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Secret Ballot Watch

Baby Steps to Card Check

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 12, 2009 | Alexa Marrero or Ryan Murphy ((202) 225-4527)

Frustrated that Washington Democrats have not made good on their promise to pass the job killing, misnamed Employee Free Choice Act, union leadership is putting the pressure on states to carry their agenda. A recent report in the Wall Street Journal highlights how unions are taking a local approach in the same spirit of their national plans to undermine workers’ right to a secret ballot:


“Both sides see the Oregon law as a local variation of the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as card check, which allows unions to organize workers by getting them to sign cards, often without an employer's knowledge. 

“Patrick Semmens, with The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which opposes efforts to expand unionization, said Oregon's law is similar to card check because both limit an employer's access to workers during union organizing. The Oregon law is ‘a step toward card check,’ he said. 

“In Washington state, Democrats dropped efforts this year to push the Worker Privacy Act, which would ban mandatory meetings about unionization efforts, after an internal state AFL-CIO email was leaked to lawmakers, saying unions wouldn't contribute to state politicians until the bill -- the unions' top priority -- was passed. Democrats said the email raised legal and ethical questions.”

Kris Maher, “Unions Push Issues in State Capitals,” Wall Street Journal, 11.11.09


As card check remains unpopular with many Americans, union leadership has had to spend more time knocking on doors asking for support. Their efforts will be a hard sale as local citizens continue to register their disapproval. 

Nevertheless, we can expect that this “top priority” will remain at the top of the Democrats’ to-do list – further haunting our nation’s already troubled economy. Even after 190,000 more Americans lost their jobs last month, employers are still met with uncertainty thanks to card check supporters who continue to pursue a job-killing agenda.

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