Secret Ballot Watch

That’s how many people showed up for a rally last week in support of the Employee Free Choice Act in Fort Wayne, Ind.

Other Hoosier State rallies for the act, also known as “card check,” didn’t exactly pack ‘em in, either. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports that a mere 40 people attended a similar event in Indianapolis while just 30 arrived in South Bend.

To put it another way, that’s 85 people coming out for a supposedly “pro-union” bill in a state with 349,000 union members, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“I wish there were more people here,” the Rev. Sylvester Hunter, who organized the Fort Wayne event, said to the 15. “But you know how it is when people think they aren’t directly affected by something.”

With all due respect, we think people do know they are directly affected by card check. That’s why they chose to stay away.

They know that under card check, the use of a secret ballot – the method successfully used by generations to form unions – would be stripped away. In its place, people would be forced to openly declare their preference for joining a particular union.  

They also know that card check legislation contains harsh arbitration rules. The government could essentially run their workplace if the union can’t reach an agreement with management after 120 days.

And if the government bureaucrats know nothing about the business they just took over? Well that’s just too bad.

The card check bill has been stalled in Congress for months, and it’s unclear when it will come up for a vote.

But one thing that is clear is that Americans – including Hoosiers – are hardly clamoring for this undemocratic plan. By choosing to be absent from the rally, they’re voting loud and clear.

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