorder) of the day.

This is another reason why the Employee Free Choice Act should not become the law of the land.