Grassroots Against Card Check
Even though today is a very busy news day, I made it a point to take part in a teleconference about the Employee Free Choice Act, better known as card check. Opponents of the bill call it the Employee FORCED Choice Act, because if it is enacted, it will take away a worker’s right to a secret ballot when deciding whether to join a union.
Workforce Fairness Institute (WFI) representative Mark McKinnon and former United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Statewide Organizing Director Rian Wathen each began the teleconference with opening statements.
McKinnon spoke first, and reaffirmed the general belief that EFCA is a terrible bill for business and will have a detrimental effect on the creation of jobs. But there is more to dislike in this bill, such as the “even more problematic” federal arbitration section. When labor negotiations break down, as they invariably do, McKinnon told participants that labor’s hand is strengthened. If EFCA is made into law, a federal arbitrator will be appointed–a bureaucrat–it will be this person who makes the call on such issues as workplace conditions, vacation pay, and salaries. Some businesses, McKinnon cautions, “will simply close their doors and shut down” rather than have to deal with this kind of situation.
And as we all know, many businesses are only just getting by during this recession. They hardly need additional obstacles.
“Common sense officeholders,” McKinnon explained about EFCA, “including Democrats that support labor, have said this is a bridge way too far.”
Read More at Marathon Pundit
“Grassroots Against Card Check” is as laughable title as “Grassroot CEOs Against Card Check”
The cloud of worry over the Employee Free Choice Act that has been created by lies and half-truths in the media and by politicians is a deliberate attempt to keep working people from sharing in the nation\’s bounty. The recent column by the head of the ND Grain Dealers opposing expanding workers\’ rights because it would eliminate secret-ballot votes perpetuates a lie which even The Wall Street Journal has had to come clean on.
This law does not eliminate elections, it changes who has the power to decide how to join the union from the employer to the employee. What would be more democratic than that? The decision to join or not join along with how to join should fall in the hands of employees, not their supervisors.
To understand why the corporate and political powers that be do not want the law to pass, you have to understand the differences between our national secret-ballot elections and the secret-ballot elections that exist when forming a union.
Imagine if the incumbent politician had the power to force you to sit in meetings in which you were constantly being bombarded with propaganda, then brought in one-on-one to interview you about your support for the opposing candidate, the vote would be held at the incumbent\’s office with the staff watching, the date of the election could be delayed through an appeal process and, in the weeks leading up to the election, the incumbent fires people who will vote against him and hires new people to vote for him.
Most reasonable people would consider this process unfair at best and totalitarian at worst, yet this is exactly what happens when people at a work site talk about forming a union.
And I think we need to examine the fig leaf behind which opponents to this legislation hide. I find it asonishing that Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and the titans of industry are all of the sudden concerned about the \"rights\" of working people. Perhaps we should suspend our disbelief and push them a little further on this. How\’s about workers get the right to vote on executive compensation, health care cuts, plant closures, underfunding pensions, leveraged buyouts? Now there\’s some democracy they should fall in line to support.
But they won\’t.
This fight for them is not about democracy or workers\’ rights. It\’s about hoarding their disproportionate share of American wealth by keeping the current system that makes it nearly impossible for a worker to organize and claim his/her share.
The cloud of worry over the Employee Free Choice Act that has been created by lies and half-truths in the media and by politicians is a deliberate attempt to keep working people from sharing in the nation’s bounty. The recent column purporting “Grassroots against Card Check” (just who at the paper decided the headline?))opposing expanding workers’ rights because it would eliminate secret-ballot votes perpetuates a lie which even The Wall Street Journal has had to come clean on.
This law does not eliminate elections, it changes who has the power to decide how to join the union from the employer to the employee. What would be more democratic than that? The decision to join or not join along with how to join should fall in the hands of employees, not their supervisors.
To understand why the corporate and political powers that be do not want the law to pass, you have to understand the differences between our national secret-ballot elections and the secret-ballot elections that exist when forming a union.
Imagine if the incumbent politician had the power to force you to sit in meetings in which you were constantly being bombarded with propaganda, then brought in one-on-one to interview you about your support for the opposing candidate, the vote would be held at the incumbent\’s office with the staff watching, the date of the election could be delayed through an appeal process and, in the weeks leading up to the election, the incumbent fires people who will vote against him and hires new people to vote for him.
Most reasonable people would consider this process unfair at best and totalitarian at worst, yet this is exactly what happens when people at a work site talk about forming a union.
And I think we need to examine the fig leaf behind which opponents to this legislation hide. I find it asonishing that Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and the titans of industry are all of the sudden concerned about the \"rights\" of working people. Perhaps we should suspend our disbelief and push them a little further on this. How\’s about workers get the right to vote on executive compensation, health care cuts, plant closures, underfunding pensions, leveraged buyouts? Now there\’s some democracy they should fall in line to support.
But they won\’t.
This fight for them is not about democracy or workers\’ rights. It\’s about hoarding their disproportionate share of American wealth by keeping the current system that makes it nearly impossible for a worker to organize and claim his/her share.
Cases like the Minneapolis Holiday Inn Express where the hotel sought to deport pro union employees highlight the problem with the current system. But there is no way in hell, that I, as a voter, would support the elimination of the secret ballot. Even if that decision is implied to be the result of employee “Choice.” This law is not pro Labor, it is pro Union, and that is not the same thing. A different set up that still allowed for secret ballots would be palatable, but the law, as proposed, is bad.
“What would be more democratic than that?” … A secret ballot, which is what the Left wants to eliminate with this act.
Have you often been at the right time in the right place and had a chance to take the right opportunity?You are now!
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