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Correspondence

Dear Colleague: 74% of Voters Oppose the Employee Free Choice Act

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 2, 2009

 

Dear Colleague: 

The American people believe strongly in their right to a secret ballot, and are overwhelmingly opposed to legislation that would take away that right in the workplace. Such is the finding of a new national survey from McLaughlin & Associates that shows widespread public opposition to the misnamed Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that would offer workers anything but a free choice when deciding whether to join a particular union. 

Interestingly, the poll found equally strong support for the secret ballot among union households, demonstrating that this is not a question of pro- or anti-union sentiment, but rather the basic democratic right to vote freely and privately, without intimidation or public scrutiny. 

Earlier today, you may have seen a letter claiming that the American public supports the plan to take away the private ballot. We thought you might be interested in the results of another poll, which shows a very different result. For instance, when asked “If an election were held to decide whether workers would organize a union, which one of the following types of elections is the best way to protect the individual rights of workers?” an overwhelming 82% of voters agreed that the best way to protect workers’ rights was “Having a federally supervised secret ballot election where workers privately vote yes or no on whether to authorize union representation.” Importantly, an even higher 85% of members of union households said the same. 

Among the survey’s other findings:

  • Fully 86% of voters feel that workplace votes on unionizing should remain private, and only 8% believe that such votes should be public. An even higher 88% of union members believe that the process should be kept private.
  • Three-quarters (74%) of voters oppose the so-called Employee Free Choice Act. Opposition is equally high (74%) among union members

We hope you find this information useful as Congress prepares once again to debate the so-called Employee Free Choice Act. 

Sincerely, 

/s/ 

Howard P. “Buck” McKeon (R-CA) 

/s/ 

John Kline (R-MN) 

/s/

Tom Price, M.D. (R-GA)
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