The dastardly misnamed Employee Free Choice Act was a major issue in the U.S. Senate race in Maine, as U.S. Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME) drew on strong union support motivated by the card check issue (see this column) to give incumbent Republican Susan Collins a serious challenge. Change to Win, for example, identified Collins as a target because of card check and the flailing economy.
But Collins began to pull away in the final weeks, and the networks have now declared her the winner. In terms of Senate races where card check ranked as an issue, Maine was probably second, Minnesota first. A harbinger for Coleman-Franken?
The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, to which the NAM belongs, has begun running TV spots in Maine distinguishing the positions of the two U.S. Senate candidates on the Employee Free Choice Act, i.e., card check. Incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, is running against Rep. Tom Allen, a Democrat.
Union special interests have made support for the EFCA, or “card check” bill, a top priority for candidate support this election year. Under the EFCA, workers would effectively lose their right to a private ballot when deciding whether to be represented by a union. The private ballot would be replaced with a “card-check” scheme where a union is organized if a majority of workers simply sign a card; the workers’ signatures are made public to their employer, the union organizers and their co-workers. The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives but was blocked in the Senate in June 2007. Labor union leaders have promised to re-introduce the legislation next year.
“The people of Maine need to know that workers could effectively lose their right to cast a private ballot in a union election. The next U.S. Senate will have to make a decision about the anti-worker Employee Free Choice Act,” said Brian Worth with the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace. “We will continue to provide information to Maine citizens about where the candidates stand on private ballots,” added Worth. In addition to informing Maine citizens, the ad will ask candidates to support the right to private ballots. Candidates in Maine do not need to give in to union pressure.
Once the legislation’s effect — the destruction of secret-ballot elections -is known, the public overwhelmingly rejects the anti-democratic card check. Indeed, the CDW’s polling in Maine found that more than three in four voters say that a federally supervised election featuring secret ballots is the best way to ensure an employee’s rights.
