Secret Ballot Watch

Union bosses and their allies in Washington have made it clear that they want to expand their powers to grow union membership – even if it means undermining a worker’s right to a secret ballot. It is not entirely clear how they plan to accomplish this misguided priority in the face of strong bipartisan opposition to the so-called Employee Free Choice Act on Capitol Hill. One particularly frightening scenario is to sidestep Congress altogether. 

As Philip Klein points out in the latest issue of The American Spectator, the Obama Administration could attempt to get its way by going around Congress and through our nation’s massive regulatory structure. All you need are the right people in the right positions of power to make this union dream a reality: 

"Even more worrisome for the American business community is President Obama's attempt to pack the National Labor Relations Board with union lawyers who would make rulings that would achieve many of the same results as labor-friendly legislation. The most obvious example of such legislation is the Orwellian-named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)…To this date, Republicans have succeeded in preventing EFCA from becoming law, but the bill's legislative fate may not even matter if Obama gets several controversial nominees to the labor panel confirmed. 

"Currently, there are only two members on the five-member NRLB -- one is a Republican and the other a Democrat. To tilt the balance of the board, Obama tapped two union lawyers (Craig Becker and Mark Pearce). He also appointed a Republican Senate staffer, Brian E. Hayes, in hopes it would dissuade Republican senators from blocking the other two.  

"Becker, a longtime labor activist…wrote a law review article arguing that the major aims of EFCA could be achieved through rulings by the regulatory body to which Obama has appointed him."

Philip Klein, “All the President’s Regulators,” The American Spectator, December 2009 – January 2010 Issue 

It sure seems convenient for union leadership to have friends on the inside who can make their wishes come true without bothering to get the approval of Congress or the American people. Unfortunately, this backdoor to enacting “card check” would still spell trouble for our economy and cost jobs at a time when millions of Americans are out of work. Rather than getting clever with its approach to achieving EFCA standards, the Administration should abandon this item on its job-killing agenda. 

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