Secret Ballot Watch

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 letter to The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa., Baloga is anything but a fan. Specifically, he is not happy with the act’s ability to set the secret ballot aside in favor of a “card check” process that leaves workers open to intimidation:  

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“We use secret ballots to elect our union officials, approve contracts and decide other critical matters pertaining to the welfare of the membership. That the secret ballot may be taken away in the unionization process seems to contradict the protection of workers that we organized to protect in the first place. We have lost countless lives to protect this right. This limitation of people's rights cannot occur. We should not let Congress take this right away.”

Baloga, Letter to the Editor, “Secret Ballot Must Remain Part of Unionization,” (Harrisburg, Pa.) The Patriot-News, 07.24.09 

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As Baloga and many other union members know, the secret ballot is a respected, successful, and time-honored practice to organize – and once organized, it’s the preferred method for union governance. Why are supporters of the Employee Free Choice Act trying to take away that right?

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