Secret Ballot Watch

With Democrats now officially able to count 60 votes among their ranks in the Senate, the Employee Free Choice Act should be easy to pass in that chamber because – on paper – they have enough votes to stop a possible Republican filibuster against the anti-worker proposal.

But it turns out it’s not that easy.

The New York Times today offers a glimpse about why several Democratic senators are sitting on the fence about the act, also known as card check, and it’s not just because of the proposal’s many flaws. A power struggle among the nation’s most powerful labor groups is also partly to blame.   

---

“‘The other side doesn’t have to take any shots at us,’ said Amy B. Dean, a longtime union leader and an author of a new book on reinvigorating organized labor. ‘We’re killing ourselves.’ …

“[L]abor’s No. 1 legislative goal, the card check bill, remains stalled because unions have failed to muster the 60 Senate votes to overcome a filibuster.

“Several moderate Democrats have voiced opposition because the bill would make it far easier for workers to join unions without an election. The bill would require employers to recognize a union as soon as a majority of workers signed cards saying they wanted one.

“‘When you go up to lobby on the Hill,’ said Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, ‘some people there are asking, ‘What are these unions fighting about, and if you can’t get your own house in order, why are you asking us to go out on a limb and support card check?’’”

Greenhouse, “Infighting Distracts Unions at Crucial Time,” The New York Times, 07.09.09 

---

The union-on-union strife is no secret. A top labor leader has suggested that there is a hidden agenda to card check, namely consolidating power among the many factions of Big Labor.

But the power comes at the expense of a worker’s right to a secret ballot, a time honored and successful practice to create unions.

And it comes at the loss of at least 600,000 jobs – in an economy that currently bears a 9.5 percent unemployment rate.

And it comes with the chance of federal bureaucrats essentially taking over a business if the union and management can’t agree on a contract after 120 days.

On top of all this, there is also the possibility that card check could hinder America’s ability to compete against other nations in the global marketplace.

No wonder some senators are having second thoughts about this bill.

# # #