Card check supporters must be getting desperate. Facing overwhelming
public opposition and a
flawed message, they have decided the best way to kill the secret ballot is simply to muzzle those who defend it. An editorial in today’s
Wall Street Journal exposes this troubling new tactic:
“…Anna Burger, chair of the Change to Win federation, wrote that financial services firms and their trade group should 'immediately cease all lobbying and advocacy' against 'card check' legislation that would end the secret ballot in union elections. …
“The government has in the past restricted the use of federal funds to directly lobby Congress. But Ms. Burger wants to extend this to any organization that somehow takes money from Uncle Sam. In the case of the banks, capital injections have gone to the balance sheet with a goal of aiding financial stability and increasing lending. The point wasn't to micromanage how banks spend every dollar.
“But if Big Labor wants to limit speech, why stop at the bankers? The unions, including those that belong to Change to Win, get plenty of government money for their affiliates to run job training and other programs. For that matter, many employees of companies that have received bailout cash -- General Motors or Chrysler, say -- use some of their wages to pay union dues. The unions then use those dues to become major political players at election time -- to the tune of $450 million in the last election cycle, and that's the amount they admit to spending. If banks can't lobby against card check, the United Auto Workers ought to be banned from politics too. …”
Editorial, “Shut Up, They Said,” Wall Street Journal, 02.13.09
The card check plan is an assault on workers’ rights, so perhaps it should come as no surprise that its supporters are pushing for it with an assault on free speech. But no matter how much they spend, or how much they try, they won’t be able to bully the American people into supporting their undemocratic plan.
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