Of all the arguments made by proponents of the so-called Employee Free Choice Act, one of the most dubious is the claim that secret ballot elections are rigged against union organizing. After all, secret ballot elections protect the privacy of workers no matter how they plan to vote. If anything, secret ballot elections actually favor unionization in workplaces where workers may wish to form a uni... Read more »
There are plenty of reasons not to enact the job killing, privacy destroying Employee Free Choice Act, but this morning, the U.S. Department of Labor gave us 247,000 more. Those reasons? The 247,000 Americans who lost their jobs in the month of July, bringing the job loss totals since the recession began to 6.7 million and the total number of Americans out of work to 14.5 million. No matter how yo... Read more »
What would you do with $11 million? If you’re anything like organized labor and its supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act, you’d use it to place huge bets on the measure and the rest of your agenda. Sadly, you’d be gambling with the future of the U.S. economy – and betting against workers and their rights. Congressional Quarterly examined Federal Election Commission records, and found that or... Read more »
It looks like Arizona voters will have a chance to decide if workers’ right to a secret ballot is worthy of protection. The state’s Legislature recently voted to offer a referendum in 2010 protecting the right of workers to organize by secret ballot. Lawmakers created the referendum in response to the federal Employee Free Choice Act, currently pending in Congress. The act, among other things, wou... Read more »
Will they or won’t they? That was the question on Capitol Hill last week as Democrats wrestled with their self-imposed deadline to rush a radical overhaul of our nation’s health care system through both chambers before the month-long August recess started. In the end, that question remained unanswered, with Democrats in both the House and Senate facing stiff opposition to their plan to put bureauc... Read more »
Meet Senator Tom Harkin, secret-ballot supporter … sometimes. The Hill quoted the Iowa Democrat as saying that Senate committee chairmen should be elected every two years by secret ballot – a method the Employee Free Choice Act, which Harkin has co-sponsored, tosses aside for workers during union organization drives. The congressional newspaper reported Wednesday on Harkin’s selective support here... Read more »
It appears time is not on the side of the Employee Free Choice Act. Although it remains a threat, National Journal’s Congress Daily reports that with health care, climate change, and spending bills pending in Congress – plus continuing questions about Democrats’ ability to muster the needed 60 votes – the act’s chances of becoming law this year are dwindling: “Senate efforts to compromise on a wat... Read more »
How fast can the Employee Free Choice Act go from zero to 60 votes? That’s the question Roll Call tried to answer in a report Tuesday. The congressional newspaper says Senate leaders are considering an idea to rush the bill through the chamber as fast as possible to avoid debate and opposition: “As Senate Democrats struggle to hammer out a compromise bill on union organizing, Majority Leader Harry... Read more »
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 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 »
