Secret Ballot Watch

A company can’t compete in today’s economy if workers and managers can’t trust each other – and the Employee Free Choice Act will breed that mistrust in the workplace.

That’s what Kevin D. Manship says in a letter to The News Herald of Morganton, N.C.

Manship is a facility manager of the local branch of Caterpillar Inc., a Fortune 500 company which makes construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, and industrial gas turbines for clients worldwide.

But Manship says in his Wednesday letter that the act’s ability to set aside the secret ballot in union organizing elections would affect his company’s standing because of the intimidation it would bring in offices and the shop floor.  

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“Employee engagement is vital to Caterpillar Morganton's success. Some of our greatest innovations have stemmed directly from the constant-improvement efforts of our frontline workforce. This does not happen by coincidence. Only when employees work in an atmosphere of mutual trust, free of the effects of coercion and unwanted influence, can they contribute the ideas that keep Caterpillar Inc. competitive in the marketplace.

“The Employee Free Choice Act would erode a major source of our competitive advantage – our engaged workforce – to the detriment of both our workers and the American economy.

“Congressional leaders who support the Employee Free Choice Act belong to a legislative body elected by private ballot. It is ironic they are now working to take that right away from American workers and make American companies, like Caterpillar Inc., less competitive in the process.”

Manship, Letter to the Editor, “'Free Choice Act' will make U.S. less competitive,” (Morganton, N.C.) The News Herald, 08.12.09

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Manship is not the only one who has suggested that the act would dull America’s competitive edge in the global economy. Some Canadians are almost cheering for its passage. But with a 9.4 percent unemployment rate and a lingering recession, the economy does not need any more burdens and the Employee Free Choice Act would just add to them.

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