Secret Ballot Watch

At the core of the controversial Employee Free Choice Act is a provision known as card check. Rather than permitting workers to form unions through federally-supervised secret ballot elections, a card check system requires workers to publicly declare – by signing, or not signing, an authorization card – whether they wish to join a particular union.

The card check ploy has been resoundingly rejected by the American people, with more than four out of five voters agreeing that the best way to protect workers’ rights is “a federally supervised secret ballot election where workers privately vote yes or no on whether to authorize union representation.”

Now, desperately trying to cobble together a “compromise” on this toxic legislation, card check proponents have concocted a new scheme: card check by mail. The Washington Examiner has the story:  

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“The Senate is now working on a compromise version of the controversial ‘Card Check’ bill that would allow employees to vote by mail on whether to unionize, rather than sign a petition in public.

“While union and business groups remain at odds over the new proposal, Democratic backers of the bill are meeting privately this week with moderate lawmakers who have so far been unwilling to back a labor reform bill.”

Ferrechio, “Dems try new approach on ‘Card Check’,” The Washington Examiner, 06.01.09

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Whether the card is collected by a union organizer or mailed to the National Labor Relations Board, a simple fact remains: under a card check system, workers are denied the privacy and protections of the voting booth.

Without a secret ballot election, workers will always be prone to intimidation, coercion, and the threat of retribution. No one – not organizers, not management – should ask workers to publicly declare – by signing and handing in, or mailing in a card – whether they support a particular union.

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