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Why Do EFCA Supporters Want the Bill … Really?

| Posted in Secret Ballot Watch

The Employee Free Choice Act will create forced government contracts; it will deny workers the right to a secret ballot (or maybe rush union elections); and it will kick an economy that’s already down. And its supporters want to pass the proposal anyway. That’s what Steve Forbes concludes in a piece he wrote for today’s Politico. The editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine says that supporters are acti... Read more »

If Anyone Knows the Value of the Secret Ballot, It’s a Union Member

| Posted in Secret Ballot Watch

If you didn’t know any better, you might assume Dave Baloga is totally behind the Employee Free Choice Act. He is a journeyman with more than 28 years in the Graphic Communications International Union, a subordinate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. As a union member, you might assume he’s solidly behind the act, which has been so heavily lobbied by Big Labor. You’d be wrong. In a let... Read more »

Throwing the Book at EFCA

| Posted in Secret Ballot Watch

Leave it to National Review to cite not one but two literary giants in its opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act. The brainy conservative opinion journal noted, as have others, that the name of the act would make George Orwell proud. (In his classic novel 1984, Orwell wrote about a government that used phrases such as “War is Peace” and “Freedom is Slavery” to lull its citizens into submissio... Read more »

Eau d’EFCA

| Posted in Secret Ballot Watch

Sniff…what’s that odor? The “new” Employee Free Choice Act does not pass the smell test, two newspapers say. Both the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and the Harrisonburg, Va., Daily News-Record decried the act’s stench of bad lawmaking in editorials – even after reports that one of its smelliest features, “card check,” would be removed. Senators are being tight-lipped about this alleged compromise, so ... Read more »

Following the Pension Money With Card Check

| Posted in Secret Ballot Watch

The debate over the Employee Free Choice Act is about many things. It’s about a worker’s right to a secret ballot, of course, as well as jobs. But it’s also about forced government contracts, a “disastrous” part of the bill that has taken center stage now that there are reports its “card check” provision could be removed. There are several reasons to oppose binding arbitration, but Investor’s Busi... Read more »

Take It From Michigan, Forced Arbitration Harms

| Posted in Secret Ballot Watch

Supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act should take a long, hard look at Michigan before moving forward with the proposal – especially in this struggling economy. That’s what The Detroit News suggested in a Sunday editorial about one of the most destructive features of the act: forced government contracts. The News knows its stuff here. Michigan enacted a similar law in 1969, Public Act 312. It... Read more »

Taking Stock (And Heed) of the “New” Card Check

| Posted in Secret Ballot Watch

Even though the “card check” aspect of the Employee Free Choice Act received a major blow last week, it’s no time to celebrate. A Wall Street Journal editorial today offers a glimpse of some equally bad ideas in the “new” card check, which is currently brewing in the Senate: "One proposal would slash the time for an organizing vote, requiring that it be held within five or 10 days after 30% of wor... Read more »

“Free Choice” Act Takes Major Blow in Senate – But Is It Too Soon to Celebrate?

| Posted in Secret Ballot Watch

A worker’s right to a secret ballot became a little safer today as a handful senators dropped their support of the “card check” provision in the Employee Free Choice Act. But while this appears to be good news for workers, rejection of the politically toxic proposal may merely be camouflage for an agenda to impose alternative revisions to workplace law that would be equally threatening to workers ... Read more »

What A “Productive” Conversation Produces

| Posted in Secret Ballot Watch

There were few details reported about a White House meeting earlier this week between President Obama and card check supporters. But we do know some things. First, the Employee Free Choice Act was a topic of discussion. Second, supporters said President Obama’s commitment to the bill is “strong” even though it’s been in limbo for months. The Associated Press sets the scene: "Obama met for about an... Read more »

Card Check Finds Trouble In Paradise

| Posted in Secret Ballot Watch

Not content with trying to take away workers’ right to a secret ballot on a national level, many card check supporters have been trying to pass similar laws in state legislatures across the country. But like their attempts in Congress, there have been few major victories. The latest defeat arrived yesterday from the Aloha State, as Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle vetoed a statewide card check measure. Th... Read more »

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