Secret Ballot Watch

It appears that America’s northern neighbors may be rooting for enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act – but not for the reason you might think.

Canadians have plenty of experience with the public sign-up card check process for forming unions, and that experience has been anything but positive. In fact, card check and the arbitration that accompanies it have wreaked havoc on their economy, leaving many business leaders feeling that the nation is less competitive thanks to these misguided policies.

As The Globe and Mail reported today, a group of Canadian business leaders gathered in Washington to warn American politicians not to follow their country’s example and pass the act – although, at least one found a silver lining in the potential for an American card check system:   

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“Several Canadian business leaders, including executives of Bank of Montreal, Canadian Tire dealers and a leading Toronto law firm, joined the fray at a gathering in Washington, where they implored Americans not to repeat Canada’s mistakes by making it too easy for unions to organize.

“‘In the interest of my Canadian clients, if Congress chooses to shoot itself in the commercial foot with this legislation, God bless you, because we’re constantly competing against you,’ said Stewart Saxe, a labour relations partner at Baker & McKenzie in Toronto.”

McKenna, “Anti-union Lobby Fears ‘Armageddon on Capitol Hill,’” The Globe and Mail (Toronto), 07.08.09 

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Saxe suggested an interesting point. In addition to EFCA’s other dismal effects, there is the possibility of reduced U.S. performance in the global economy. Those other effects, for those who may have forgotten, are:

• Eliminating at least 600,000 jobs – and pushing the 9.5 percent national unemployment rate even higher.

• Setting aside the secret ballot, a successful and proven method of union organizing for generations, for a method that leaves workers open to intimidation.

• Allowing federal bureaucrats to essentially take over businesses that could not reach an agreement with unions after 120 days.

Take it from the Canadians. There is nothing “free” about this “free choice” act.

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