Secret Ballot Watch

How many ways are there to interfere with a union election?

While the Employee Free Choice Act has been receiving most of the attention, few realize there are other proposals out there that also would affect workers’ rights at the ballot box.  

The latest attack occurred Monday at the National Mediation Board on a 75-year-old election rule that covers thousands of airline and railway workers. The Wall Street Journal has the story here:  

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“Under an interpretation of the Railway Labor Act dating to 1934, aviation and rail workers who don't vote on whether to create a union are counted as ‘no’ votes. That means a union cannot be approved without a full majority of all employees voting yes. 

“Under the National Labor Relations Act governing other industries, a union can be created as long as a majority of all votes cast are in favor of collective bargaining. In such elections, nonvotes don't count. 

“Under the proposal made public Monday, which is subject to a 60-day comment period, the NMB would tally votes for air and rail workers in the same way as those other industries. ‘Few if any’ democratic elections treat nonvotes as no votes, the NMB said in the proposal. … 

“In a letter Monday to more than a dozen Republican senators, NMB board member Elizabeth Dougherty said the process used by her two colleagues to draft the proposal was ‘flawed’ and that she had been frozen out of deliberations. 

“‘Making this change would be an unprecedented event in the history of the NMB, which has always followed a policy of making major rule changes with consensus,’ Ms. Dougherty said in a dissenting opinion included in the agency's proposal.” 

Esterl and Trottman, “New Rule to Benefit  Rail, Plane Unions,” The Wall Street Journal, 11.03.09 

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So let’s see: A semi-obscure government labor board makes a controversial ruling that changes longstanding union election rules without a fair hearing beforehand. The result of this decision could mean that a minority of prospective union members could decide the future for the majority of workers.  

This sounds like the perfect companion to EFCA, where secret ballots are  tossed aside and public intimidation in organizing elections reigns. Neither is good for workers and both should be scrapped.  

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