Secret Ballot Watch

As Congress debates whether to pass the Employee Free Choice Act, one government agency has declared a key feature of the legislation “unreliable.”  

The Washington Times reports that the Legal Services Corp., which provides grants to legal-aid groups that help the poor, has determined that the card check method of organizing is flawed. In fact, it rejected an effort by some of its workers to organize that way.

Card check is a major part of the Employee Free Choice Act, and The Times provides exclusive details of the LSC’s move here:  

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“The Legal Services Corp., a congressionally chartered, taxpayer-funded entity, even hired a law firm to rebuff the efforts of workers in its oversight offices to gain union representation by the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), forcing the workers to conduct a vote by secret ballot later this week.

“The LSC's decision has prompted concerns on Capitol Hill that the government may be trying to impose a solution on private businesses that its own agencies and panels are reluctant to follow. …

“Employees in LSC oversight offices, with the help of the IFPTE, appealed to LSC President Helaine Barnett in a July 20 letter, asking her to accept authorization cards signed by ‘an overwhelming majority’ of workers signaling their intent to unionize. Ms. Barnett dismissed the request in a July 28 letter, saying that ‘authorization cards are often an unreliable indicator of support for a union,’ according to a copy of the correspondence obtained by The Times. …

“The preference of the LSC, which is legally structured as a nonprofit corporation, for using the secret-ballot election process complies with federal organizing requirements. Federal agency employees, unlike their counterparts in the private sector, aren't permitted to unionize voluntarily using authorization cards.

“‘They have to go through the secret-ballot election,’ said Sarah Whittle Spooner, legal counsel for the Federal Labor Relations Authority, which has jurisdiction over government agencies. ‘There is no process for voluntarily organizing in the federal sector.’”

Carpenter, “Federal Program Rejects ‘Card Check’ Effort,” The Washington Times, 09.09.09 

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As The Times notes, it would be extremely hypocritical for the government to force card check on private businesses yet protect government workers with secret ballot elections.  But then again, this is not the first instance of government hypocrisy when it comes to the secret ballot.

This is yet another reason why the Employee Free Choice Act must be defeated. And it’s also a reason why the Secret Ballot Protection Act must take its place so that all workers – both government and private – can have a reliable, safe, and proven way to organize.

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