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Secret Ballot Watch

You Think Things Seem Bad Now? What If EFCA Takes Effect?

It’s hard to imagine worse news to kick off Labor Day Weekend.

The national unemployment rate reached 9.7 percent in August, the Labor Department reported today. That’s up from 9.4 percent in July and it’s the worst rate in 26 years.

And there doesn’t seem to be any end in sight.


“Analysts generally believe that economic output began rising by late summer. But new Labor Department data released Friday morning shows that that improvement isn't yet flowing through to the job market, as employers remain highly reluctant to add staff. …

“The tally now stands at 6.9 million jobs lost since the beginning of the recession in December 2007. A broader measure of joblessness rose even more sharply than the headline unemployment rate. An expanded unemployment rate that includes people who have given up looking for a job out of frustration and who are working part time but want a full-time job rose to 16.8 percent, from 16.3 percent.”

Irwin, “Unemployment Rises to 9.7 Percent; 216,000 Jobs Lost in August,” The Washington Post, 09.04.09


This is all the more reason why the Employee Free Choice Act should remain in the Senate and not become law.

In addition to its ability to suppress a worker’s right to vote privately, experts say the act can also destroy thousands or even millions of jobs – on top of the losses we’re having right now (216,000 went away in August alone).

Add to that the proposal’s power of forced government contracts, and its possible affect on the country’s ability to compete in world markets, and you have a recipe for prolonged economic suffering, if not disaster.

If President Obama is truly concerned about saving America’s economy, then signing the Employee Free Choice Act into law is the last thing he should do.

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