Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Card Check

... also known as 'The Employee Free Choice Act". Maybe it should be renamed 'The Employee NO CHOICE Act"? Big labor unions like the AFL-CIO, SEIU, and the Change to Win Coalition spent a lot of the money during the 2009 election, and are pushing Congress to approve this law because union membership has been declining. This law is a bad idea. Here's why (from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce):

1) It eliminates private ballots
Under the existing law today, workers have a chance to vote for or against unionization in a private-ballot election that is federally supervised. Under Card Check, if more than 50% of workers at a facility sign a card, the government would have to certify the union, and
a private ballot election would be prohibited--even if workers want one.
By forcing workers to sign a card in public--instead of vote in private--Card Check opens the door to intimidation and coercion. Over 70% of voters agree that a private election is better than card check."

2) Card Check could put govt. regulators in charge of private business decisions
Once a union is certified, the business and union would only have 120 days to reach agreement, before facing the prospect of being forced into binding arbitration. This means a panel of government arbitrators who may have no understanding of the business could impose a two year contract deciding all workplace terms--without any vote by the company or its employees.
By placing government regulators in charge of a two-year decision, business flexibility is limited--at a time in our history when it is needed most. A recent poll found that 75% of voters believe government arbitrators should not decide the conditions of a union contract.

3) Harsh new penalties for businesses
Card Check would impose harsh new penalties on businesses--but not on unions--for violations during the union recognition process. This is unfair, and potentially disastrous for small or medium businesses, who are not familiar with unionizing campaigns or the National Labor Relations Act. If Card Check passes, many of these businesses would be facing unionization for the first time.

It looks like our current govt. is looking to grow bigger and badder every minute, and tightening that noose around our necks slowly but surely if we let them.

(source: http://www.uschamber.com/issues/index/labor/cardchecksecrbal.htm)

1 comment:

  1. It was reported a couple of weeks ago that employees of the Dana Corp of Indiana held a secret ballot vote in regards to forming a unionized workplace. The vote was against acceptance of the union. This was after employees had previously voted for acceptance of the union through the "card check" process.
    It turns out that many of these employees were relentlessly harassed and intimidated by members of the union leading to the card check vote results. These employees then appealed to the National Labor Relations Board to hold a secret ballot vote. The vote was granted and the results kept the workplace union free. Why was this story only reported on by Fox? Why would the mainstream media not want to report on a story that had such strong backing of the Obama administration?

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