Organized labor groups continue to seek ways to boost their membership at the expense of employees’ real choice. In September the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department (TTD) requested radical changes in the process of unionizing employees under the Railway Labor Act. Currently union representation elections allow a labor union to be certified if the majority of workers vote in support of forming a union. Seems fair, right?

Not to Big Labor.

The AFL-CIO wants to change the rules so unions could be certified through yes votes from a minority of employees. Union leaders would get to that point by counting only the employees who actually vote. An example: If there are 100 employees and only 40 vote, a majority of that 40 — 21 — could certify the union. So a minority of just 21 workers could unionize a workplace with 100 employees.

Hardly seems like the democratic process to us, and numerous previous administrations have agreed – Democrat and Republican alike.

Big Labor’s argument in response: “Just because a worker chooses not to cast a vote in a union election doesn’t mean he or she is against unionization – it just means that worker did not vote.”

Well, if that’s the case one would logically expect the AFL-CIO to also support a process making it easier to decertify if the majority of union members voting — again, quite possibly a minority of ALL employees — wanted to leave the union. Or at a minimum allow the workers who didn’t participate in the election to be exempt from obligatory union dues.

Much like the Employee Free Choice Act, the proposed changes to the National Mediation Board’s organizing procedures would create a system of unionization that’s comparable to quicksand – easy to get in, hard to get out.

Well, at least this revolutionary change followed detailed, open debate by the Mediation Board’s members, right?

Nope. Guess again.

As the Chairman of the NMB points out, two of the three members of the Board “railroaded” these proposed changes through without allowing the Chairman to have reasonable time to review and respond to the changes. Rushed through, this radical proposal was published in the Federal Register yesterday.

This is yet another example of union power grabs that are becoming all too frequent lately. Our view is an affirmative change, from a non-union to union workplace, should require an affirmative vote, an affirmative majority vote. The NAM opposes any efforts to overturn the longstanding and fair process of organizing under the National Mediation Board and will be urging the Board to protect the rights of a majority of workers to freely decide whether or not they wish to join a labor union.

The National Right to Work Foundation has put up a new video highlighting the dangers of card check schemes. These are real employees explaining how aggressive union organizing can be. If the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law these scenarios may unfortunately become all too common.

We all too often hear claims by labor bosses that employers engage in illegal efforts to prevent union organizing. Today, the Heritage Foundation helps shed some light on some of the harsh realities of the tactics employed by union organizers. Further evidence that the best way to prevent intimidation and harrassment in the workplace is through private ballot elections.

Rian Wathen, Former Organizing Director for the UFCW discusses how authorization cards are often collected.

Hat tip: James Sherk

The labor front group, American Rights at Work has released a new ad aimed at countering “misleading attacks its opponents have made”. The group claims that there is a “deceptive campaign” under way “to divert attention away from the actual substance of the bill and what it seeks to accomplish.” Well OK, one would think that the ad would go into some detail about what the bill would do right? The bill implements a card check system, allows for government control of wages in the workplace and administers an effective gag rule on employers that attempt to provide their employees information about union representation.

So let’s take a look at the ad, with the script of the audio below:

“The Real Secret” TV: 30
Voice-over: Corporate greed. It’s caused a meltdown of our economy. Just look at the news … or your retirement account.
Now, greedy CEOs want to prevent workers from joining unions to level the playing field. Their new scheme to keep wages low? Spreading lies about the Employee Free Choice Act.
The truth is the Employee Free Choice Act absolutely protects workers’ right to choose a secret ballot election. But the choice would be the workers. Not their bosses.
That’s the secret Big Business doesn’t want you to know.
On Screen Disclaimer: Paid for by American Rights at Work

Hmmm…doesn’t give much detail. What lies are they dispelling? How does this bill protect workers’ rights, when it effectively eliminates secret ballots and would often lead to taking away the right of employees from actually approving their first contract? To get the facts about the Employee ‘FORCED’ Choice Act, click here.

The group’s executive director continues to describe the EFCA by stating:

“The current company dominated system is not balance. It gives employers far too much power to intimidate and harass workers.”

Instead EFCA seeks to undermine the careful crafted within our labor law system, in order to allow labor leaders the ability to intimidate and harass workers.

The AFL-CIO misleadingly describes the EFCA as

“An amendment to the existing National Labor Relations Act that makes no change, no repeal, and no amendment provision that dictates the election process.”

Well I guess technically it amends the NLRA, HOWEVER it is a radical re-write of our current labor law system that intends to send our system back to the 1930s. Far from the modernization our labor law system needs to better reflect the dynamics of employee relations in today’s modern manufacturing economy. At a time when employees are facing so many challenges, wouldn’t money used to buy all this air time and political contributions better spent on workforce development and training programs?

The Politico today lays out the Presidential candidates’ positions on the several major economic issues. Politico describes the misleadingly named Employee Free Choice Act (or ‘card check’ bill) as a bill that “would make union organizing easier.” Unfortunately this legislation will make the organizing process much more difficult for workers.

This bill eliminates secret ballots for union elections exposing workers to coercion and intimidation, effectively depriving them of free choice. It should more properly be called the Employee No Choice Act.

The current process for determining if employees want a union is a federally supervised private ballot election. A majority of these elections result in the certification of a union.

Union bosses, however, find private ballot elections to be an impediment to unionization. They demand the card check process in which employees are forced to cast their vote in front of union organizers and fellow employees who support unionization, sacrificing their secret ballot rights.

Will the card check bill make union organizing easier for union bosses? Definitely, but it would also destroy one of the most fundamental rights of American citizens – the right to a secret ballot.