Secret Ballot Watch

It’s not just editorial boards and opinion leaders speaking out against the anti-worker card check ploy. Academics, researchers, and economists have weighed in as well, and their findings are clear: Card check is bad news for the American economy.

In today’s San Francisco Chronicle, the Pacific Research Institute’s Jason Clemens summarizes empirical evidence about card check’s potential consequences for workers and the American economy, and refutes common misconceptions that are used to justify the need for this misguided legislation:

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“The bill would also dramatically alter the balance between the right of workers to organize collectively and their right to reject such a choice. It also generally shifts the balance of power away from workers and employers, and to unions. This has larger ramifications than just a single company or union. Professors Timothy Besley and Robin Burgess, both at the London School of Economics, concluded in a 2004 paper that moving the balance of power toward unions resulted in less employment and investment, and lower productivity.

“These finding were recently confirmed in an economic analysis of the Employee Free Choice Act that appeared on the Social Science Research Network. The study concluded that the private-sector unemployment rate would increase between 1.5 to 3.5 percentage points, representing an additional 2.3 million to 5.4 million unemployed workers. …

“Research summarized by University of Chicago law professor Richard Epstein suggests that union arguments for the Employee Free Choice Act are not supported by evidence. Unions often rationalize the proposed legislation to counter inappropriate pressure and, perhaps, even the firing of employees. Unions also decry lengthy election periods for voting on union representation.

“An examination of the NLRB data indicates that over a three-year period the likelihood of an improper firing by an employer during a union drive was 2.7 percent. This is a far cry from the 25 percent figure cited by unions.

“Similarly, NLRB data shows a fairly successful ability to hold union votes in a reasonable amount of time. For example, in 2007, 93.9 percent of all elections were completed within 56 days of filing. The notion that employers drag out elections for years is simply not supported by the NLRB data. …

“The ongoing debate about the Employee Free Choice Act and labor reform should include more evidence and less rhetoric. The empirical evidence clearly shows that laws such as card check harm investment, curtail job creation and increase unemployment. These are not remedies for what ails the U.S. economy, and indeed would make things much worse."  

Clemens, “Consider the evidence, not rhetoric, on proposed 'card check' legislation,” San Francisco Chronicle, 04.10.09

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The message is clear. When rhetoric is set aside, the facts simply don’t support enactment of this legislation that would deny workers the right to a secret ballot and empower government bureaucrats to impose contracts.

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