Secret Ballot Watch

The card check is in the mail – and it’s just as good as voting for a union by secret ballot.

If you believe that, there’s a bridge in Brooklyn, N.Y., you might be interested in purchasing.

With public opposition to the anti-worker card check plan mounting, its supporters have concocted a series of alternative proposals. Unfortunately for workers, the alternatives are as bad as the original.

One idea was card check by mail – a method where workers send in their votes through the postal service. The Washington Examiner had some details about this proposal in June:   

---

“The Senate is now working on a compromise version of the controversial ‘Card Check’ bill that would allow employees to vote by mail on whether to unionize, rather than sign a petition in public.

“While union and business groups remain at odds over the new proposal, Democratic backers of the bill are meeting privately this week with moderate lawmakers who have so far been unwilling to back a labor reform bill. …

“Opponents of the latest proposal are calling it ‘card check by mail’ in part because union officials would be able to target home visits with employees and pressure them to vote to unionize.”

Ferrechio, “Dems try new approach on ‘Card Check’,” The Washington Examiner, 06.02.09 

---

Whether the card is collected by a union organizer or mailed, it still denies workers the privacy and protections of the voting booth.

Without that privacy and protection, workers will always be vulnerable. They could be intimidated, coerced, or threatened by union organizers or management. No one should ask workers to publicly declare – whether by signing, handing in, or mailing – if they support a union. It’s just another reason why EFCA should fail.

# # #