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Secret Ballot Watch

Card Check: A Lifeline for Union Leadership?

WASHINGTON, D.C., November 30, 2009 | Alexa Marrero or Ryan Murphy ((202) 225-4527)

With a decline in union membership over the last several decades, big labor is scrambling to attract more workers. It appears that conventional means of garnering support have failed. So, now union leadership is turning to the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act in an effort to change the rules in their favor.

The editorial board over at The Intelligencer & Wheeling News-Register reports that the motivation behind the union leadership’s push is more about growing their ranks than protecting their rights: 


“According to The Associated Press, the percentage of West Virginia workers represented by unions dropped to 14.7 in 2007. That compared to 28.3 percent in 1983...

“...It isn't that the unions have not been trying to rebuild. They have - but often, workers see no benefit in handing over substantial portions of their paychecks to union leaders, to be used for political campaigns with which many union members do not agree.

“Having failed to win by playing by the existing rules, unions now want to change labor laws. High on their priority list is the so-called ‘card check bill.' If enacted, it would eliminate some secret-ballot guarantees potential union members now enjoy.”

Editor, “Vote Against ‘Card Check’,” The Intelligencer & Wheeling News-Register, 11.30.09


Union leadership must be particularly worried. Why else would they be pushing an agenda that faces bipartisan opposition across the United States and will cost jobs?

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